3D printing Filament - market survey NZ

Hi all!

I'm new to this forum and was looking for some feedback on what sort of filaments people are using and what works best for you? I have got two printers setup at my place but filaments in the market are quite expensive so I was hoping to find a cheaper source! That would be good if you could answer a few question below for me. And let me know if you're interested in running trials on printer you have available with FREE filament.

What sort of printer do you have? Does it take after market filament?

What material type filament do you prefer and why? ABS?PLA?HIPS? NinjaFlex?

What size filaments do you prefer and use? 1.75mm? 3.00mm?

Approximately how much do you pay per kg of filament? range? $40 ~ $60?

How much of material do you use? 1kg spool per month? more? less?

Would you be interested in buying cheaper filament without compromising quality? If YES then what sort of price range?

Would you be interested in running trials with your printer if provided with FREE filament and give feedback?

Really Appreciate your help and feedback - the purpose of this is to see if there's any need for cheaper (but same quality) filament and are we paying too much for locally available filaments?
Thanks again

Printer Prusa i3
Filaments in order of preference PLA , Ninja , ABS
always use 1.75mm
usually pay about $39 per roll
use about 1 roll per month
always interested in new filaments but they need to be a constant diameter and have good adhesion properties around $30/KG

will always try new filaments please PM me

I now use 3dBenchy file to test filaments

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2015 04:47AM by moth4017.

Thanks for your feedback.

I think I could import something for about $30 mark for sure. Mind asking me where do you currently get your filament from?

Also, I've started running test with benchy specimen. I'll update this forum once I have material in stock for field test.

Regards,

How has your testing been going?

What sort of printer do you have? Does it take after market filament?
I have a heavily modified rostock. It can print 300mm high.
I mostly print my own designs, check out [www.thingiverse.com] [www.shapeways.com]
Think I'm up to 38 different designs on thingiverse, some of the vases/solids have multiple shapes as well.
It uses a direct drive bowden setup I designed recently which can use ninjaflex:`[www.shapeways.com]
I only use 1.75 now as there are more sources for 1.75
I started with Diamond age and opted for their more economical 1.85 filiament but found that locked me in to their product as most sell 1.75 and 3mm, also I figure 1.75 is easier to direct drive (no gears required) so I made the change, currently I'm using a 3rd party heat break and hot end with a water cooled cold end.

What material type filament do you prefer and why? ABS?PLA?HIPS? NinjaFlex?
Around 95% PLA. I've done a few small designs with ninjaflex, it's not so suited for bowden though. There is some investigation into filaments that are hard/have a hard shell cold and that amalgamate or chemically change on heating into the required end composition. I've also done a bit with nylon, ABS and PETG but there's massive shrink with all the nylons I've used so far. I'd like to try colourfab's PLA/PHA blend but it's quite pricy. Also I'd like to get hold of some bronzefill, bamboofill and Taulmans 910 nylon to try out.

What size filaments do you prefer and use? 1.75mm? 3.00mm?
1.75 I also found some bright blue weed eater line at Mitre10 Mega in 1.6mm to experiment with and I've got some ABS white pellets and colouring pellets to experiment with but I've not yet made a struder. I got my ABS pellets and ABS master batch colourant from OS3DP.com including someglow in the dark blue which is supposed to retain light for longer than the green. I've used green glow in the dark from dx.com(ABS) and from diamondage but find the light is dissappointingly short lived. The dx.com ABS green glow in the dark is almost fluoro even in light where as the diamond age glow PLA is a sort of dingy pastel green and with sun exposure in the windo sill for the last year it has aged to a greyer colour. The ABS glow in the dark green vase has been on my window sill from about feb/march of this year summer and I still can't tell it from new.

Approximately how much do you pay per kg of filament? range? $40 ~ $60?
In NZ I can get them retail for $43 from model craft and hobbies and a couple of other places on line in NZ for similar. I also use matterhackers and dx.com
Robotdig looks very promising for a combined order, anyone? the more exotic filaments cost me though.. I'd like some taulmans nylon 910. I'd also like to try the wolfbite headbed prep products, they look very promising.

How much of material do you use? 1kg spool per month? more? less?
anywhere between 1/2 a kilo and 3 kilo. If I'm printing big vases, an overnight print will use about 200 grams of PLA

Would you be interested in buying cheaper filament without compromising quality? If YES then what sort of price range?
Yes. I doubt we will get coiled and reliable thickness PLA under 15kg per kilo in the next 5 years but I'd love to be proved wrong!

Would you be interested in running trials with your printer if provided with FREE filament and give feedback?
Definitely!

Hey Grael, I was completely flummoxed by your post until I realised you were quoting mpats post, line by line, then answering them - shame you didn't use highlighting cos' it was quite interesting.
Anyway...
Are you sure "model craft and hobbies" sells filament - I can't see any? I still source from China.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

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What sort of printer do you have?

Prusa i3 variant

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Does it take after market filament?

yes

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What material type filament do you prefer and why? ABS?PLA?HIPS? NinjaFlex?

PLA, its easy going. ABS warps. HIPS isn't bad, but I have no reason to use it.

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What size filaments do you prefer and use? 1.75mm? 3.00mm?

3.0mm as diamondage sells it cheaper in that diameter.

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Approximately how much do you pay per kg of filament? range? $40 ~ $60?

$55 I feel it is over priced. I want to move to something cheaper.

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How much of material do you use? 1kg spool per month? more? less?

Around 1kg a month

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Would you be interested in buying cheaper filament without compromising quality? If YES then what sort of price range?

Yes! Around 30-40

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Would you be interested in running trials with your printer if provided with FREE filament and give feedback?

Sure!

Model Crafts & Hobbies in Victoria St Wellington sells it.

On this subject though, I have a design I'm getting Shapeways to try to print in their bronze infused stainless steel product at the moment:


Not sure how well it will hold up during the bronze infusion process, it may be a write off or I may yet be blown away with the quality, it's a risk.
The plan though, is to have a one piece extruder body carrying heaters, temperature sensor, fizzy drink bottle hopper, water cooling and with a cavity for my custom auger.

I have several Kg of ABS pellets and some ABS masterbatch colorant but I've been holding off on actually buying a struder, I'm fond of DIY and so this is my angle on it.

I see that Polymaker are selling some new lines that should be interesting to most on here, haven't tried their stuff yet but the write ups are very promising. I'd like to try their PLA and their polycarbonate.
Taulman is now selling a PET-G variant but I'm a bit dubious as to their claims, I've found thick sheets of PET-G (2mm+) are strong but brittle too. Better than acrylic though.

Done hardly anything with ABS before but been having some good successes just recently on my rostock with 235deg hot end, 110deg heated bed. I'm using the acetone disolved ABS glass film trick for adhesion and it's working a treat.

Hi Grael,

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GRael
I have several Kg of ABS pellets and some ABS masterbatch colorant

Where did you buy the granules?

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wingmaster
Hi Grael,

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GRael
I have several Kg of ABS pellets and some ABS masterbatch colorant

Where did you buy the granules?

store.os3dp.com

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waitaki
Hey Grael, I was completely flummoxed by your post until I realised you were quoting mpats post, line by line, then answering them - shame you didn't use highlighting cos' it was quite interesting.
Anyway...
Are you sure "model craft and hobbies" sells filament - I can't see any? I still source from China.

I think Model Craft & Hobbies are a franchise. The wellington owner has been stocking some filament.
I've also used Sandbrooks reel to reel (new zealand based)

My last batch of filament was from robotdigg.
One reel looked like it was near to the start, I ordered 4 x reels of transparent ABS 1.75 and one of them has some bubbles in the filament. It does look fairly clear though.
I ordered a reel of blue PLA, looks fine.
A roll of heoliophilious filament but the thickness wasn't marked and I didn't notice. Turned out to be 3mm.
Also got another round "glass" plate and silicon heater mat + a couple of right angle hot end cartrige heaters.

My other project is closer though, I designed up a mini extruder and auger unit with built indrink bottle hopper attachment, water cooling, hex drive and a nylon flange. The housing and auger I got done by shapeways in bronze infused SS from their ExOne contracter. Turned out brilliantly. I need to do a bit of setup around it to test it properly though.

Triple dissappointment on the robotdigg filiament:

1 I forgot to actually look for filiament diameter on my roll of heliophilous filiament when ordering, it came as 3mm so I checked on the listing, no diameter shown!!(not a listed option)
2 I ordered 4 rolls of clear ABS 1.75 Pretty clear but one was supplied as 3mm ??wtf?
3 Two of the rolls of ABS have lots of bubbles entrapped in the filament.

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I've got some test material in-stock now. I'll PM you all individually and work-out how I'm going to ship it to you.

I know it has taken a year almost for me to action this but struggling dollar wasn't helping.

Hope you all have been printing just fine - any products you can think of worth bringing on-board to make this more accessible then please feel free to send your suggestions.

Regards,