Filament

[ajf]

Have noticed a lot of people asking about what filament they can use with their MOD-t of on the NewMatter support site.  Technically, any 1.75mm PLA will work.  However, there is a lot of filament out there that is pretty low quality.  And, judging by the sample roll that came with my MOD-t, I'd say the stuff from NewMatter is medium quality at best and way over priced.

Another important consideration is if the filament spool itself will fit on the MOD-t spool holder.  Many will not and would require an adapter or alternate mounting solution.

I've bought a lot of filament from Amazon because it's easy, quick, and, with Prime, shipping is free. I've been pretty with the JustPLA and Gizmodorks PLAs I've gotten for the most part.  The JustPLA spools will not fit on the MOD-t spool holder, the hole is too small.

My current goto source for high quality filament is AtomicFilament.  It's made in the U.S. (well, Southern California), the colors are amazing and the price for most 1KG spools is $30 and includes shipping.  I've had discussions with the owner and he's very knowledgable passionate about his product. I am in no way affiliated with Atomic, it's just really good filament.  

Oh, and yes the 1KG spools from Atomic will fit on the MOD-t spool holder! (I haven't tried their larger spools, but I'll about the dims and update.)

Update: The 3.5KG spools from Atomic will not fit on the MOD-t spool holder, they have a 12" diameter. They would need a detached holder anyway since the weight would probably tip the MOD-t.

Please feel free to post questions about filament and/or share your own experience with the various brands.

regards,

aj

[Tyler Braddick]

Does AtomicFilament fit on the holder?

On Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 10:17:20 PM UTC-6, ajf wrote:

Have noticed a lot of people asking about what filament they can use with their MOD-t of on the NewMatter support site.  Technically, any 1.75mm PLA will work.  However, there is a lot of filament out there that is pretty low quality.  And, judging by the sample roll that came with my MOD-t, I'd say the stuff from NewMatter is medium quality at best and way over priced.

Another important consideration is if the filament spool itself will fit on the MOD-t spool holder.  Many will not and would require an adapter or alternate mounting solution.

I've bought a lot of filament from Amazon because it's easy, quick, and, with Prime, shipping is free. I've been pretty with the JustPLA and Gizmodorks PLAs I've gotten for the most part.  The JustPLA spools will not fit on the MOD-t spool holder, the hole is too small.

My current goto source for high quality filament is AtomicFilament.  It's made in the U.S. (well, Southern California), the colors are amazing and the price for most 1KG spools is $30 and includes shipping.  I've had discussions with the owner and he's very knowledgable passionate about his product. I am in no way affiliated with Atomic, it's just really good filament.  

[ajf]

Yes! I'm an idiot, that's the main reason I wanted to post about it... Thanks!

[Jackson He]

I got some from "bgastore" on ebay. They are under $20 per Kg, free shipping, and they seem to work better than the filament that came with the Mod-t. The holder fits fine too.

[AlanZ]

I picked up some Inland PLA from my local MicroCenter (I got  reels of purple and grey)

The purple prints better than the grey, but I won't be using either going forward.

The magenta filament that shipped with the printer makes MUCH nicer prints than the two Inland colors I've tried. 

I just ordered some white Hatchbox filament from Amazon... I will report back when I get a chance to test it.

I will also likely order some from New Matter... as a way of supporting the company. 

They/we are going through some growing pains, but I think they have a product that appeals to a wide audience.

[Jacob Ramsey]

Using Hatchbox from Amazon, about 23 and I have used about 66% of the spool without major issue.

Also have used Monoprice, used about 20% of roll without any issues beyond firmware hiccups.

Used another brand from Amazon, Argos, and caused irreparable printer clog in carraige. Will be sent back to new matter for replacement.

[Tracy Nelson]

On Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 6:22:21 PM UTC-5, AlanZ wrote:

I picked up some Inland PLA from my local MicroCenter (I got  reels of purple and grey)

The purple prints better than the grey, but I won't be using either going forward.

The magenta filament that shipped with the printer makes MUCH nicer prints than the two Inland colors I've tried.

I bought some purple and yellow from Micro Center for $15/spool (1Kg). Seems to print as well as the pink stuff that came with my mod-T. Haven't had any issues with filament breaking or not printing well. Can't beat it for the price. 

[ethan]

I've bought rolls from eSUN and they're very nice. At about $20 they're pretty competitively priced. The plastic roll is the same kind of standard used with the MOD-t so they fit in the spool holder perfectly.

http://www.amazon.com/Filament-1-75mm-Makerbot-Reprap-Printers/dp/B00MV7T0KQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449389258&sr=8-1&keywords=esun

Perhaps my favorite feature is that the roll itself is fully transparent, so you can see exactly how much filament you have left. All rolls should be like this.

I've also bought a roll from a company called Alchement, it was total junk, the prints would never stick on the bed and the print head would get clogged. Stay away from that company.

I actually really liked the roll that came with the MOD-t, I thought it was good quality. However I think they are way over priced at $40 a roll (especially considered that PLA only costs about $3 per kg).

[Aaron]

+1 here for Hatchbox. It's the only filament I've used (aside from the NewMatter provided pink spool) and it's been great. The reviews on Amazon are legit and the prices are good. Now if only the printer could work correctly more than 60% of the damn time!

[Atrix]

I have recently bought a 1kg spool from rigid.ink. I haven't received it yet, but ill update when I can. Anyone used this?

[Christopher Leger]

Hatchbox has been great.  The silver looks as reasonably close to silver as I can imagine without being actually metallic.  My boys were satisfied with their swords at least!  There was maybe a tiny bit more oozing and threads than compared with the NM pink, but nothing to be concerned about and nothing that impacted the final print quality.  I picked up rolls of Hatchbox black and white and they do not show this.  The white prints nice and clean and bright.  I'll test out a Darth Vader head in the black soon.

Chris

[JP]

I've had great luck with Hatchbox purchased off Amazon.  Glow in the dark and white so far have been great.  Had to make another spool holder since the diameter of the spool doesn't fit the MOD-t, but that was fine.  Of course the pink filament that came with the MOD-t worked just as well too.

I purchased some other brand (not sure on the brand as there is no name on the spool, but it was from a guy on Amazon REPRAPGURU I believe that just will not work for me, getting stuck to the print head, clumps up on the bed and won't stick, seems to almost need a higher temp to use this other filament.

I think I'll stick with Hatchbox for now since that seems to work awesome..

[Jesse Klug]

Using eSun "natural" un-colored off of Amazon and that printed some great stuff with no issues. I like a good neutral base for printing the objects, then finishing with my own paint job after. No issues jamming or clogging up the print head.

On Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 11:17:20 PM UTC-5, ajf wrote:

[Kraig McLaughlin]

I am hoping to design and print (unless I find someone has done one already. lol) a new holder that can fit into the back slots, like the New Matter holder.  Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to figure out something.  I like Hatchbox alot.

[Andrew Taylor]

Kraig,

I have designed this already! If you would like to download this file, please email me.

[AlanZ]

Rather than design a filament holder for odd size reels, I decided to use an 11" 'magic arm', mounted near the printer. I will make a short video of my setup, hopefully this weekend, that shows all the tweaks I have made to facilitate printing.

[Andrew Taylor]

I just got filament from Atomic Filament  and the quality is outstanding! The best I have ever seen! I highly recommend it! 

[Jacob Ramsey]

Is Atomic related to Argos? They utilize the exact same roll and offer the exact same colors, even obscure. Both are made in USA, but one is available really cheap on Amazon with Prime shipping.

[ajf]

I don't think Atomic is related to Argos.  I've talked to Atomic's owner a bit and he did do some private label stuff, but didn't sound like any of it was on Amazon as of last week though... He's apparently going to be on Amazon soon though...

The spools are not actually the same judging by the pictures of the Argos version.  In any case, spools are almost certainly purchased from 3d party vendor in both cases.

[nap...@yahoo.com]

Does anyone have recommended temps for the filaments (and for the Mod T in general). My other printer lets me easily change the temp and I have found different companies (well XYZ, hatchbox and new matter) all work a little better at different temps. New Matter looks like it defaults to 210. I found Hatchbox works better around 200 on my other printer for example. Am I hallucinating here, but before I started throwing other filament into the New Matter, thought I would ask?

[ajf]

The cloud interface doesn't let you set temp, it's fixed. Using a local slicer you can set the temp as you please up to 220ºC which is the firmware limit built in to MOD-t.

[Ran Sagy]

Anyone can recommend other brands than Hatchbox and Atomic? Neither ships to Israel (unless i use one of those middle-man shipping companies, which doubles the price), Unless I'm mistaken.

Jesse Klug, Insights on the eSun spools? They do ship here, afaik.

[ajf]

Try here for filament in Israel.  Maybe also look for local 3D printing groups for other sources. You could try contacting Micron3DP, they don't sell filament but they might be able to point you to high quality supplier. (Micron3DP makes my current goto hotends and extruders for custom machine builds. Great stuff. And, if you contact them, please tell Eran that AJ is still waiting for the Jewish grandma approved potato kugel recipe he promised me over the summer!)

[Ran Sagy]

Oh, That's a nice site! PLA and painter's tape, too. Prices are a bit high, But that's Israel for you. Even better, now that i found out that New Matter themselves don't ship accesories and PLA to Israel.

[Jonathan Mayer]

I can't wait for my Atomic Filament to deliver, took over a week to ship...  Not too impressed with their customer service skills, but I hope the filament quality makes up for it.

On Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 11:17:20 PM UTC-5, ajf wrote:

[Anthony Webb]

The filament that came with my machine always seems to break at the bend into the machine and up top where it enters the feeder.  I have resorted to leaving the top off my machine removing the clear tube, and feeding filament directly into the machine.  Can anyone confirm if new filament has the same issue or not?

[JohnF]

PLA is pretty moisture sensitive. It expands and can get more brittle.  I have had good luck with PLA for Toybuilders Lab (proto Supply) on my work printer.  I also found on the Mod-T I had to move the spool so that it fed directly in the back and not at a right angle. I was getting breaks at the spot where the filament made the right angle into the feed hole.

[Derek Schulte]

We're very familiar with ToyBuilder Labs aka Prototype Supply PLA and I would personally consider their filament to be similar to and similar quality to New Matter filament.  

We've also noticed quite a bit of variation in filament break sensitivity when looking at different spools of filament in identical environments.  For example, I've had a two spools of filament X where one spool would break every night (in various spots) when left in the printer, and another spool of the same that has gone weeks without a single break.  While it is known that moisture and temperature and such can all change the properties of PLA filament, it is often the case that spool-to-spool variations seem to overwhelm most environmental effects, even with some of the best suppliers.  Crack propagation in plastics is not a simple phenomena --- it's possible to work PLA into a knot on itself before breaking without a significant temperature rise, just as it's possible to have it spontaneously break when left in a static, theoretically low stress condition.  We (New Matter) have looked at a variety of logged temperature and humidity data versus break frequency for our standard filament, however, the results were not conclusive.

That said, an informal qualitative assessment of various sources and types of filament indicates that some are substantially less likely to break.  While some vendors are offering normal and higher "grade" PLA filament, I have not yet seen convincing data that differences are statistically significant (this may be out there and I I haven't reviewed it).  Also note that different colors of filament from the same vendor may have significantly different behaviors.  For example, white is often loaded with titanium dioxide and often appears to come out with a different texture and viscosity.  I personally believe that the major manufacturers of PLA filament are going to help solve the breakage problem in the reasonably near future (but not at all overnight).

--Derek

[Todd Kaiser]

I've been using about 1.5kg of Atomic Filament's Gun Metal Grey. Recently had my hot-end clog, and customer support wrote me this after sending a replacement.

After looking over the specs (specifically the melting temp) for the filament, it seems likely that this filament may have clogged your hot end. The MOD-t’s melting temp is 210 degrees Celsius and can be increased as high as 220 degrees Celsius but no higher. The filament you sent lists a melting range as high as 230 degrees celsius so it’s possible the filament may have not gotten hot enough. Generally, we don’t replace hot ends that have been clogged as a result of using alternative filaments. I just wanted to let you know of this possibility in the event that your hot end clogs again.

[Jonathan Mayer]

A printing temperature of 190 - 230 deg C is fairly common with PLA filaments.  I will note that ToyBuilder Labs (mentioned in this thread) states their temps from 190 - 220, but that's a bit of splitting hairs I think.  I've been using Atomic Filament for months now and the only time I've had a clog is when the printer malfunctioned and got stuck in the print (then kept trying to feed filament like nothing was wrong).  

Maybe stick to printing at a lower speed if that filament seems to clog more than usual. It could have been a bad spool as well (bad mix).

[Todd Kaiser]

Mine clogged in a similar fashion. The end of the filament came tied off to the spool, and the printer kept tugging on the last few feet to no avail.

I ran it again with a spare hot end after clearing the jam, and now that one no longer heats up and has some filament jammed in it. Think the hot end's fuse blew, that head probably came from my original IndieGoGo model.

[Greg L]

Just adding to the experiences that my similar clog with the filament being knotted caused the hot end to die as well.