Who is your filament provider of choice.

[rhonal89]

Hi recently I bought the makerfarm 12 i3v and am looking for your filament of choice provider.
I have a list of providers.
Example: Makerfarm, colorfabb or makergeeks this are some of the most popular I hear or ebay if is ok for you guys or amazon.
Who is your favorite and why?
Also what do you like working with the most PLA or ABS ETC?
Also your choice of 3mm or 1.75?
Also favorite color to print in and why?
Reason I asked is because i heard people buying filaments that made popping sound or filaments that clogged the extruder so am trying to avoid most of this problems from the beginning and choose a great provider from the start. My question is who do you buy from and why?
Thank you for taking your time to answer!

[AbuMaia]

I usually use MakerFarm filament, though I did bite on two cheap random filament spools from MakerGeeks. I haven't had any problem with any yet. I prefer to work with ABS, but the two random spools I got were PLA, so I got to play with it some. It made nice prints. I run 1.75mm filament. The colour I aim to use most often is either White or Natural ABS, or Clear. They all look nice on their own, and can be painted if needed.

The popping sound is usually caused by the plastic (usually ABS) absorbing moisture from the air, and it vaporizes and pops out of the plastic as it's heated. If you keep your filament spools isolated in a dry box, it'll help reduce the popping. I just read of one guy keeping his plastic under vacuum too to draw out the moisture.

[printbus]

I'm glad to hear the Toner Plastics PLA from Microcenter has been working out for at least someone. On one of the $14.99 USD sales, I bought every color the Denver store had in the 1.75mm size. Took them all back a while later after two rolls kept having extrusion problems due to bumps in the filament that couldn't pass into the top of the hexagon hot end. I had dialogue with TP directly on the issue, along the lines of "we've never had that problem with our filament". For some reason the dialogue went quiet when I offered to send them a sample piece of the filament with a bulge in it.

rhonal - as you're probably realizing by now, picking a "good" filament gets to be interesting. There's only a limited number of manufacturers, so a lot of what you find is rebranded. Stores like MakerFarm don't make their own, and there's no guarantee that what you buy today will be the same when you buy again downstream. Brands vary. Colors vary. Batches vary. It makes a difference whether your small spool was from the beginning or the end of a larger spool, and how that transfer was done. Storage practices at the supplier and once it's in your hands make a difference. Also, experience matters - someone very skilled at printing can often find ways to make poor filament work for them. Someone new could easily get into trouble using perfectly flawless filament.

[rhonal89]

I notice printbus. Now this make my choosing interesting. I guess I'll start by picking the most mention and start from there.

[razer1141]

I'm glad to hear the Toner Plastics PLA from Microcenter has been working out for at least someone. On one of the $14.99 USD sales, I bought every color the Denver store had in the 1.75mm size. Took them all back a while later after two rolls kept having extrusion problems due to bumps in the filament that couldn't pass into the top of the hexagon hot end. I had dialogue with TP directly on the issue, along the lines of "we've never had that problem with our filament". For some reason the dialogue went quiet when I offered to send them a sample piece of the filament with a bulge in it.

rhonal - as you're probably realizing by now, picking a "good" filament gets to be interesting. There's only a limited number of manufacturers, so a lot of what you find is rebranded. Stores like MakerFarm don't make their own, and there's no guarantee that what you buy today will be the same when you buy again downstream. Brands vary. Colors vary. Batches vary. It makes a difference whether your small spool was from the beginning or the end of a larger spool, and how that transfer was done. Storage practices at the supplier and once it's in your hands make a difference. Also, experience matters - someone very skilled at printing can often find ways to make poor filament work for them. Someone new could easily get into trouble using perfectly flawless filament.

I'm using a toner plastic roll from microcenter right now and so far, I haven't had any issues yet.

[CalifDan]

I have had mixed results with Makerfarm filament. Two out of three worked well but one roll was wound so poorly that on most prints I had to stand by to make sure a tangle did not stop the process.

I have also used Matterhackers premium PLA. No problems with it in three rolls.

[printbus]

Hi recently I bought the makerfarm 12 i3v and am looking for your filament of choice provider.
I have a list of providers.
Example: Makerfarm, colorfabb or makergeeks this are some of the most popular I hear or ebay if is ok for you guys or amazon.
1. Who is your favorite and why?
2. Also what do you like working with the most PLA or ABS ETC?
3. Also your choice of 3mm or 1.75?
4. Also favorite color to print in and why?
5. Reason I asked is because i heard people buying filaments that made popping sound or filaments that clogged the extruder so am trying to avoid most of this problems from the beginning and choose a great provider from the start. My question is who do you buy from and why?

Enjoy the build!
1. My favorite filament has been purchased from MakerFarm. It has just turned out to be the most trouble-free of the MakerFarm/PushPlastic/Toner Plastics/Makerbot stuff that I've tried.
2. I prefer PLA since I find it easier to work with. I've had troubles with ABS curling and layers delaminating. If I want a glossy finish, I have printed in ABS and ran the print through an acetone vapor bath. So, it depends...
3. Everything I do is in 1.75mm since that's the hot end I bought. At the time of purchase, I had read how 1.75mm takes more motor steps to push the same extrusion volume, hence providing a likely debatable benefit in having more extrusion "resolution"
4. Filament is quite an investment, so most people usually only have a few colors. I have some in ABS and some in PLA, with very few colors in both. For prints that will be photographed, dark colors show detail and flaws the best. I prefer to print in the MakerFarm PLA black, since I can set my temperature based on how glossy the print comes out. My least favorite is my Toner Plastics red ABS, since it turns to extension-cord orange when extruded.
5. See AbuMaia's response. My Push Plastic brand purple initially popped really bad, but after being in dry Colorado for a while it no longer pops. Note that many cases extrusion stoppages can be something other than a clog - like a filament spool that isn't feeding smoothly or overzealous retraction settings that can cause the hobbed bolt to simply chew into the filament being fed until it no longer grips the filament.

[AbuMaia]

That reminds me. One minor issue I've had with one MakerFarm spool. It was a roll of clear ABS filament. It apparently was the last of a batch, as it was not one continuous length, but several separate strands. Luckily I have an "out of filament" sensor switch on my printer that pauses the print if the filament runs out, which it did several times when printing with the Clear. It's a very minor issue for me as it's only been this one spool, and I was set up so that it didn't ruin any prints. I wouldn't worry about it. I've gone through 8 MakerFarm spools so far, and this one has been the only oddball.

[printbus]

Since we're mentioning MakerFarm issues, be aware that some of the MakerFarm filament spools do not fit the filament spool holder provided with the MakerFarm kits. We don't know what sort of spool holder is on the 12-inch i3v, but the 73mm width spools don't fit on the 8-inch and 10-inch printers unless you're using an aftermarket spool holder.

[rhonal89]

Thank You!! everyone for the replies. Am going to try MakerFarm filament for a first round.