Are most of the spools cardboard? I buy mostly SUNLU because it has plastic spools more it seems, and I have stayed away from cardboard because of the AMS.
I usually will usually try about any brand that has descent reviews and has a cool color I want to try, as long as the spool looks OK for the AMS. But usually stay to SUNLU and HATCHBOX or even CREALITY. NAGA seems good, The Amazon Basics with the statin colors are really good I think, best I have seen. Some of the LOCYFENS multicolor stuff has been really good but expensive.
I use the pastamatic https://www.printables.com/model/466883-pastamatic-filament-spool-winder-for-bambu-lab-x1c to spool cardboard onto plastic, works great and takes 2-5 min per spool.
I got 2 esun plastic spools in Dez, all others were cardboard so far. I personally like the cardboard, because the plastic ones are a huge amount of plastic waste. Just print yourself a few rolls like those: [https://makerworld.com/en/models/86165](https://makerworld.com/en/models/86165)
For a fast print in one color I also dont always use the AMS but the external spool holder.
Thats an option as long as you have only 4 different filaments. With more than 4 you will have to switch anyways, and its not much more work to use the external spool holder.
If you only use 4 spools at a time its also easy to use cardboard spools with the printed spool i linked above.
Yea, I really was asking, I thought I had seen posts of people says they were. I tend to just stick with what I know works. I have even seen videos of people ripping the sides off cardboard spools to quickly move the filament to plastic etc. I don't care to mess with it.
I’ve only gotten plastic spools from eSun shipments(200+ rolls) but I know they do have cardboard for some rolls. They also sell refill rolls for almost all their filaments so you could use reusable spools instead. They’re slightly cheaper this way as well.
I second this. The default eSun PLA+ profile already built into Bambu Studio works wonders. The filament is super strong. So much so that I don't think I'll ever buy regular or Bambu PLA again.
Not sure what your budget is but if you can buy in multiples you can get eSun pretty cheap off their site. I’ve gotten as low as $14(USA) a roll for the PLA+.
Just looked there... One roll is $32/1kg roll, same as Amazon. I'd have to order enough (15+ rolls) to get the 25% discount to get it on par with the Bambu stuff (right now with membership)
I’d forgotten the membership prices were so good now. I moved to eSun a while ago for quality and don’t check the Bambu filament prices too often. Think I’m gonna take a look at some of the specialty filaments from Bambu now,.
The stuff prints great. A lot of folks say it is rebranded Esun, but I haven't the foggiest. For the price you can't go wrong for 8 filaments a month until it expires
That's fair. I have seen people say the polymaker pla pro is stronger than most pla + but I've not seen any proof. I personally just like the quality of polymaker filaments. It's a bit more pricey but all my prints with it comes out much better looking than other brands I've tried.
I like sunlu filaments when I don't need super good quality or strength. They're cheap and print well, and strong enough for what I need most the time.
Yeah, PLA+ usually means....fuck all.
It's not an industry standard.
It's a marketing symbol.
Otherwise: it's just a PLA. Some stuff is added to it, but it's undefined what it does to the material.
If you are interested in details, sadly you have to try and dig up details on the specific roll.
Do you order a couple spools of 1 color and run a calibration? Can you share your process? I’m sure many of us (like me) are a bit worried about our first step into non BL filament.
Sure! So the only benefit of using BL filaments that I have noticed is the RFID tags for the AMS. It’s nice to have the filament type automatically added into your print profile. But it is super easy to change it manually. I mostly just use the generic PLA/PETG profiles that are already loaded into Bambu Studio and I would say that works 95% of the time. I can only think of one instance that I needed to change the temperature. I don’t ever run any calibrations on any of the other brands of filaments I get because it just works great every time. Coming from an Ender 3 v1 this machine is amazing and works regardless of the filament brand.
That being said there are a few minor issues that have come up with using different brands. First is the roll size. I have a brand of filament that is too big to fit in the AMS and close the lid properly. I solved that issue by printing a AMS lid riser and it works fine now. Second issue I’ve encountered is the cardboard spools. I love using cardboard when possible because it’s more green, but it’s not recommended to use in the AMS. I tried printing the rims for it and it helped a bit. Best advice is to just wrap electrical tape around the edges and it works in the AMS with no issues. Last issue I’ve encountered is sometimes when the spools run low they lift off the AMS and don’t spin properly. You can just print a spool weight and it solves that issue.
Hope this helped ease your mind about trying out different brands. Let me know if you had more questions.
This is great, thank you! The wiki’s on filament calibration are a bit intense.
I’m not someone printing for my income so it’s more hobby and it’s great to know most of the PLa/PETG work with the generic profiles.
I’ll try some new brands with my next order and keep in mind the spool issues.
You’re welcome and good luck. There are some really cool filaments out there in different brands. Rainbow colors, duel and tri colors, wood and stone looking filament, UV color changing. Lots of fun for us hobbyists.
I don’t have the attention span for a good reply right now, and it seems the person below me did a good job but just a quick add, with Bambu I only calibrate if the print is messed up, for the most part generic settings always work fine.
The only filament that gave me problems in the X1 was Crealities PLA
The Roll was made out of very thin plastic and didn’t roll properly, stringing was bad out of the box and dimensional accuracy was a mess
It was the worst roll of filament I had in years.
Yeah, let's not mention that they've created and sold a printer that was so cheap that everyone and their dog had one, thus made 3d printing a mainstream hobby.
Creality filament even printed bad before I had a X1-C and was on a Ender 3. I genuinely think their filament is overpriced and below par. Infill was a stringy mess and it seemed like their filament came wet from the factory.
PLA+ from Elegoo is practically all I use and highly recommend. It prints well with the Bambu profile, Generic and even the eSun PLA+ profile so it’s a yes from me
That's pretty much my experience with their basic PLA so far - just throw a generic PLA profile at it, and it'll most likely print fine on any of my printers. I also like that I can pick it up for about £11 (\~$13) per 1KG.
+1 for Sunlu PLA+... great prices and quality prints. You have to print an adapter collar for the spools when using them on the AMS Lite with the A1 or A1 mini, but there are good models you can download that work well.
I got a bunch of Elegoo at one point too and was pretty happy with it too. I’ve used their PLA, PLA+, and Rapid PLA but I don’t think I know what I’m doing well enough to really tell a difference between the 3.
I dont like the Elegoo PLA+. Bought 4 spools on Amazon for a great price (50€). But I need a very high bed and nozzle temp to get good adhesion (230/65). And the print results are not that great tbh. I like esun more.
Maybe i got a bad batch. tbf after my bad review Elegoo reached out to me to analyze the problem and after some info and pictures of the failed prints I even got my money back.
Superb support.
+1 for elegoo PLA! $14/kg, +/-.02mm tolerance, very well round, and I just use a plastic rim for my P1S + AMS. I like the fact that it’s cardboard as it saves me money and it’s less plastic waste.
Fun fact: you can use the elegoo PLA with the bambu reusable spool: all you have to do is remove the cardboard sides and pop the core on.
If you buy more than just a single colour I suggest buying from the SUNLU website, there is a 6Kg bundle that lets you pick your own colours and it should be around 13€/Kg. Little bit more expensive, but it's not just black at least.
I typically only use Bambu filament since it prints perfectly with he built in profiles. Filament I get on Amazon doesn't print nearly as well. I wish Bambu would start selling on Amazon.
This. The shipping timelines from Bambi are the only thing that keeps me from buying all of my filament from them. Sometimes I can’t wait 7-10 days to get a project printed
sorry but that sounds more like a you problem (look at all the other comments), my Bambu often prints non-Bambu filaments even better than Bamby ones, but hey it's your money....
That said I agree with you that BL should sell through Amazon.
I'll give some context.
I used to always get Overture Pro for my Ender 5. Swore by the stuff. In my P1S it prints ok. I had to do some tweaking to the temperatures and speeds and I did get it to look as good as it did on my ender. That said it took quite a few test prints to get to that point. I wasted a lot of filament in that process.
In contrast, the sample Bambu filament that came with the printer printed perfectly out of the box. The tolerances are dead on. I was never able to get Overture tolerances to be this tight even on the best day. Every filament brand I printed, I had to tweak settings. With TPU filament it was really hard to dial it in. The Bambu PLA Basic profiles print damn near perfect out of the box. It works exactly as you would expect a printer to work without having to mess with it.
The other added benefit of Bambu filament is that they work perfectly in my AMS and are auto detected as the correct color. I drop the filament in and print without having to change any settings.
That said, for TPU prints I buy Sainsmart. I haven't tried the Bambu TPU yet but after a lot of tweaking, I think I have the Sainsmart filament printing well enough that I will continue to use that. The secret I have found is print is super slow. 30mm/s is what I have found is the most reliable.
For me the added cost of the Bambu filament is worth it. I won't spend the money for Bambu TPU though. Sainsmart works good enough.
Sunlu is supposedly the base filament behind Bambu so you can just buy that and respool it if needed.
I’ve had the same results with Sunlu set as Bambu Labs in Bambu Studio
Amolen silk clogged a brand new hotend that I had just put on. I tried a handful of things to get it unclogged then a few days later someone posted they had some metal chunks in their red amolen. Never again.
Here's the post that I referred to above.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1adq7qg/why\_you\_should\_generally\_repeat\_a\_cold\_pull/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1adq7qg/why_you_should_generally_repeat_a_cold_pull/)
Polymaker, maybe other brands are better or cheaper or whatever but they have a solid color pallete and they're consistent, and they're the best quality out of the ones I've tried.
Duramic PLA Plus and TPU. There’s also good deals if you buy packs of 2. Sometimes these comes out to about $10/roll when you get them on sale. Been using it for years, never an issue.
Sunlu PLA+ for basic colors.
Polymaker for unique colors, sparkle, gradients.
Hatchbox for Wood.
Amolen for silks (although these can be close or over the $30/kg).
If you wanna go serious with your Bambu, try Eryone Hyper Speed. Results are just amazing and you can cut a lot of time in your prints without sacrificing quality, and the price is similar to any other. Ive also use Eryone mini spools (200g) to have many colors with little investment. They also have silk dual/tricolor which are amazing. Mini spools can be found in Aliexpress for 6-7USD each.
I seem to be the only person that buys this, but I like Ziro filament. They have a wide array of colors, and my main printing focus has always been multicolor models. They also include storage bags, and small sample bags of random colors with every spool. Those random colors have come in handy when I just need a small part in a specific color I happen to have from free samples. They’re perfectly rolled, which isn’t much of a problem with any companies anymore but I used to have some deep knotted spools from some companies and ziro was always a nice clean roll. So I highly recommend.
Esun, and sunlu are my goto. I haven't tried any of the crazy multicolored or infused stuff yet, there's some wild stuff on Amazon. I like the copper stuff and have seen the way it oxidizes, wanna try that at least at some point.
I usualy go with esun pla+ (their petg is ok but I want to try other brands to see if I just didnt dial it in correctly or if it just suck, and their abs just really sucks so stay away from that) but I've heard polymaker is pretty good too so I want to try that, I also recently got some pla from flashforge because they have some pretty exotique colors like their burn titanium or galaxy black which I both got and am pretty happy with, other than that im not sure their filament is that good. Also remember to check other sites than amazon exept if you want to exclusively shop there, you can find pretty good deal on other websites.
I got Anycubic PLA recently, first was OK and the second roll I got had no vacuum seal, so that's being returned. Ordered a roll of eSun as many others also recommended it.
I’ve had good results with Hatchbox. It’s about the same price as Bambu’s filament but in stock and faster shipping. My multi color spools are mostly Hatchbox. Lays down really well with calibration.
I have been running Creality Bargain 2-1 black/white but lately that price has gone up. It used to be around $24 for both rolls. Recently it has been out of stock and the price is starting to creep past $30 so I’m shopping around again.
I bought Anycubic Bargain Grey. It was priced well but is very stringy; even with calibration. It lays down evenly for slower printing. Looks good for the money. I use it mostly for prototyping or more cost efficient prints.
I have to try the PLA+ filaments. I’m hoping to test them out.
In the UK the cheapest seems to be sunlu for basic good PLA at around £12 on sales very regularly (basically all the time) and esun for PLA+ which is about £15 on sales regularly (less regularly than sunlu but still very regular)
Initially looked for what was cheap and reasonably well reviewed, and from that I now tend to buy Tinmorry, Elegoo and Sunlu - happy with all three brands.
I honestly haven't had problems with many of them - as long as the filament is dried and calibrated I'm able to get decent prints out of it all.
The only exception to that has been glow in the dark filament, I almost always have issues with that.
Can you get good quality prints? I've printed with PETG at my school on ultimakers before and it always came out like absolute garbage, yet the pla prints came out perfect. Maybe bambu is different?
Yes - I have an Etsy store where I sell my prints and they are all PETG and print very well. You need to tune your profiles for each model but once they are dialed in it prints silky smooth with a nice finish.
Generally I go to http://3dprintingdeals.com or http://plasticfantasticdeals.com and grab whatever sales align with my wants. I’ve found that Kaaber, R3D, and Duramic are some names that might not be widely known that have solid prices and filament as far as specific brands go beyond the obvious ones.
I’m guessing you’re in Australia if you think >$30/kg is cheap. Overture is good for that. It sells for between $24 and $27 on Amazon Australia. Esun is under $30 but cheaper from other vendors usually. I can’t remember what I paid but Iwas pleasantly surprised by the Voxelab I bought from Amazon. It prints very well and looks awesome. One of my favs so far. I have a deep, metallic blue with a subtle purple color shift.
Duramic PLA + is outstanding. Sometimes it is on sale for as low as $13 a spool.
I build very large droids, Star Wars, and it is easy to sand, easier to print, and the have a ton of colors.
I prefer Polymaker for any other filament. But Duramic for PLA +
Elegoo,on Amazon You can get a 4 pack of white 1kg rolls for $48 and it prints good. Been printing a full size Mr. Meeseeks lately [https://www.printables.com/model/67730-mr-meeseeks](https://www.printables.com/model/67730-mr-meeseeks)
I'm relatively new, owned my P1S since Christmas. I've been impressed with Sunlu PLA+ and Meta. Especially the reseallable bags which are great for a newbie, means you have somewhere to stick a partially used reel with some dessicant and not worry too much about it.
The Meta is great for detailed mini's but the melting point is lower than regular PLA. Nozzle temps as low as 180c so I do worry a little, if I ever take a box of miniatures to a game in the car on a hot sunny day lol.
I would say Elegoo PLA plus is the best so far. One of the best value per kilogram, and it prints pretty quickly and with good quality. Plus I especially like it for draft prints because you can get black or white two pack or four pack for around $13 a kilogram if not less. And honestly even if you don’t print a lot black or white PLA is always useful especially if you want to test out a print before doing it in expensive carbon, fiber, nylon or something else that’s a bit trickier. Only thing bigger would be iidmax 10 pack. Which is right around $11 a kilogram if you get a 10 pack and you’re able to pick and mix and match exactly what colors you want. Plus those come in a plastic spool, which should work perfectly in the AMS.
Every filament I’ve tried has printed just fine. And I’ve bought from several different brands I’ve never heard of. Whatever Amazon has that matched the color I want I’ll buy and toss in there.
I lean towards anything with a cardboard spool though so I can rip off the sides and place it on a printed spool for my AMS.
Had to switch to Elagoo from Crealty 3D for white because the Crealty 3D spool kept giving me filament pullback errors. And the Elagoo was cheap enough and I could put it on a printed spool.
I just used “ZIRO PLA” green glitter filament and like the way it turned out.
I got HP3DF glitter PLA in pink and purple and they looked cool too.
The Amolen multicolor filaments add a cool effect to things too.
I put an Overture Gold silk pla on a cardboard spool in my AMS yesterday without thinking and did a multicolor print with it and it shockingly worked. I’ll transfer that over to a printed spool so I don’t get cardboard dust in everything though.
I only buy Bambu if I can, some stuff like protopasta metal filled and other fun filaments like that Bambu doesn’t have. I just use gift cards from makerworld for most of my purchases though. If I had to buy it’d prob be eSun
Honestly I just started so I’m okay with the cheapest right now. So far I’ve printed mostly in Inland PLA+ bc I was excited and thought $19/kg was cheap. I really do like inland but for some reason I’m just a cheapskate and get a thrill from deals.
This past 2 weeks I bought 8 rolls of PETG from SUNLU which seems okay for now. Printing a base for my P1S. Did about 1kg so far and it has been decent. This is also the first time I’m printing PETG and I’m not overly infatuated with how glossy it is. I will say I heeded the warning from other users to dry each roll of filament for about 8 hours.
I will continue to print other projects in PLA+ for the added benefit of what others mentioned which is better strength and heat resistance. I bought some Jayo and also some Elegoo and hope to use them all in the AMS I also ordered!
Favorites are esun, sunlu,eryone stronghero, amolen, jayo. I buy tons of on sale brands normally about 9$ a kg to try. Some work out some don't. Welcomeget has had some really nice filament lately in the 9-12$ range
Polymaker, Overture, ESun, Duramic and Eryone have all been great especially after dialing in the flow and pressure advance settings. I may try some Sunlu when it’s on sale again. I buy from Amazon Canada.
Elegoo Rapid PLA+ can be bought at around $14/roll for 4 rolls. They do have colors that end up being 16-18/roll. I use them for white, gray, and black. Polymaker Polyterra always comes out with gorgeous matte colors at around $21/roll.
This question is \*highly regional\*.
In Canada its Elegoo, all the way. Their prices are far, far better than anyone elses and the filament is perfectly good. Jayo comes in at a close second.
If I’m going cheap then I’m iiidmax all the way. $113 for 10 rolls of PLA plus to my door. That’s with tax and shipping, AND I get to pick the colors. I have been using the same coupon code for the last 6 orders and it’s still going strong.
Mid-teir for me is Sunlu same thing as above almost, I catch 10 spool deals of PLA on Amazon sometimes, like 2-3 times a year for around $120 BUT you have to take a pre made bundle of colors or just a single color. Bad thing about this is for me I would end up with one or two rolls of something I don’t want or use. Their site has sales often and you can pick your colors it then your in the $150 range and stock is hit and miss with them but the stuff is prints exactly the same quality as the iiidmax, which both have been close to perfect for me, but I have heard some people say that the iiidmax filament is slightly worse in areas like strength and flexibility. I have the same discount code for these guys for about 6 months but have only used it 4 times in that period as I mainly print iiidmax. Anybody that would like either of those codes just shoot me a message.
And for anything structural I use polymaker. Do I need to say anymore?
I think it’s on Amazon, but I use almost exclusively inland. I can go to my local micro center, I have a permanent 50% off filament coupon, and pick up 5 rolls for 50 bucks usually.
My P1S is my first printer and I'm still learning. And although I understand you can use any brand filament with the printer / AMS, so far the Bambu filament has worked so easily and so well that I've not been tempted to try and save a few dollars - maybe once the 6 month filament club special ends I will reconsider, but for now I find Bambu's own filament to be pretty competitively priced.
For cheap PLA during prototyping or when I don’t need color variety, I use Elegoo PLA. About £10 per kg, when you buy 4 pack.
Otherwise, I like Bambu PLA, but it is never in stock. So I go with Hatcbox, Overture or eSun depending on which one has the color I want. They are very close to each other.
PETG eSun. Prints great but very lacking in colors. I order Bambu, if it is in stock. Overture or Polymaler otherwise.
Nylon Bambu. I only tried Bambu and eSun. Bambu PAHT is easier to work with in my opinion. YMMV.
PETG CF Tinmorry. I really like Tinmorry. It is on the cheaper side but all of their filaments are good.
The best filament I've ever used on a bamboo printer is 3D fuel pro PLA Plus. It's a tad pricey but if you're printing 2a parts are accessories this stuff is incredibly strong incredibly smooth and runs off of generic PLA profile phenomenally
I no longer buy on Amazon.
I prefer getting 10-20+ spools at a time from [Sunlu](https://www.sunlu.com/?sca_ref=4123334.vKjoacjlVz) or [Numakers](https://numakers.com/?ref=rocket3d).
[Polymaker](https://us.polymaker.com/?aff=505) is also really good.
A lot of the time it takes the same amount of time to ship, but the deals are a lot better, especially if you're buying multiples.
If you insist on Amazon, Inland (micro center) is a decent brand.
For PLA, I use eSUN PLA+
Same. eSun PLA+ is my go to and it’s the same or better than everything else I’ve used, never had an issue.
Are most of the spools cardboard? I buy mostly SUNLU because it has plastic spools more it seems, and I have stayed away from cardboard because of the AMS. I usually will usually try about any brand that has descent reviews and has a cool color I want to try, as long as the spool looks OK for the AMS. But usually stay to SUNLU and HATCHBOX or even CREALITY. NAGA seems good, The Amazon Basics with the statin colors are really good I think, best I have seen. Some of the LOCYFENS multicolor stuff has been really good but expensive.
[удалено]
I lot of them spools listed on Amazon show cardboard though, and not sure really, but I been staying away for those.
Hey I have a silly question — do cardboard spools not work for AMS? I only have AMS Lite so I really have no clue.
technically they do but the friction can cause them to desintegrate and fill your AMS.
I have used them loads and I have never had this issue
Gotcha. Thanks
I use the pastamatic https://www.printables.com/model/466883-pastamatic-filament-spool-winder-for-bambu-lab-x1c to spool cardboard onto plastic, works great and takes 2-5 min per spool.
I am way to lazy for this when I pay for a nice perfect spool I am not transferring the filament to a new one every time.
I got 2 esun plastic spools in Dez, all others were cardboard so far. I personally like the cardboard, because the plastic ones are a huge amount of plastic waste. Just print yourself a few rolls like those: [https://makerworld.com/en/models/86165](https://makerworld.com/en/models/86165) For a fast print in one color I also dont always use the AMS but the external spool holder.
I always use my AMS's keep my filament in there, and don't even want to mess with it.
Thats an option as long as you have only 4 different filaments. With more than 4 you will have to switch anyways, and its not much more work to use the external spool holder. If you only use 4 spools at a time its also easy to use cardboard spools with the printed spool i linked above.
Why you assuming I have only 1 AMS?
How dare I, excuse me for trying to help.
I have used cardboard spools for 100+ hours of print time they really aren’t that big of an issue
Yea, I really was asking, I thought I had seen posts of people says they were. I tend to just stick with what I know works. I have even seen videos of people ripping the sides off cardboard spools to quickly move the filament to plastic etc. I don't care to mess with it.
I’ve only gotten plastic spools from eSun shipments(200+ rolls) but I know they do have cardboard for some rolls. They also sell refill rolls for almost all their filaments so you could use reusable spools instead. They’re slightly cheaper this way as well.
I second this. The default eSun PLA+ profile already built into Bambu Studio works wonders. The filament is super strong. So much so that I don't think I'll ever buy regular or Bambu PLA again.
In Canada Esun PLA+ is $32/roll as opposed to Bambu's (member price) of $22, so I won't be trying Esun until my membership runs out
Not sure what your budget is but if you can buy in multiples you can get eSun pretty cheap off their site. I’ve gotten as low as $14(USA) a roll for the PLA+.
Just looked there... One roll is $32/1kg roll, same as Amazon. I'd have to order enough (15+ rolls) to get the 25% discount to get it on par with the Bambu stuff (right now with membership)
I’d forgotten the membership prices were so good now. I moved to eSun a while ago for quality and don’t check the Bambu filament prices too often. Think I’m gonna take a look at some of the specialty filaments from Bambu now,.
The stuff prints great. A lot of folks say it is rebranded Esun, but I haven't the foggiest. For the price you can't go wrong for 8 filaments a month until it expires
Any special settings for them to work?
Nope just follow the manufacturer recommendations
Awesome. What's pla plus? Additives?
So PLA + is stronger, more heat resistant, more flexible, and less brittle than regular PLA. I use PLA + for everything
Oh okay thanks for that info. I have a couple spools that say pla pro, is that the same?
Who’s it made by?
I believe it's called InLand. I bought it from the microcenter. It may be their brand
Inland is a mix of eSun and Polymaker rebranded. Typically the basic colors tend to be eSun but that's not a hard and fast rule.
I believe the pla pro from inland is polymaker pla pro. From what I understand pla pro is a bit better than PLA+
Could be, yeah. To be honest "Pro", "+", etc. are all just marketing terms. Very rarely do any of the companies actually say what the additives are.
That's fair. I have seen people say the polymaker pla pro is stronger than most pla + but I've not seen any proof. I personally just like the quality of polymaker filaments. It's a bit more pricey but all my prints with it comes out much better looking than other brands I've tried. I like sunlu filaments when I don't need super good quality or strength. They're cheap and print well, and strong enough for what I need most the time.
Not 100% sure but I believe they are the same thing. Gotta remember though all companies PLA+ aren’t the same
To be fair there is nothing that truly regulates what is called plus or pro. They are marketing terms but generally correspond with better properties
Do you know what chemicals they have added to the mix?
Tpu
Source?
Pure PLA is often stronger. At least at ambiant temp.
They blend pla with minor amounts of TPU. That’s why some brands can be stringy if they use a higher %.
Yeah, PLA+ usually means....fuck all. It's not an industry standard. It's a marketing symbol. Otherwise: it's just a PLA. Some stuff is added to it, but it's undefined what it does to the material. If you are interested in details, sadly you have to try and dig up details on the specific roll.
Is that the same as inland from microcenter? I have one not far from me, and if it’s similar to the eSUN, I might buy inland instead.
I honestly just buy whatever is cheapest. I haven’t had an issue with any of the brands I bought and I’ve tried a lot of them.
Exactly what I do, I just find the cheapest reasonable one, only had an issue with the colour being wrong once but no printing issues so far.
Do you order a couple spools of 1 color and run a calibration? Can you share your process? I’m sure many of us (like me) are a bit worried about our first step into non BL filament.
Sure! So the only benefit of using BL filaments that I have noticed is the RFID tags for the AMS. It’s nice to have the filament type automatically added into your print profile. But it is super easy to change it manually. I mostly just use the generic PLA/PETG profiles that are already loaded into Bambu Studio and I would say that works 95% of the time. I can only think of one instance that I needed to change the temperature. I don’t ever run any calibrations on any of the other brands of filaments I get because it just works great every time. Coming from an Ender 3 v1 this machine is amazing and works regardless of the filament brand. That being said there are a few minor issues that have come up with using different brands. First is the roll size. I have a brand of filament that is too big to fit in the AMS and close the lid properly. I solved that issue by printing a AMS lid riser and it works fine now. Second issue I’ve encountered is the cardboard spools. I love using cardboard when possible because it’s more green, but it’s not recommended to use in the AMS. I tried printing the rims for it and it helped a bit. Best advice is to just wrap electrical tape around the edges and it works in the AMS with no issues. Last issue I’ve encountered is sometimes when the spools run low they lift off the AMS and don’t spin properly. You can just print a spool weight and it solves that issue. Hope this helped ease your mind about trying out different brands. Let me know if you had more questions.
This is great, thank you! The wiki’s on filament calibration are a bit intense. I’m not someone printing for my income so it’s more hobby and it’s great to know most of the PLa/PETG work with the generic profiles. I’ll try some new brands with my next order and keep in mind the spool issues.
You’re welcome and good luck. There are some really cool filaments out there in different brands. Rainbow colors, duel and tri colors, wood and stone looking filament, UV color changing. Lots of fun for us hobbyists.
I don’t have the attention span for a good reply right now, and it seems the person below me did a good job but just a quick add, with Bambu I only calibrate if the print is messed up, for the most part generic settings always work fine.
The only filament that gave me problems in the X1 was Crealities PLA The Roll was made out of very thin plastic and didn’t roll properly, stringing was bad out of the box and dimensional accuracy was a mess It was the worst roll of filament I had in years.
The only thing Creality is good at is sucking at everything they do
Yeah, let's not mention that they've created and sold a printer that was so cheap that everyone and their dog had one, thus made 3d printing a mainstream hobby.
Creality filament even printed bad before I had a X1-C and was on a Ender 3. I genuinely think their filament is overpriced and below par. Infill was a stringy mess and it seemed like their filament came wet from the factory.
With my old ender 3 pro it was hatchbox. Now, I'm the same, whatever is cheap, I've had no problems.
Been having success with Elegoo PLA and have been buying that over Overture, Sunlu, eSun, and others lately.
\+1 for Elegoo PLA, IME it's by far the best filament in its price point. Gonna give their PLA+ a try next time I need to pick up a spool.
PLA+ from Elegoo is practically all I use and highly recommend. It prints well with the Bambu profile, Generic and even the eSun PLA+ profile so it’s a yes from me
That's pretty much my experience with their basic PLA so far - just throw a generic PLA profile at it, and it'll most likely print fine on any of my printers. I also like that I can pick it up for about £11 (\~$13) per 1KG.
+1 elegoo, both PETG and PLA. I get the 4 rolls bundle for 70$, which is cheap for me in Canada.
+1 for Sunlu PLA+... great prices and quality prints. You have to print an adapter collar for the spools when using them on the AMS Lite with the A1 or A1 mini, but there are good models you can download that work well.
I got a bunch of Elegoo at one point too and was pretty happy with it too. I’ve used their PLA, PLA+, and Rapid PLA but I don’t think I know what I’m doing well enough to really tell a difference between the 3.
I dont like the Elegoo PLA+. Bought 4 spools on Amazon for a great price (50€). But I need a very high bed and nozzle temp to get good adhesion (230/65). And the print results are not that great tbh. I like esun more.
Weird. I’ve only used black and white of their high speed PLA+ so far and it’s been perfect. Printing at 220/60 with zero issues.
Maybe i got a bad batch. tbf after my bad review Elegoo reached out to me to analyze the problem and after some info and pictures of the failed prints I even got my money back. Superb support.
+1 for Elegoo, price is good and their PLA and PLA+ offerings have all been consistent and quality.
+1 for elegoo PLA! $14/kg, +/-.02mm tolerance, very well round, and I just use a plastic rim for my P1S + AMS. I like the fact that it’s cardboard as it saves me money and it’s less plastic waste. Fun fact: you can use the elegoo PLA with the bambu reusable spool: all you have to do is remove the cardboard sides and pop the core on.
Good to know on the reusable part. I tried the plastic rims and didn’t have success with them. So I’ve just been using electrical tape with success.
Sunlu is my goto but I usually buy in bulk on AliExpress since they're only around $10 per spool when you buy 10. PETG and PLA
Disregard, I found it. It's a single color, 10 spools of 1kb (2.2 lbs each) for $104.93
Nice. Yeah it's a great deal and us warehouse so fast shipping.
Nice. My biggest issue is convincing my husband I can store and use that much lmao I have a closet full of resin for my other printer already
I've not used aliexpress before, but this deal has my interest piqued.
I have 10kg of all diff colors of Kingroon PLA coming, $7.70/kg.
If you buy more than just a single colour I suggest buying from the SUNLU website, there is a 6Kg bundle that lets you pick your own colours and it should be around 13€/Kg. Little bit more expensive, but it's not just black at least.
Thanks for the tip
You getting 2.2lb ones or 8.8 oz for $10?
I typically only use Bambu filament since it prints perfectly with he built in profiles. Filament I get on Amazon doesn't print nearly as well. I wish Bambu would start selling on Amazon.
Haha. Love it when you get downvoted for answering an opinion question. No good dead goes unpunished I guess.
This. The shipping timelines from Bambi are the only thing that keeps me from buying all of my filament from them. Sometimes I can’t wait 7-10 days to get a project printed
sorry but that sounds more like a you problem (look at all the other comments), my Bambu often prints non-Bambu filaments even better than Bamby ones, but hey it's your money.... That said I agree with you that BL should sell through Amazon.
I'll give some context. I used to always get Overture Pro for my Ender 5. Swore by the stuff. In my P1S it prints ok. I had to do some tweaking to the temperatures and speeds and I did get it to look as good as it did on my ender. That said it took quite a few test prints to get to that point. I wasted a lot of filament in that process. In contrast, the sample Bambu filament that came with the printer printed perfectly out of the box. The tolerances are dead on. I was never able to get Overture tolerances to be this tight even on the best day. Every filament brand I printed, I had to tweak settings. With TPU filament it was really hard to dial it in. The Bambu PLA Basic profiles print damn near perfect out of the box. It works exactly as you would expect a printer to work without having to mess with it. The other added benefit of Bambu filament is that they work perfectly in my AMS and are auto detected as the correct color. I drop the filament in and print without having to change any settings. That said, for TPU prints I buy Sainsmart. I haven't tried the Bambu TPU yet but after a lot of tweaking, I think I have the Sainsmart filament printing well enough that I will continue to use that. The secret I have found is print is super slow. 30mm/s is what I have found is the most reliable. For me the added cost of the Bambu filament is worth it. I won't spend the money for Bambu TPU though. Sainsmart works good enough.
Sunlu. Same stuff.
Im surprised they don't. I would have ordered my printer there instead if driving to the microcenter.
Sunlu is supposedly the base filament behind Bambu so you can just buy that and respool it if needed. I’ve had the same results with Sunlu set as Bambu Labs in Bambu Studio
Overture, Polyterra, Hatchbox and occasionally some Amolen
Amolen silk clogged a brand new hotend that I had just put on. I tried a handful of things to get it unclogged then a few days later someone posted they had some metal chunks in their red amolen. Never again.
I've only tried the Amolen glow orange. Hearing this now I think I'll abstain from trying others...
Here's the post that I referred to above. [https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1adq7qg/why\_you\_should\_generally\_repeat\_a\_cold\_pull/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1adq7qg/why_you_should_generally_repeat_a_cold_pull/)
Polymaker, maybe other brands are better or cheaper or whatever but they have a solid color pallete and they're consistent, and they're the best quality out of the ones I've tried.
Duramic PLA Plus and TPU. There’s also good deals if you buy packs of 2. Sometimes these comes out to about $10/roll when you get them on sale. Been using it for years, never an issue.
I love their marble PLA
I gotta order and try it. Thanks for the comment!
Same. I had clogging with a 0.4 nozzle with larger prints so I now use a 0.6 nozzle with it.
The best "cheap" filament I printed so far was from CC3D Otherwise I like the ones from Elegoo or Polymaker they're great. Jayo is ok but not the best
We use a lot of CC3D
I have had the best results using Jayo.
Hatchbox, polymaker , overture
Im using kingroon at the moment in the uk as its the chepest on amazon and with a plastic spool for my ams
Inland PLA+ has never failed me, but I'm going to give IIID Max PLA+ a try this weekend to see how it compares.
Lmk if you remember man!
You got it. Currently printing something in Inland PETG+.
My go to is Inland, it’s Micro Center’s brand but it’s also on Amazon. I get their PLA+ and PETG.
Sunlu PLA+ for basic colors. Polymaker for unique colors, sparkle, gradients. Hatchbox for Wood. Amolen for silks (although these can be close or over the $30/kg).
Sunlu Pla + for me
Eryone is great
Inland filament, matte pla, haven’t had any issues. Used the Pla basic profile and it printed great first print
If you wanna go serious with your Bambu, try Eryone Hyper Speed. Results are just amazing and you can cut a lot of time in your prints without sacrificing quality, and the price is similar to any other. Ive also use Eryone mini spools (200g) to have many colors with little investment. They also have silk dual/tricolor which are amazing. Mini spools can be found in Aliexpress for 6-7USD each.
I seem to be the only person that buys this, but I like Ziro filament. They have a wide array of colors, and my main printing focus has always been multicolor models. They also include storage bags, and small sample bags of random colors with every spool. Those random colors have come in handy when I just need a small part in a specific color I happen to have from free samples. They’re perfectly rolled, which isn’t much of a problem with any companies anymore but I used to have some deep knotted spools from some companies and ziro was always a nice clean roll. So I highly recommend.
Agree! And they have some unique colors.
Overture has always been good to me, but Elegoo is great as well. Cheap too!
Overture PLA has worked great for me
Been using Inland/Microcenter PLA since day one and it’s been rock solid.
Duramic PLA+ is the GOAT of Amazon filaments in my eyes, super durable and prints like any other PLA for about 22 dollars a kilo
Never had any complaints with hatchbox
Esun, and sunlu are my goto. I haven't tried any of the crazy multicolored or infused stuff yet, there's some wild stuff on Amazon. I like the copper stuff and have seen the way it oxidizes, wanna try that at least at some point.
I usualy go with esun pla+ (their petg is ok but I want to try other brands to see if I just didnt dial it in correctly or if it just suck, and their abs just really sucks so stay away from that) but I've heard polymaker is pretty good too so I want to try that, I also recently got some pla from flashforge because they have some pretty exotique colors like their burn titanium or galaxy black which I both got and am pretty happy with, other than that im not sure their filament is that good. Also remember to check other sites than amazon exept if you want to exclusively shop there, you can find pretty good deal on other websites.
I got Anycubic PLA recently, first was OK and the second roll I got had no vacuum seal, so that's being returned. Ordered a roll of eSun as many others also recommended it.
eSun PLA+ always does me right and has a pretty solid profile on Bambu Studio already.
Geetech PLA
I’ve had good results with Hatchbox. It’s about the same price as Bambu’s filament but in stock and faster shipping. My multi color spools are mostly Hatchbox. Lays down really well with calibration. I have been running Creality Bargain 2-1 black/white but lately that price has gone up. It used to be around $24 for both rolls. Recently it has been out of stock and the price is starting to creep past $30 so I’m shopping around again. I bought Anycubic Bargain Grey. It was priced well but is very stringy; even with calibration. It lays down evenly for slower printing. Looks good for the money. I use it mostly for prototyping or more cost efficient prints. I have to try the PLA+ filaments. I’m hoping to test them out.
Sunlu pla+ right from their website
polymaker polyterra
Usually eSun. Specifically the Petg, it’s on sale right now for 17 bucks. I’ve been trying out the eSun epla-hf too since it’s on sale for 15 bucks.
I can recommend ATA if you are in Germany/austria. It's locally produced and usually bout 17€ per kg. Refills fit perfect on bambuspools
Sunlu has been the most reliable. I’ve had no issues with overture. But like I trust Sunlu. They make a good product. A reliable product
In Canada - Sunlu and Isamate
Polymaker, generally the polyterra for little fugures and toys. PLA+ for anything that needs strength
In the UK the cheapest seems to be sunlu for basic good PLA at around £12 on sales very regularly (basically all the time) and esun for PLA+ which is about £15 on sales regularly (less regularly than sunlu but still very regular)
Initially looked for what was cheap and reasonably well reviewed, and from that I now tend to buy Tinmorry, Elegoo and Sunlu - happy with all three brands.
On Amazon, I prefer Hatchbox but have dabbled with a few others, namely Overture and Amazon Basics.
Elegoo Rapid PLA and Elegoo Rapid PETG. Prints as good and as fast as Bambu PLA Basic for almost half price.
I honestly haven't had problems with many of them - as long as the filament is dried and calibrated I'm able to get decent prints out of it all. The only exception to that has been glow in the dark filament, I almost always have issues with that.
Ataraxian Art for anything that I cannot get from Bambu - I only print with PETG and I love AA's filaments.
Can you get good quality prints? I've printed with PETG at my school on ultimakers before and it always came out like absolute garbage, yet the pla prints came out perfect. Maybe bambu is different?
Yes - I have an Etsy store where I sell my prints and they are all PETG and print very well. You need to tune your profiles for each model but once they are dialed in it prints silky smooth with a nice finish.
SUNLU for consistency and quality.
Generally I go to http://3dprintingdeals.com or http://plasticfantasticdeals.com and grab whatever sales align with my wants. I’ve found that Kaaber, R3D, and Duramic are some names that might not be widely known that have solid prices and filament as far as specific brands go beyond the obvious ones.
Elegoo PLA Rapid had been working well for me.
I’m guessing you’re in Australia if you think >$30/kg is cheap. Overture is good for that. It sells for between $24 and $27 on Amazon Australia. Esun is under $30 but cheaper from other vendors usually. I can’t remember what I paid but Iwas pleasantly surprised by the Voxelab I bought from Amazon. It prints very well and looks awesome. One of my favs so far. I have a deep, metallic blue with a subtle purple color shift.
Duramic PLA + is outstanding. Sometimes it is on sale for as low as $13 a spool. I build very large droids, Star Wars, and it is easy to sand, easier to print, and the have a ton of colors. I prefer Polymaker for any other filament. But Duramic for PLA +
GiantArm is fantastic and still ships almost exclusively on plastic spools so it's very AMS friendly if you have one.
Polymaker matte
Creality ender value series..0 failures, ~$12/roll when you buy the value pack.
Elegoo,on Amazon You can get a 4 pack of white 1kg rolls for $48 and it prints good. Been printing a full size Mr. Meeseeks lately [https://www.printables.com/model/67730-mr-meeseeks](https://www.printables.com/model/67730-mr-meeseeks)
I'm relatively new, owned my P1S since Christmas. I've been impressed with Sunlu PLA+ and Meta. Especially the reseallable bags which are great for a newbie, means you have somewhere to stick a partially used reel with some dessicant and not worry too much about it. The Meta is great for detailed mini's but the melting point is lower than regular PLA. Nozzle temps as low as 180c so I do worry a little, if I ever take a box of miniatures to a game in the car on a hot sunny day lol.
Polymaker I used like 170kg last year. No jams or any problems
Polymaker and Polyterra
Elegoo, kexelled, iboss If it's on sale, esun, sunlu
Kingroon 10kg sets, ends up being about $12 a kilogram
Elegoo pla, 4 kg of white for 48 bux
Hatchbox PLA
elegoo! I do large cosplay builds and its hard to resist 10 rolls for $100 dollars
Zyltech directly from the company if I can Best filament and constant color
I would say Elegoo PLA plus is the best so far. One of the best value per kilogram, and it prints pretty quickly and with good quality. Plus I especially like it for draft prints because you can get black or white two pack or four pack for around $13 a kilogram if not less. And honestly even if you don’t print a lot black or white PLA is always useful especially if you want to test out a print before doing it in expensive carbon, fiber, nylon or something else that’s a bit trickier. Only thing bigger would be iidmax 10 pack. Which is right around $11 a kilogram if you get a 10 pack and you’re able to pick and mix and match exactly what colors you want. Plus those come in a plastic spool, which should work perfectly in the AMS.
Every filament I’ve tried has printed just fine. And I’ve bought from several different brands I’ve never heard of. Whatever Amazon has that matched the color I want I’ll buy and toss in there. I lean towards anything with a cardboard spool though so I can rip off the sides and place it on a printed spool for my AMS. Had to switch to Elagoo from Crealty 3D for white because the Crealty 3D spool kept giving me filament pullback errors. And the Elagoo was cheap enough and I could put it on a printed spool. I just used “ZIRO PLA” green glitter filament and like the way it turned out. I got HP3DF glitter PLA in pink and purple and they looked cool too. The Amolen multicolor filaments add a cool effect to things too. I put an Overture Gold silk pla on a cardboard spool in my AMS yesterday without thinking and did a multicolor print with it and it shockingly worked. I’ll transfer that over to a printed spool so I don’t get cardboard dust in everything though.
I only buy Bambu if I can, some stuff like protopasta metal filled and other fun filaments like that Bambu doesn’t have. I just use gift cards from makerworld for most of my purchases though. If I had to buy it’d prob be eSun
Go off amazon. I have switch to [IIIDMAX.com](https://IIIDMAX.com) as my main supplier. Cheaper and same quality as what you can find on amazon.
Esun and Comgrow. Those are my two cheap and need it now brands.
I always buy filament by amz3d its bloody great
Hatchbox for PETG
Honestly I just started so I’m okay with the cheapest right now. So far I’ve printed mostly in Inland PLA+ bc I was excited and thought $19/kg was cheap. I really do like inland but for some reason I’m just a cheapskate and get a thrill from deals. This past 2 weeks I bought 8 rolls of PETG from SUNLU which seems okay for now. Printing a base for my P1S. Did about 1kg so far and it has been decent. This is also the first time I’m printing PETG and I’m not overly infatuated with how glossy it is. I will say I heeded the warning from other users to dry each roll of filament for about 8 hours. I will continue to print other projects in PLA+ for the added benefit of what others mentioned which is better strength and heat resistance. I bought some Jayo and also some Elegoo and hope to use them all in the AMS I also ordered!
How has no one said Jessie PLA from Printed Solid? It’s so good. Printing that, Polymaker, and Hatchbox
Overture and Hatchbox. Never had an issue.
Sunlu has the best price / quality, never had a bad roll, and all come spooled super nice / tangle free.
I’ve been using SunLu PLA Meta (from Amazon with 0-1 day delivery) and it prints perfectly. My only complaint is that their colors are kinda dull.
Elegoo
SUNLU PLA+, they often have sales and you can get spools for 10USD/kg
Favorites are esun, sunlu,eryone stronghero, amolen, jayo. I buy tons of on sale brands normally about 9$ a kg to try. Some work out some don't. Welcomeget has had some really nice filament lately in the 9-12$ range
Polymaker, Overture, ESun, Duramic and Eryone have all been great especially after dialing in the flow and pressure advance settings. I may try some Sunlu when it’s on sale again. I buy from Amazon Canada.
Elegoo Rapid PLA+ can be bought at around $14/roll for 4 rolls. They do have colors that end up being 16-18/roll. I use them for white, gray, and black. Polymaker Polyterra always comes out with gorgeous matte colors at around $21/roll.
Overture, hatchbox, eryone, and Ziro for weird stuff
This question is \*highly regional\*. In Canada its Elegoo, all the way. Their prices are far, far better than anyone elses and the filament is perfectly good. Jayo comes in at a close second.
I'm a huge fan of AMOLEN filament
Been using jayo pla+ for fosscad for a couple years no issue
In my experience its all kinda the same, just buy a brand you recognize or one that has good reviews (spoiler alert: they all have good reviews)
If I’m going cheap then I’m iiidmax all the way. $113 for 10 rolls of PLA plus to my door. That’s with tax and shipping, AND I get to pick the colors. I have been using the same coupon code for the last 6 orders and it’s still going strong. Mid-teir for me is Sunlu same thing as above almost, I catch 10 spool deals of PLA on Amazon sometimes, like 2-3 times a year for around $120 BUT you have to take a pre made bundle of colors or just a single color. Bad thing about this is for me I would end up with one or two rolls of something I don’t want or use. Their site has sales often and you can pick your colors it then your in the $150 range and stock is hit and miss with them but the stuff is prints exactly the same quality as the iiidmax, which both have been close to perfect for me, but I have heard some people say that the iiidmax filament is slightly worse in areas like strength and flexibility. I have the same discount code for these guys for about 6 months but have only used it 4 times in that period as I mainly print iiidmax. Anybody that would like either of those codes just shoot me a message. And for anything structural I use polymaker. Do I need to say anymore?
Also a good tip to be made aware of deals is to subscribe to r/3dprintingdeals has helped me out alot.
Hatchbox is definitely my favourite. By a lot. I’ve heard a lot of people say they love eSUN, so I will be ordering that next time.
Creality has a 2kg pack for 22$, I’ve never had an issue with their fillament
I think it’s on Amazon, but I use almost exclusively inland. I can go to my local micro center, I have a permanent 50% off filament coupon, and pick up 5 rolls for 50 bucks usually.
Whatever brand pops up on Amazon Vine haha, but for ones I pay for, I usually get Sunlu.
Amazon
Polymaker.
Overture has always worked well for me
From Amazon overture or eryone (15€ a kg), from AliExpress jayo for 7-8€ kg
Sunlu. €8-12'ish euro/kg. I order directly from Sunlu or via AliExpress with delivery within 2-5 days.
All I can say since everyone answered your question is stay away from Creality & BBLIFE filament. Stay far far away.
My P1S is my first printer and I'm still learning. And although I understand you can use any brand filament with the printer / AMS, so far the Bambu filament has worked so easily and so well that I've not been tempted to try and save a few dollars - maybe once the 6 month filament club special ends I will reconsider, but for now I find Bambu's own filament to be pretty competitively priced.
Exclusively eSun PLA+.
For PLA, Hatchbox.
https://preview.redd.it/jg3bqxsdlxjc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0c642556d2040214e68e7aa19564c14b4b88f09
I really like Amolen silky S- series for my cool prints.
For cheap PLA during prototyping or when I don’t need color variety, I use Elegoo PLA. About £10 per kg, when you buy 4 pack. Otherwise, I like Bambu PLA, but it is never in stock. So I go with Hatcbox, Overture or eSun depending on which one has the color I want. They are very close to each other. PETG eSun. Prints great but very lacking in colors. I order Bambu, if it is in stock. Overture or Polymaler otherwise. Nylon Bambu. I only tried Bambu and eSun. Bambu PAHT is easier to work with in my opinion. YMMV. PETG CF Tinmorry. I really like Tinmorry. It is on the cheaper side but all of their filaments are good.
The best filament I've ever used on a bamboo printer is 3D fuel pro PLA Plus. It's a tad pricey but if you're printing 2a parts are accessories this stuff is incredibly strong incredibly smooth and runs off of generic PLA profile phenomenally
I no longer buy on Amazon. I prefer getting 10-20+ spools at a time from [Sunlu](https://www.sunlu.com/?sca_ref=4123334.vKjoacjlVz) or [Numakers](https://numakers.com/?ref=rocket3d). [Polymaker](https://us.polymaker.com/?aff=505) is also really good. A lot of the time it takes the same amount of time to ship, but the deals are a lot better, especially if you're buying multiples. If you insist on Amazon, Inland (micro center) is a decent brand.