Best 3D Printer Filament

What is the best 3D Printer filament type and brand to buy that is still priced reasonably? Our 3D Printer can’t handle Carbon fiber or anything with a high melting point, so any recommendations would be great. We would prefer to get a roll of filament for no more than around $25. Thanks.

“The best” is a question that I find rarely applies in engineering :stuck_out_tongue:

Really it depends on your situation. PLA works fine for low-load parts and even some structural parts if you design well. ABS is a little bit more finicky but is a bit stronger IME. I don’t have much experience with anything else so I won’t speak to that.

At $25 it’s probably better to get some PLA (I get mine from Hatchbox) and make sure your printer is calibrated well with good layer bonding and spending some time to learn to design around the limitations and strengths of the process.

+1 for Hatchbox filament. Never had any issues with it, very good quality, and reasonably priced.

As far as suggestions, it would be helpful to know either what printer you have or at least what the max temp it can go and whether or not it has a heated build platform.

That said, assuming common printer specs, if you’re looking for something beyond standard ABS or PLA I’d recommend either PETG, Nylon (if you can handle the temps), or ridgid TPU like Ninjaflex Cheetah/Armadillo.

To be honest though, I have yet to find a 3D printable part made out of PLA that couldn’t be made strong enough by just increasing the infill %.

Ive use AMZ3D from amazon for years, every spool works perfectly and never had any issues with it. I cant speak for any other filament.

+2 on Hatchbox. It’s reasonably priced and has the added bonus of being on Amazon with Prime shipping.

I have been using Hatchbox and it does work great! Does anyone have a specific brand of TPU that is cheap and ideally on prime that is good? I have been using Hatchbox but they are out. Has anyone used PRILINE TPU before?

NinjaFlex TPU is the most common I believe, I dont know if they have it on amazon but ive used it before, even on our robot in 2017, and it works great.

I’ve used a couple different generic TPUs and they’ve been fine. Just try to get something close to the same durometer as what your used to printing.

Highly recommend eSun PLA plus. Prints great, the colors are nice and bright and it’s surprisingly durable. It comes close to a nylon and surpasses Pet-G in durability IMO.

For non heavy loaded parts I’ll second Esun PLA+ . For Carbon filled parts we have used 3dextech carbon PETG and carbon Nylon. Both print very well but get a hardened nozzle. Many of our pulleys are printed with Esun PETG.

Are there specs for that somewhere? I can’t get the eSun website to load and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information available for it.

Interservo is a USA distributer. From their website
http:/https://www.intservo.com/pages/about-us

The Innovation Studio at UIUC prints exclusively in eSun PLA+ for all student project parts. I highly recommend it.

The most notable thing is the elongation at break and the notched izod impact numbers. Alloy 910 Nylon is about 30% too depending on how its measured.

I am going to jump on eSun PLA bandwagon as well. We have poured through the stuff in the last year and have found little to complain about. It is solid for light-load parts. We did print our climber/pulley for the 2017 game - a lot of iterations - but none broke.

If you can reach 260C, Taulman Bridge nylon offers a good mix of properties. Very tough material, not as hard to print as other nylons. Cost is $24 per pound, so twice the cost of PLA but a third the cost of carbon fiber Nylon.

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+3 on Hatchbox. They are consistently good. I’ve also had very good luck with Matterhackers build series. They shipped same day and it got to me within 2, without paying for anything expedited! Would highly recommend.