Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? To be honest the last 6 months have been interesting. I went from buying filament for ~22USD a kilo on ebay to buying it locally from microcenter from 15-17USD depending on the sale. I had good luck with cheap filament. Its not the highest quality stuff around, but very workable. So far. 1 - 1 kilo of chinese natural abs - still have about 300G left of this, its brittle but once extruded its exceptionally strong. ~19bux shipped. 2 - 1 kilo of chinese black filament - finished it all. Exceptionaly high quality, easy to print and ranged from 1.73-1.78mm ~22bux shipped. 3 - 1 Kilo of tonner plastics natural from microcenter - not a bad filament. Still a bit brittle, but it seems all natural abs is a bit more brittle? ~16bux 4 - 1 kilo of tonner plastics black from microcenter - not bad either, same as the other black. ~16bux 5 - 1 kilo of microcenter brand black. Its very well sealed and air tight. Seems to be of good quality. ~ 15bux or so. Anyone have experience with the cheaper filaments? I only use ABS, so the black roll of tonner plastics PLA is sitting collecting dust. My main question is what are people paying for their plastics? Is it really worth paying 2-3 times the price for brand stuff? And what exactly is brand stuff? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430487#msg-430487 Thu, 21 May 2026 01:07:50 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431065#msg-431065 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431065#msg-431065 isonoob General Wed, 12 Nov 2014 00:02:53 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431038#msg-431038 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431038#msg-431038 DisruptiveTech General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 21:25:26 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431034#msg-431034 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,431034#msg-431034 isonoob General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 21:04:26 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430969#msg-430969 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430969#msg-430969 DisruptiveTech General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 17:07:46 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430928#msg-430928 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430928#msg-430928 zerodameaon General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:36:27 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430926#msg-430926 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430926#msg-430926
Quote
tmorris9
Is it really worth paying 2-3 times the price for brand stuff?

No, but I will always buy from whomever provides consistent quality. If that happens to be 2-3 times higher then so be it, if it were a China dealer then OK.

But, I make money with my printer and I never want to have issues with bad filament. I had enough of that when I started out and one decent sized seller cost me a $100 hotend with their crap filament and a week of no production.

One further thing to add to this thread. What kind of business do you run? Curiosity at its best here. If you want to keep it to yourself its fine.]]> jaguarking11 General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:34:47 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430920#msg-430920 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430920#msg-430920
Quote
nubby
Wow I didn't know they sold filaments at microcenter. I only ever go there when I have an emergency and need something immediately. I don't like them because of all the rebate crap they do. Anyways, I always thought $20 for 1k from US Chinese resellers was a good deal so I'll have to drop by microcenter and stock up on some rolls. Do they carry colorful rolls?

They carry a variety of stuff. Tone plastics is on sale for 15-16bux a roll, or the inland super Chinese stuff is nearly always for 15bux a roll. I like the toner plastics rolls more though as the bore on the wheel is much larger. Although at this point I have a bunch of empty rolls that I have no idea what to do with them. Perhaps shred them and make more filament.....]]> jaguarking11 General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:23:46 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430918#msg-430918 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430918#msg-430918
So far even the cheapest stuff never gave me too much trouble. I have never lost a hot end to bad filament, I nearly lost one due to user error. (Waiting on the print bed to heat up to 100C while the hot end went to 230c at a fraction of the time causing the ABS in the head to turn into charcoal ~10minute difference)

I have to admit, that when the filament is very good (My second order chinese stuff) it was a pleasure to work with. No clogs and no pains in setup. One thing I always do however is to use my calipers to measure every 15cm for 2-3 meters and average the size and two I always print a 1 hour test piece before doing a very long print. I am also experimenting with ever increasing nozzle sizes and that lends to lean less on filament quality than a fine .3mm nozzle would.]]> jaguarking11 General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:21:16 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430915#msg-430915 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430915#msg-430915 nubby General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:15:32 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430909#msg-430909 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430909#msg-430909 zerodameaon General Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:58:35 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430563#msg-430563 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430563#msg-430563 DisruptiveTech General Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:51:34 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430556#msg-430556 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430556#msg-430556 gmh39 General Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:23:07 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430543#msg-430543 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430543#msg-430543 isonoob General Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:00:51 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430537#msg-430537 Re: Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430537#msg-430537 Is it really worth paying 2-3 times the price for brand stuff?

No, but I will always buy from whomever provides consistent quality. If that happens to be 2-3 times higher then so be it, if it were a China dealer then OK.

But, I make money with my printer and I never want to have issues with bad filament. I had enough of that when I started out and one decent sized seller cost me a $100 hotend with their crap filament and a week of no production.]]> tmorris9 General Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:29:11 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430487#msg-430487 Cheap Filament.... The bottom fell out the market? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,430487,430487#msg-430487
So far.

1 - 1 kilo of chinese natural abs - still have about 300G left of this, its brittle but once extruded its exceptionally strong. ~19bux shipped.
2 - 1 kilo of chinese black filament - finished it all. Exceptionaly high quality, easy to print and ranged from 1.73-1.78mm ~22bux shipped.
3 - 1 Kilo of tonner plastics natural from microcenter - not a bad filament. Still a bit brittle, but it seems all natural abs is a bit more brittle? ~16bux
4 - 1 kilo of tonner plastics black from microcenter - not bad either, same as the other black. ~16bux
5 - 1 kilo of microcenter brand black. Its very well sealed and air tight. Seems to be of good quality. ~ 15bux or so.

Anyone have experience with the cheaper filaments? I only use ABS, so the black roll of tonner plastics PLA is sitting collecting dust.

My main question is what are people paying for their plastics? Is it really worth paying 2-3 times the price for brand stuff? And what exactly is brand stuff?]]> jaguarking11 General Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:07:23 -0500