Is Cheap 3D Filament Bad?

[@GeezerGramps]

I bought a roll of Elegoo because it was cheap. It printed so good that I have found myself using it a lot.

[@JonAS-MR]

I’ve only been using Elgoo black PLA recently for my business. It has such good bed adhesion I don’t use brims anymore. When you peel it off a textured plate it feels almost like a heat activated adhesive is mixed into the PLA. I’ve performed drop tests with my parts and Elgoo black has far less inter layer weakness than Inland, hatchbox, and Esun. It’s perfectly wound based on the 40 spools I’ve printed so far, compared to inland where I had filament snap or snag 7 times in 60 spools.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

#1 tip for using cheap filament: DRY IT Yes, even PLA. I don't know how they manufacture it, but some cheap filament strings more and has poorer layer adhesion than filament that's been sitting out for months. Once you dry it for a few hours, it will usually become much better.

[@420247paul]

pla is not hydroscopic stop it we have sciece for a reason

[@polycrystallinecandy]

@@420247paul yes, we have science for a reason. PLA is in fact quite hygroscopic. The difference from materials like nylon and PETG is that PLA's printability is affected much less due to moisture. That doesn't mean it doesn't absorb moisture, or that specific blends of PLA don't perform poorly due to it.

[@s.sradon9782]

water bath cooling before they spool it.

[@kbee225]

​@@420247paulit is hygroscopic. Just not as much as you would think. PLA can absorb more than 1% of its weight of moisture.

[@kbee225]

​@@polycrystallinecandyYeah. You're right. It does depend on the grade of PLA though. (I have some experience extruding PLA in a single screw extruder through a filament die), moist PLA can have steam release and bubbling along with hydrolysis just like nylon. But I suppose the shear rate in a filament hot end is not nearly as much as an industrial extruder. So the degradation is not as noticeable and the low shear rates mean that we don't have to worry about shear thinning and die swell and other parameters.

[@GreySectoid]

Interesting comparison, I too am on the budget filament boat. Currently going thru Jayo Meta PLA, seems to print very well.

[@SoloGamingZA]

As a South African the only real filament I can get at a REASONABLE price is what Americans would call cheap filament and then I still have to pay double digits for a spool (R300 = $15) Even our locally manufactured filaments are pretty expensive. I mainly use CCTREE as that is most commonly imported cheaper brand and honestly they are great.... I got a free spool of Prusament orange from Prusa that I still even cant claim as a free gift since the delivery cost does not justify me paying that amount of money I could spend on about 6 or 7 rolls of cheaper filament and that is just the DHL shipping cost not even customs clearance.

[@theo3000]

Elegoo PLA+ works for me. Zero problems, great prints, inexpensive. A winner.

[@TopherTheLost]

For the last 2 years I've not spent more than $13/kg for basic PLA or ABS. My only issues are finding good colors, cheap filament is limited. Right now I'm using Elegoo and Sunlu, both a few kg over last month. I will say that a spool is generally used within a few days after being opened. Oh the PLA is on open machines and humidity is 42% in my print area as I type this. I've been in this hobby since 2017 and in the past cheap filament always bit me in the butt. Today I don't think it's much of an issue. If Slant3d gets their production off the ground I may start buying American again.

[@Mo67740]

So I saw some Filament from SunLu for really cheap on Amazon, and I wanted to ask if it gave so any Problems. I read some Reviews that said it Clogged their 0.4mm Nossel ( I also have 0.4). I dont need execlennt quality because i mainly print toys and sell them of a Quick Buck at my old Elementary school. Edit: I use the BambuLab a1 mini if that makes a diffrence

[@TopherTheLost]

@@Mo67740 Lately I've been using a lot of Elegoo which have been just fine on my A1's. I like the cardboard spools. I do have some recent SunLu silk gold, its in a redesigned spool that looks a lot like bambu's spools. The don't fit as snug though. I have had them fall off the AMS lite.

[@Mo67740]

@TopherTheLost Thanks i will buy a Spool and test it for myself

[@RocktCityTim]

Three important considerations for testing like this - Is your room environment stable - temperature and humidity? Is your printer enclosed (Your's is, but not everyone has a P1P)? Is your printer's print area affected by airflow (AC Vents, room fans, etc.)? If the environment varies even by 5% humidity or 3 degrees C, it can make the same filament provide different results with exactly the same gcode file printed multiple times. A low cost tent-like enclosure was the best things that I did for each of my printers. Welcome to the FDM Printing School of Trial and Error! 😁

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Yeah, it's the curse of the overnight print in winter: everything going well at bedtime but then the home heating goes off and the room chills through the print so each layer ends up printed at a different ambient temperature. I strongly suspect this leads to stresses in the part which cause corners to lift and bed adhesion to fail.

[@matgof03]

my printer is in my room which is around 18°C and the door opens and close all the time could that be the reason some corner lifts ?@@AndrewHelgeCox​

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

@@matgof03 It could be. Easy enough to test: print something that lifts but at a time the door won't be opened. More likely uneven bed temps: hot centre and cool edges.

[@aroncheek5092]

I'm still learning about slicers and have only just got my first printer, now I know my way around my printer and fixed a fault from factory I'm able print from start to finish now and I'm just about to get through my first reel of the anycubic standard pla , I have got through approx half a reel of the sunlu matte white pla and they both gave me good results. My printer is the anycubic Kobra 2 neo and apart from a tensioner nut that serves one of the guide wheels for z axis being put the wrong way around my Kobra is performing well, I'm impressed with it so far I was going to send it back until I diagnosed the fault

[@pneumantic6297]

Best rule of thumb, if the filament is spooled well, then its probably good filament. Also, never buy hygroscopic filament from a cheap manufacturer unless you have the means to dry it well. If you aren't buying filament with crazy mixes or unique colors and its the way I said prior, the filament will be great majority of the time no matter what the price is. Good spool windings are the first things companies throw out when going cheaper so it is a good gauge. If you really want a fun time then buy a matte grey or navy blue, in my experience those come out HORRIBLE.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Damn, I have a roll of matte navy blue waiting for a project I want to be pretty 😮.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Colours should ideally be matched between brands/price levels as the pigments themselves have their own properties. Black and white can be particularly tricky (e.g. titanium dioxide powder for white).

[@RichM1967]

I bought Elegoo Rapid PLA for my Creality K1C -- It works better than the creality filament. Usually I don't need to gluestick, and the prints adhere nicely to the bed, and it pops off the bed with no residue. Residue should have been part of the test as cleanup is essential too.

[@birdness]

I've had good and bad results from cheap filament. It's definitely a gamble because some of it prints great, and some of it constantly clogs the nozzle even after drying.

[@Craftknights3D]

Completely agree!

[@KirkNorthrop]

PolyMaker PolyTerra is a little more affected by moisture than other PLAs I’ve found. That could explain why your second print was better than the first. I have to use it in a dryer box.

[@Craftknights3D]

Interesting. You might be right. I haven't printed much with PolyTerra before.

[@KirkNorthrop]

@@Craftknights3D as you noted, it’s lovely when you get it going though - nice and matte and very consistent layers. This was on a Prusa Mini+.

[@stanleyhoptroff]

mine had gaps and bubbled from the factory

[@natereinhold6180]

Yup, I use tons of polyterra and have the same "issue", needs dried or ran in dry box Side note: when dried well, I did a 110mm bridge on a hose nozzle that I designed! I didn't plan on it, just realized I made the design error after it started printing it

[@justsomemincedgarlic]

Literally all I use these days is elegoo pla+ it’s great, lots of colors and it’s durable. Print quality is fantastic.

[@zUltra3D]

I've been using the cheapest PLA filament i could find (70RON, about $15) and I'm printing it at like over 150mm/s just fine. It is a bit more fragile, i think, than my creality ender pla which is a bit more forgiving and flexible, but otherwise perfectly fine.

[@Pappagar]

I have used IIIDmax, polymaker, Jayo, Sunlu, Esun, Ziro, Hatchbox, Paramount, Inland, Eryone, and Novamaker. All were acceptable.

[@oleurgast730]

Actually one point to be tested: The end of the spool. Some filaments have a kink at the end of the roll. If you have a printhead with integrated filament sensor (like on the Prusa mk3s, but also with printheads based on the Orbiter 2.0 with filament sensor), this can cause problems. The kinked end is tawn inside the head, sensor detects runout and tries to unload the rest. works well with most filaments. But if there is a kink at the end, the end does not find it way out of the extruder anymore - and you have to disassemble the whole head to remove the rest of the filament from the extruder. While I like Sunlu filament very much, as it prints very well and is quite cheap, it actually has this kink on the end 😞So I have to make sure never to run out of filament while printing with Sunlu on my mk3s - it left me with a lot of spools with some filament on it... I just had 9 spools of black Sunlu PETG and used a filament welder and spooled everything to 2 spools. In case you have an integrated filament sensor (thats quite nice with autoload features - and very usefull with manual filament changes using M600 for toolchange), this kink is a hell in the butt. There are some ways around this issue: 1. Using a TTL-logic to join two filament runout sensors, so filament inserted is only reported when both sensors detect filament. This way autoload still functioning, as you have first sensor right after the spool (I use the sensor for the Prusa mini, actually its signal is invert to the integrated sensor, so I use a 4*NAND chip to do the logic), and the moment you insert the filament to the printhead the controler get "loaded" signal and loads the filament automaticly. If the filament run outs on the first sensor, filament runout is signaled - so the end of the filament never gets into the printhead. 2. respool the filament. While this might sound insane efford, I actually sometimes have prints using more than 1 kg filament anyway. So spooling some rolls of the most used filament onto one big spool (3...5 kg spools) actually makes sense. After winding you just cut off the kink. 3. Redesin the integrated filament sensor to be easaly disassembled even if filament is inside, so you do not have to disassamble the whole printhead. But still, disassemble filament sensor in the middle of a print is not fun, esp. if the printer is inside an enclosure. Still, this can be used adittionaly to solution 2, in case you forgot to wind to another spool or you use a brand normaly do not having a kink but you have bad luck with the spool you actually use...

[@Craftknights3D]

Goog Point! I didn't think of that when making the video.

[@oleurgast730]

@@Craftknights3D I didn't thought of this myself until learning the hard way ;-) Actually the mk3(s(+)) was the only common printer with integreated filament sensor for a long time, so esp. chineese manufacturers where unaware of this problem. Any external filament sensor has no problem, as you always can simply remove the filament after the sensor. The problem just recently expanded to other printers, as developements in klipper and mainstream marlin nowerdays can easaly include autoload and developements like the filament runout sensor for the Orbiter making this feature more common. Anyway, I will further document my 2-runout-sensors solution, so the problem can be solved independently of the firmware by using a second sensor and a chip for 60 cents. It might take a while, but I will release a video this year (sorry geman only).

[@1supertec]

I use elegoo exclusively for PLA as its a great price and it prints really well also easy to get it off Amazon next day 👍

[@JamesRamsey-rg4ty]

Where did you get that particular torture test piece from? I've seen variants, but not one with spikes.

[@Craftknights3D]

I designed it myself.

[@erraddict]

I'm looking to pick up the P1P as well, how do you like it? Is it loud? I'll have mine in my office so i'll be sitting about 5 feet away from it while gaming etc. Also, were you printing at the highest speed?

[@Craftknights3D]

The P1P is an amazing printer but it is very loud. About 60 Dezibel at max Speed. So I wouldn't run it next to you. I have a dedicated review on my channel.

[@LampDoesVideogame]

I'll tell you, I've been running THE cheapest filament in the US, LLLDMAX, for about 2 years. It works very well for small prints, but clogs every single roll, sometimes as much as every 300grams, and has gigantic chunks that will not make it through extruders. It prints strong as hell though. Good, when it doesn't clog.

[@Craftknights3D]

Yeah, those are the risks of printing with cheap filament.

[@LampDoesVideogame]

@@Craftknights3D I'm working on incorporating Overture back into my work, on prints larger than 24ish hours. I used to rebuild my hotends every 3 days, now on a few of them it's every few weeks. Lol. I also get refunds for all the rolls that either have those chunks, or large prints that clog in a split second. They're a good company to work with and mean well, and tbh I hope it starts a precedent for less expensive filament because it is a little ridiculous for pla at times.

[@alteronteam]

here in Brazil the cheapest filament is around 18$ (the Elegoo),(obs: the creality one is 25$ +10$ of shiping)

[@1blktalon]

Thank you for sharing your results.

[@Andersenjonas]

Where do i find that test print?

[@peterpeter5666]

recently i tried different filament other then the bambu . I was suprised how well sunlu , giantarm, and polymaker pla print. I was especially impressed with the Giantarm silk pla . very shiny and smooth prints. I tried the blue gold and silver. The silver did not print as nice as the gold but very close

[@youtubehandlesux]

Bambu filaments are just repackaged sunlu.

[@peterpeter5666]

@@youtubehandlesux can you prove this? cuz i suspect the same. i purchased a roll of orange sunlu for a project and it looked exactly like my bambu orange.

[@sammacin4082]

I got a couple spools of the elegoo. I like the matte finish but it isn't super stiff

[@Boz1211111]

Please link of files you printet its useful for testing.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Given that filament is given a range of temps, did you print each at the midpoint of its range or print most of them at the same temperature somewhere in the overlap of all of their ranges? (Obv the PLA+ should be an outlier)

[@Craftknights3D]

Printed them all at the recommend temperature. Around 5°C warmer than the low end of the recommend temperature because the P1P generally prints PLA with slightly higher temps than other printers.

[@Cereal_Killr]

I use alot of elegoo filament. IT'S AMAZING and great price. I order a ton of it! ZERO issues on Ender 3 s1 pro and my bambu P1S both love it!

[@SianaGearz]

This test is absurd because by all reason all of these are basically one or two top tier high volume suppliers in China (regardless of the brand printed on them, they probably share the manufacturing) plus Polymaker. The prices on all the Chinese ones are truly random, one month one is the cheapest and another the most expensive, and their cost structure and thus to the large extent the price is dominated by shipping, depending on which route the filament and the raw materials had to take that particular week, with quite a bit of variance. Why not OWL filament which is kind of known for often being garbage but where you might also get lucky and get a perfect spool, but which costs barely nothing at all? Or maybe OWL is old news but anyway there's always those up and coming local manufacturers who are struggling to get the quality up, so price is the one thing they can compete on. Furthermore i heard somewhere (i think Pooch or Gabe Bentz might corroborate, i'm not certain) there is exactly one PLA pellet supplier in the whole world. Other polymers, you expect the actual polymer to be of different quality between the manufacturers.

[@amconsole]

Absolutely no issues printing with cheap PLA, as long as it’s fresh and in some cases even if it isn’t. I have some spools just sitting on the shelf for years out in the open, that still print reasonably well and can be improved with drying. I’ve noticed some 3D printing video creators on youtube have rather low standards for benchy surface quality. I hear “benchy looks perfect” and “beautiful benchy” and then they proceed to show a benchy that is just rough af un bottom third. This is especially noticeable on the P1P and X1, as those get printed in like 17min and usually the bottom third layers look visibly misaligned. It’s impressive that they can be printed so fast, but I would not call them perfect.

[@Craftknights3D]

You are right. But it also depends on where you live and how hot or moist the environment is. Regarding the misalignment on the benchy. That is happening because the infill is contracting as it cools down pulling the Walls inwarts. Thats why the misalignment is only one the bottom of the benchy up until the deck of the ship starts. That is probably because the P1P cools down the Pla too quickly. This ist not an issue with Abs.

[@mechanical_bob6591]

LOVE cheap GST3D and iiidmax. ESPECIALLY silver.

[@3dPrintingMillennial]

I use $9 filament on my X1C for 99% of my prints. Works perfect. I've only encountered 2 truly crap spools. But even those made acceptable prints

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Where do you get $9 filament? 😮

[@3dPrintingMillennial]

@@AndrewHelgeCox I would post screenshots of my Amazon orders for you if I could lol. $11 for PLA+ daily deals.

[@pyroignis3305]

I just got elegoo pla+ having trouble with it warping and leaving thick springs hanging I'm areas

[@theo3000]

215 is the sweet spot for me.

[@Dedrael81]

If i look around atm Geeetech is the cheapest filament you can buy. ABS, Petg and pla are all around 10-12$.

[@TheMike22]

I am here hoping to see side by side comparisons of all the no name stuff on Amazon, 5 name brand PLA isn't a good comparison.

[@kylerathdesign]

Is that filament tester available for download somewhere?

[@Craftknights3D]

No, I build it myself. But CNC kitchen hast one that can be downloaded, I think.

[@szekerespista3758]

Nice rewiev! 👌. Subscribed to your channel!

[@bbrendon]

so whats the tldr?

[@radkosochor8091]

i have strong susspicion that is rebranded polymaker pollytera (colours are the same and spools look alike... cotton white from elegoo and polymaker are for sure same

[@maxbrinker9333]

Geeetech is really cheap stuff I don’t know how you managed to pay that much for it. It’s good for the price but it’s not great.

[@Craftknights3D]

Everything is more expensive in Germany...

[@stefanguiton]

Great video

[@mikegrant8031]

Shhh your gonna drive the price up

[@kitchenbriks3685]

Don’t get the elegoo high speed pla it’s not that great. Bed adhesion is really bad

[@hakansoydan4832]

24 bucks woah that a scam I can buy really high quality local filaments for around 10-12 bucks here in Turkey and I believe it can be made even cheaper.

[@Craftknights3D]

I also believe that Filament can be as cheap as 10€. In fact, there is a KZbinr who owns a 3D printing farm and he plans on making and selling high-quality filament for only 10$.

[@reviewguyofficial]

i bought a filament for like 7 dollars it was good I have some videos of the prints they are good a

[@deltacx1059]

Here is the thing, a good part of the people looking for more affordable filiment are the same people who cant buy in bulk as easily.

[@slaughterman44]

just because you get a bulk discount doesnt mean their cheap

[@kbee225]

Yeah! This^^^^^ . But the elegoo he mentioned is usually on sale on Amazon. Depending on the color they're $14.50 if you buy one. $27 if you buy two. So not bad if you ask me.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Elegoo is cheap in black even without the discount.

[@NoirDesigns]

I’ve had some cheap filliment and ELEGOO is by far my favourite brand rn, cheap quality product

[@aaronmorgan2475]

Yeah but I need like 10 rolls of blue petg so this video was for me

[@berdysz9390]

Ive expected to see cheap filaments not not the most expensive filament

[@ruslankalinovych]

It's not the cheapest one, I can buy 1 kg PLA for $16

[@isaacreed5740]

I've been looking at buying filament from a manufacturer in China and reselling it in the U.S. for $12 + shipping. It's not the highest quality filament or the cheapest you can buy in the U.S., but it would be the cheapest filament you can buy in low quantities (less than 10 spools). It prints well overall but I haven't been able to fully eliminate stringing. What do you think about the idea? Do you think people would buy it?

[@3dPrintingMillennial]

No. Hell no.

[@isaacreed5740]

@@3dPrintingMillennial why?

[@3dPrintingMillennial]

@@isaacreed5740 there's already enough $12 brands floating around. I'd hate for you to get stuck with a bunch of filament that you can't sell. I buy a BUNCH of ultra discounted filament on eBay from people doing exactly what you're trying, because they can't get it off their shelves.

[@isaacreed5740]

@@3dPrintingMillennial do you have a name or link? I can’t find anything that cheap on ebay or anywhere else. If I do end up trying it i’ll start with a small order that i can use up myself when it doesn’t sell.

[@SianaGearz]

Generally this approach is considered a bad idea, someone else can always out-dump you using the same simple method, too risky. You can only compete on the price for a while if you think you can build brand loyalty, and then raise the price to where your business is sustainable. You won't build brand loyalty with suspicious quality product and no added value of some kind, people will buy one time off you and probably never again, because why would they? You're also likely overlooking some sort of cost that you end up discovering the hard way later. Not saying it can't work, but i think you need better reason to do that, like if you were actually using a ton of filament yourself and this would help you manage your stock and whatnot.

[@maga2024ever]

Why did you put a comma in the price? You should have used a decimal point. Not a comma. Commas separate thousand, millions, billions, etc. Like this 100,000. That is read as One Hundred Thousand. Hope that helps! :)

[@Craftknights3D]

Your right. Such a stupid mistake :). Thanks for letting me know!

[@taku1101]

Not a mistake, he is German. Here in Germany as well as in the majority of nations (~65%), the comma is used as the decimal separator.

[@saliston]

Any one who buys expensive filament is foolish. It's literally all the same

[@penpal6490]

Sponsored, no doubts😅

[@user-yk5er9zp2y]

Shut up

[@Tom_Neverwinter]

elegoo doesnt stick at all...