sources for PLA filament

[Bill Westheimer]

Since MBI is clueless about selling PLA for their device (who are they kidding with a 30 day lead time?) I have ordered PLA from a variety of sources in the US where I am located, mostly through Amazon.
I thought it would be helpful for people to share their experiences with their resources ie: availability, price, shipping speed, quality of product, customer service, etc.
Each of us has individual needs and requirements, mine are specific to making sculpture, which are going to be slightly different from an industrial designer, etc.  I am mostly looking for natural color 1.75mm PLA and I have not been measuring the true filament diameter.  So if your requirements are unusual, please help us understand your specific requirements and how they might affect your experiences.

So I'll start with my (limited) experience:

Makerbot Industries, poor availability, limited range of colors, $48/kg,  excellent quality, marginal customer service (except in the NYC brick and mortar store where they are very helpful)

ProtoParadigm.com, good to poor availability, good range of colors, $45/kg, filament was OK but packed too tight on the spool and had 2 breaks, no response to request for customer service

MatterHackers.com, good availability, good range of colors, $38/kg, received but haven't tried their filament yet, fast shipping

3Dprinter Supplies JetPla (via Amazon.com) good availability, good range of colors, $38/kg, good filament, no problems.

SainSmart (via Amazon.com), good availability, limited range of colors, $50/kg (a few are less), fast shipping, received but haven't tried it yet.

JustPLA (via Amazon.com), good availability, OK range of colors, $35/kg and up, fast shipping, received but haven't tried it yet.

Online Filament (via Amazon.com), haven't tried

Octave (via Amazon.com), haven't tried

the good news is that since I started looking around the prices seem to be dropping.

[Laird Popkin]

I've ordered PLA from several places, and:

- MBI PLA is quite nice, but MBI is out of stock a lot, and it's kinda expensive to use routinely.

- Esun PLA (from Esun, different company from EsunPLA) ships wholesale from China. Costs about 1/2 what MBI charges (~$20/KG with shipping, depending on quantity and color), and very wide range of colors, including glow in the dark PLA which is great. On the other hand, you have to order fairly large batches and wait while it ships from China. But if you want a lot of filament cheap, and you don't mind negotiating orders through email for a few days each time (check what's in stock, pick what you want, etc.) this is IMO the best way to go.

- Octave and Jet via Amazon. It's convenient (easy to order a spool of PLA while ordering other stuff from Amazon) but the quality of the spools that I received were not great. The prices were closer to MBI than Esun, so I'm not planning to try them again.

- The one other supplier I've used that might be relevant is Taulman 3D, who sells 618 Nylon. Admittedly it's not PLA, which is what you asked about, but you can print 618 Nylon onto an unheated print bed, so it ought to work in a Replicator 2, and it's a very interesting material to print in, because it's flexible and extremely durable, so it makes a nice contrast to PLA, which is rigid and fairly brittle. It's a very new material, so people are still experimenting to see what works and what doesn't, but it's very exciting to have a wider range of materials to print with.

I have ordered two large batches of ABS and PLA from Esun, and use it for all of my "day to day" printing, tests, etc. I sometimes switch to MBI filament for the final print - it's smoother printing, and MBI has some colors that nobody else seems to have. And I've been printing like crazy in Nylon recently!

On the customer support front, MBI is amazing. Esun is a bit hard to deal with (emails, international time zones, etc.). I never talked to Octave or Jet - ordered through Amazon, it showed up. Taulman is very responsive on Thingiverse/email.

[Laird Popkin]

Since you ask about 618 Nylon - it's an exciting new material sold by Taulman3D. It prints onto an unheated print bed, and the best material for that bed (so far) is Garolite (http://www.mcmaster.com/#6842K61). You can get a 6x6 sheet and clip it to your print bed using binder clips.

Nylon is very different from PLA - it's flexible, slick and extremely durable, while PLA is rigid.

If you search on Thingiverse you can find examples (http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=nylon&sa=). People are using it for things like bearings, belts, cups, etc., - things where flexibility and durability are important. I've been playing with it for a few weeks, and it's lots of fun.

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 6:32:18 PM UTC-5, da...@4-safety.com wrote:

New to this and out PLA but on order MBI, and Ebay, ..... But what about this 618 Nylon use. As I am new to this Jost got a makerbot 2 on Monday ran out of PLA.

[Bryon Miller]

I bought 10 spools of PLA, I hope my supplier doesn't suck.  I got it from a place called Rainbot3d.com.  If you buy 8 or more it is $28 per 1kg spool with free shipping.  I got 10 for $280.  They have more expensive PLA also like Conductive PLA, that one is $35.00 a spool.  I'm worried because it's so much cheaper than everywhere else and I figured PLA would be similar no matter where I bought it and thought MBI was using their name to charge a ridiculous amount for their plastic.  My printer will be here on wednesday and my calipers haven't shown up yet so I can't measure it.  Has anyone else used Rainbot3d filament?

[TobyCWoods]

Please let us know how this stuff works out for you. With the free shipping for >$199 it's a better deal then I get from a supplier via Aliexpress. It is too bad you could not test 1 spool before a big buy. I bought 1 spool from XYD via Aliexpress and the stuff shrinks way BAD. Not very usable. The stuff I get from :

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FEDEX-Free-Shipping-only-93-55-for-3-spools-Filament-PLA-1-75mm-for-Makerbot-Reprap/701682275.html 

is prettty good. Red,Green,Purple are translucent, Brown is actually Black (they are refunding me for that), White is White and not natural. Shrinkage... but not unworkable. I find lighter on infill gets less shrinkage. I'll try a spool from Rainbot3d.

[Joseph Chiu]

I would love to get samples of every filament people have been working with.  

For anyone willing to spare about three feet (or more) of their filament, good or bad, I'll be glad to send you an envelope with a return envelope with postage.  I want to catalog their colors and take some measurements.   What I'd like to know is the vendor, the success you've had (or the lack thereof), and how much you've paid.

Thanks!

Joseph

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[Eighty]

Joseph,

I'd be happy to help.  I have about 20 different colors from several different suppliers.  Contact me off-list at:  a l d u n h a m ( a t ) y a h o o ( d o t ) c o m

[funmakerBart]

Fot testing is 3ft not much. And for a catalogue you have to make pictures of it anyway, which can be done by willing users anyway and sent a jpg to you.

But I use PLA and ABS from Reprapworld.com they are also advertising on ebay, But are more expensive on ebay. .

Very cheap, but thinner then other brands (like 1.65mm) No problem with a upgraded extruder based on the whosawhatis design. 

They are considering to sell Talman Nylon as well. Many parts available as well.

http://reprapworld.com/

ABS/PLA  $22,- / kg 

ex shipping costs

[Bryon Miller]

If you send me a message directly, I'll provide both you and TobyCWoods with samples, I have plenty of it laying around and I'm an eBay/Amazon seller so I have all shipping materials I would need.  You don't need to pay shipping, I'll cover it.  Maybe we can get everyone to submit samples so we can get a report that grades the filament.  In any event, I'll send you some.  What colors would you like to test?  I have:  Black, Natural, Blue, Red, Silver, Glow in the dark green, Glow in the dark blue, green & gold.  (I guess I ordered blue twice...)

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[Steven Vaccaro]

I just bought some from Sain Smart on Amazon. Ill let you guys know how it goes.

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 5:05:39 PM UTC-5, Bill Westheimer wrote:

[Nathaniel Swartz]

Has anyone tried inventables.com PLA?  They seemed like they had a few interesting colors, and the prices seemed good.

[TobyCWoods]

There's no note or indication of whether or not the color is in stock... so when you order be prepared to see the word... backordered...  It's been my experience that PLA suppliers get the stuff in batches and very few stock all their offered colors. Also, it's been my experience that colors vary from that depicted in webpages.

[JohnD]

Just ordered a load Natheniel - it's arrived stateside, and I'm headed down to pick it up next week....

[Michael Rees]

HI I've stopped by the makerbot store in manhattan and picked up rolls of filament. After 20 years building rp models, I get a kick out of picking up the materials in a shop. tiny pleasures. I didn't experience any problems with their filament.

I've also ordered from 3d printer hub. The rolls are smaller than the Makerbot rolls and have a smaller opening too. I ordered a white a black and a natural. The natural had all kinds of faults but the black and white were ok. I did have problems with the small rolls too. It kept kinking up until I read here on the forum about threading underneath the kink. They're about 30$ per kilo which I like.

maybe its source for a different thread but I wonder about the different colors and their different glass temperatures. wphthomas wingcommander suggests black has the highest glass temp and is preferable to other colors. Any opinions about this? Or any analyses of each color and their glass temp?

cheers,

michael rees

[Joe Larson (aka Cymon)]

Joseph Chiu knows what I'm looking for, but I would really love to have a small amount of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Light Blue and Purple in that sort of natural transparent-ish PLA so I can make lantern rings in the entire emotional spectrum. I haven't modeled the rings but the purple is the hardest one to find. Joseph can provide me with everything else, tho. Does anyone make purple transparent PLA?

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 3:05:39 PM UTC-7, Bill Westheimer wrote:

[Eighty]

No idea if this is quality or crap, but here's some translucent purple-ish PLA

http://www.amazon.com/3DPrintingUSA-Translucent-Filament-Makerbot-Printers/dp/B00BI1AC6M  

[JohnD]

Joe - May not be cost effective, but this - even though sold as purple - is a beautiful lilac color.  I'm traveling at the moment, and don't have any pacitures handy...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PLA-1-75mm-Filament-All-Colours-1Kg-Reel-3D-Printer-Reprap-Makerbot-/251246557602?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item3a7f7639a2

[Scott Jones]

I just watched a video with the guy who makes the Square Helper and he had these listed in his video.

Natural -Makerbot

Glow -Jet Amazon

Soft white -Jet Amazon

Hard White -ultimachine

Grey -Matterhackers

Silver -ultimachine

Black -online filament

Yello -Protoparadigm

Athletic gold -matterhackers

Vegas gold -ultimachine

Orange -ultimachine

Pink -online filament

Red -matter hackers

Red -Protoparadigm

Light blue -matter hackers

Blue -ultimachine

Navy -online filament

Purple -ultimachine

Green -ultimachine

Dk green -online filament

Brown -ultimachine

 

Below items from faberdashery.co.uk

Lowbug yellow

Bling bling gold

Robot silver

Pearly white

Artic white

Architects stone

Earl grey

Classic black

Desert tan

Woodland brown

Mercury red

Fire truck red

Punk star pink

Cherry blossom pink

Sqeezed orange

Buttercream

Mellow yellow

Cyber yellow

Jade green

Village green

Greenery green

Bloomsbury teal

Galaxy blue

Lapis blue

Space marine

Electric blue

Glacial blue

Princely purple

Raspberry spark

Aurora

Crystal clear

[John Watson]

I have been using these guys ..fast delivery and I have had no issues with filament as yet :-)
http://www.voxelfactory.com/collections/all

[pashakun]

For those in Asia, https://www.bilbycnc.com.au/

I placed a large order with them that's arriving this weekend.

I had to wait a couple of weeks for the PLA to become available and haven't yet tested the product, but the customer service has been excellent so far. 

When the order ran over weight limit for their shipping company, the covered the extra costs.

There is at least another user on the forums who swears by the company.

[Stan Velijev]

Just gonna throw in my 2 cents:

I dislike MBI's filament, not sure if I had a bad batch, but I've measured their white to range from 1.73- 1.97 in diameter. Do not want.

The white and black from Matter Hackers has been printing quite well for me. Their diameter is closer to 1.7 from what I've measured but stays consistent.

Ultimachine has printed well for me, but I've only tried their purple so far, which is slightly translucent and actually looks nicer than I expected.

Faberdashery has had the most consistent PLA by far. If you're printing things that need to look good or items you're planning on selling, I'd highly recommend them despite the modest price bump for their product.

I've gone through probably 2-3 kg of their PLA so far, not a single jam, never any noticeable changes in print width. Just rock solid. Getting 5kg of their PLA special ordered on spools next week.

[Scott Jones]

Going to make my first PLA order.... anyone have a preferred source?

I think I am going to get black, white and maybe some other primary colors to start.

I know there are a bunch of vendors to pick from......just want some help to avoid the bad ones.

Thanks

[Jwo Fox-Lee]

Ultimaker is pricey, but has one of the best quality filaments, in my opinion.

- Jwo Fox-Lee

--

[Scott Jones]

I see that Ultimaker is 3mm...I thought we need 1.75?

[Eighty]

ProtoParadigm and Ultimachine are my go-to suppliers.

[Jwo Fox-Lee]

Sorry, I meant Ultimachine.

- Jwo

On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 7:57 AM, Eighty <adun...@gmail.com> wrote:

ProtoParadigm and Ultimachine are my go-to suppliers.

[Dan Newman]

On 6 Apr 2013 , at 7:57 AM, Eighty wrote:

> ProtoParadigm and Ultimachine are my go-to suppliers.

I had some fantastic prints with the PLA which toybuilder is now selling at
https://www.tindie.com/shops/toybuilder/. [Disclaimer: they sent me
samples to print with. I found it to be quite good -- good dimensional
tolerances and no problems printing with it -- and I'll be buying
from them when I next need to order PLA. I do use a minimalistic Mk8
mod on my PLA extruders. I did my PLA prints on a Rep 2 with Sailfish.]
Dan

[Dan Newman]

On 6 Apr 2013 , at 8:55 AM, Dan Newman wrote:

>
> On 6 Apr 2013 , at 7:57 AM, Eighty wrote:
>
>> ProtoParadigm and Ultimachine are my go-to suppliers.
>
> I had some fantastic prints with the PLA which toybuilder is now selling at
> https://www.tindie.com/shops/toybuilder/.

BTW, Toybuilder is an active member of this forum, the Makerbot
community, and the DIY 3D printing community in his metropolitan area.

Dan

[Jwo Fox-Lee]

Anyone have a recommended merchant that carries solid RED filament?

All the reds I've gotten from various places are also sort of translucent.

- Jwo Fox-Lee

Dan

[Bryon Miller]

I use Rainbot3D.  They have the lowest prices I've seen when I was looking, but I bought a lot of plastic.  I got 10 1 kg spools at $28/ea plus free shipping.  In smaller quantities they are about $30 plus $5 shipping.  They have a large selection of colors and they have conductive plastic as well.  Diameter consistantly measures at 1.7 - 1.83 when I measure with calipers.  I have only had one problem caused by the filament, the silver roll I got was wound with the filament being tucked under itself every few feet or so, and this would cause the filament to snag so the extruder couldn't continue to pull the plastic in.  This was only on one spool and I really wonder how this happens, wouldn't you have to go out of your way to tuck the filament under a previous wrapping every so feet instead of just spooling the plastic directly onto the roll like a movie projector?

Aside from that one problem that would probably be replaced if I even brought it up with them, this has been an excellent source.  I see no reason to spend nearly $50 at makerbot or other high dollar PLA suppliers for 1 KG, when you can get them from here at half the cost.

I'm sure the PLA from china will be good, but I buy from china quite a bit.  Shipping is going to be the biggest factor.  They'll probably want you to use DHL and place an order that weighs at least 23kg so they get a discount in shipping.  If your per unit cost is above $30, go local.

My favorite color is white because I paint many things I print.

[Jamesarm97]

I have long since stopped buying filament from MBI. It was my only source until I switched to PLA then the 30 day crap just got to me. It isn't marked out of stock, just can ship any time within 30 days and usually takes at least a few weeks. Here is a new source that is doing me well and $10 cheaper and has nice colors too.

https://www.inventables.com/categories/materials/3d-printer-filament

[Steve]

I have had good results using ProtoParadigm and UltiMaker. ProtoParadigm is west coast so I often get the 

filament next day. :-)  Ultimaker takes about a week to get to Oregon, but they have good stuff and also include

samples of other colors.

Based on Dan's recommendation I will try Toybuilder. It looks like they are also on the west coast, so I hope

shipping would not me more than a couple days to Oregon??

I got my Rep2 in December. I ordered an extra spool of filament with it. I was surprised at how much I used

the machine, its running 4-6 hours a day. We have ordered a dozen spools in eight different colors. If your Rep2

is still on order make sure you have several extra spools of filament. I tried a bunch of colors, and just use the ones 

I did not like for making and experimenting with prototypes, and then switch to the desired color when I have a design finalized.

Thanks for the recommendation Dan.

[Joseph Chiu]

I ship USPS Prioriy Mail. Depending on the routing, it is typically one to three days to major destinations.  I just had a customer in Brooklyn, NY get his in two days.

I look forward to your order, Steve.  If you use the coupon code 194E2ED (good through this weekend), you'll get $5 off so that your shipping is free.

[griffey]

I'll second or third Ultimachines (NOTE: this is different than Ultimakers). They not only have a great selection and shipping on PLA, but they are crazy involved in the 3D printer scene...they make a great deal of the electronics/boards for RepRaps, and are awesome people to deal with.

https://ultimachine.com/

Jason

[Chris Milnes]

The only strong, solid, opaque red I can recommend in the US is Protoparadigm.

The only one better that iv'e found (Ive tried most every supplier) is Fire Truck Red from Faberdashery.co.uk  
Their colors and quality stand miles above all other suppliers. VERY EXPENSIVE. 

[tunell]

I've been using filament from Rainbot3D.com, and the results have been great. Plus the spools are only $30/kg with free shipping on large orders. This will be my go-to supplier after some bad experiences with others.

[Fozzie]

I'm halfway through my first reel of Matterhackers white (standard, not PRO) and have been thrilled with it. Prints much better than the MBI blue and MBI natural I have. Will be ordering more from them.

On Friday, March 22, 2013 12:39:18 AM UTC-5, John G wrote:

I'm pretty new to printing but I have had awesome experience with matterhackers so far.  I've printed with their blue and orange.  I just received my order of black and white and was treated to an upgrade.  Not sure what the difference with their new "pro" filament is about but I'm excited to try it.  Great colors, great prices, super fast shipping.  I have no reason not to like them.  Just speaking from my experience so far, but I'm happy with the company.

[Scott Signore]

I have to say I am a big fan of Matterhackers PLA.   I have every color they make, and love them all..  I just recently bought a roll of their black soft PLA and love that too...   Great service. super fast FREE shipping. Great prices.

[Darrell jan]

I've just tried out the Toybuilder yellow-green PLA. It's more opaque than most of the PLAs, which tend to be translucent. So if you're going for more of an ABS "look", you get that, but with PLA. Good stuff.