PLA Brand

[Stoty 0]

I am guessing this is a personal preference question. I have an Ender 3 V2. I am curious about brands of PLA and which ones are better/more consistent. I am new to 3D printing (hobby) and have been using Inland PLA (made in China) as it is sold at a store local to me. Its the only brand they carry. I have been reading up and see that Hatchbox and IC3D are highly rated for quality, etc. Interestingly I see that IC3D is headquartered near me. Was looking to by USA made PLA if the quality is good.

 

I have random issues with the Inland spool being tangled. It also seems to vary as to whether it will stick to the build plate within the same spool and identical parameters. White and gray are what I have used the most. THe black spool I have seems to work better. Before I open a blue and red spool I was curious what folks thought.

[kmanstudios 1,073]

1. Use what you are comfortable with and....
2. slowly dabble in new materials that are available in the width that works for your system.

Also depends on what is available to you by way of outside sales.

[Kamakanaaa 2]

It depends on what realm you are working in....

 

If printing is a hobby, consider looking at Matterhackers Build Series and Hatchbox.  I have had great experiences with these two filament brands at the hobby level, where I was most concerned with an affordable, consistent filament.  Both offer excellent layer and bed adhesion.  I am also testing some Prusament PLA right now but do not have enough information to draw a perfect general conclusion (so far, it's been a great contender, definitely in Top Five).

 

If you do 3D printing professionally, for instance, in an engineering firm or other applications related to product development, prototyping, and short-run manufacturing, I would consider: Atomic, Ultimaker, Matterhackers Pro series, and ColorFab.  I have tested dozens of different filament brands to figure out the best pro-grade filament for the money.  I am most focused on filaments with high consistency, strength, visual quality, and dimensional accuracy because I do this professionally now.  The reason being is because when printing on something that would be presented to other people outside of the company, visual quality, and presentation of the product matter. I also have a strong focus on accuracy because it's great to have that peace of mind to know that what I design in CAD will fit how I created it. (Most of the project I work on require accuracy of 100 microns or better)