Which type of filament is most commonly used right now?

[BearsFan]

Ive read that Abs was the early standard, that Pla is going to overtake abs. Im new to 3d printing and are yet to purchase a printer. So i was wondering as to if i do purchase one, which one would be ideal. Which printer has less expensive filament etc. Thank you in advance.

[Larry]

I think in general PLA has taken over. There are benefits to each, but PLA is less toxic. Which to buy? Probably depends somewhat on which 3D printer you own. Makerbot makes a great filament but you will probably spend a bitt more on it. Ninjaflex is amazing for rubber-like prints. You could probably ask this question to 100 people and get 100 different answers though Lulzbot TAZ 3D printers are known for being able to use a multitude of different filaments.

[BearsFan]

thank you Larry for your advice.

[jimc]

Ok im curious. You have made about 1/2 dozen post saying you have used filament from a certain retailer and have had no problems with it. How can you do that if you have no printer?

[zeb00]

Ok im curious. You have made about 1/2 dozen post saying you have used filament from a certain retailer and have had no problems with it. How can you do that if you have no printer?

there's a 2 month gap plenty of time to buy fillament and comment on it

[3dprintworks]

The answer is that most printers are optimized for PLA, but can usually be setup for ABS also, but the big difference is that to print ABS you need a heated bed, machines with a heated bed can obviously print both, and that goes for other materials of which there are a wide choice, dissolvable and flexible, nylon etc.

In summary if you buy a printer without a heated bed then you cannot print ABS. ABS is a more tough material, so depending on what you want to print could have a bearing on what printer you buy.

Printers with heated beds that I know of are reprap machines, the Makerbot Relpicator 2X, also the Ultimaker, hope that helps.

[3DPBuser]

There are many many heated beds. Flash Forge, and Wanhao, are two generic ones at a fair price with a large number of users and forums.

[midoco]

It you want to be able use more filaments I would suggest a heated print bed and an all metal extruder.

[crowbar]

Black PLA 1.75mm.

[palawanisland]

iam using more abs than pla as of the moment. i guess it depend on your target output / product, there are some differences.
you also need to consider materials that your printer can handle.