Best PLA color for noobs?

What's the easiest PLA colors for a noobie to extrude? I've heard different colors have different melting temps etc. Originally I was thinking a generic white or black would be my preference. But i've heard that at least PLA White has a very small temperature range. Is this correct?

For reference, I'm planning to order 3mm PLA from Ultimachine.com

clear pla

Clear is the easiest to work with as it's properties aren't modified by pigments. It hides imperfections well though which can make diagnosing printing problems a little more difficult. I would start with clear until you are printing well, then get some white which shows imperfections well.

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jamesdanielv Wrote:
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> clear pla


Is that the same as when I see "Natural" listed as the color?

lions3 Wrote:
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> Is that the same as when I see "Natural" listed as
> the color?

Natural means uncolored, which for PLA also means clear.

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I would have said anything but clear. Clear is very difficult to see details of print quality which makes it problematic when tuning a printer. I would suggest an opaque filament but not black or white as these can be difficult to photograph if you want to pay a picture to get some help or feedback.

where can you buy clear PLA (like clamshell packaging?) Generally, they only have off-white as the closest injection molding grade.

makerbot.com is where i purchased mine from.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2012 08:38PM by jamesdanielv.

okay, now i'm even more confused lol. I was ready to order some clear (natural) PLA but now i'm not so sure. I agree with the idea of needing something opaque so it's easier to calibrate the printer.

Would blue be an okay color?
[ultimachine.com]

Here's the clear/natural I was looking at.
[ultimachine.com]

The reason people said to start with Natural is it prints really well on almost any printer. But as others have said it can make it harder to see the problems as it is semi clear. My thought on it all depend on your machine and the parts you used to build it. For a well built machine with well thought out parts and good build guide and software profiles you should buy what ever color you want. If you went with all homemade and nothing is like anyones else's machine you should buy some natural and some opaque so you can see what you are doing at the very beginning when you are trying to figure out how to make the machine do stuff and get the basic calibration done with the opaque. Then you can use the natural to see what nice bridging and less warp is like and try and get the same results with the opaque.

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Simba Wrote:
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> where can you buy clear PLA (like clamshell
> packaging?) Generally, they only have off-white
> as the closest injection molding grade.

Natural PLA is clear. Not quite crystal clear but close. Once printed it doesn't look nearly so clear because of voids and interfaces in the printing process. Natural ABS is off-white.

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