Filament from China? Anyone try it?

[AbracadabraMan]

I've heard stories where some people have purchased the "cheap" stuff and had no problems at all. But then I have also heard stories where they have used the "cheap" stuff and their end results were basically garbage. I guess it depends on several things.
- Where you purchase it from
- What you are printing
- What printer you are using

[Vanguard]

If the filament supplier has used quality feedstock, then the product you get will be as good as any supplier from any where in the world. As with ANY group of people, there are bad ones, not so bad ones, and even a VERY few good ones. The Chinese are no different in that respect. Since it is an emerging market/supply chain, then there is a period of shady deals. How long that goes on, no one can guess. Some places in the world should be long past this many decades, or even centuries ago, are still having mostly shady operations. Hopefully the overall quality of Chinese goods will improve.

The Chinese cultrure is extremely DIFFERENT than that of western countries, they do not understand us, we do not understand them. This will change.

There was a time when Japanese products were considered to be VERY low quality, now they make some of the finest cars, audio, video, etc., you can find on the planet. On the other hand Russia has had a great opportunity, vast natural resources, and a very large labor force, yet they cannot produce a decent automobile.

It seems that the darker the color of the filament, the more crap they have put in as filler, black has, at times, been impossible to extrude, on the other hand, yellows, and whites very seldom have problems. It is difficult to hide a piece of recycled brown/black crap in a white filament. If you are going to buy cheap filament from a unknown source, you are taking your chances to begin with, the darker the color, the bigger the chance.

You figure out if it is worth the time it takes to clean a clogged nozzle, or the price of a new hot end. It's your money, you can burn it any way you want to.

[Timaz]

I have lived in China for almost a decade and am very much involved with the Chinese 3D printer community. Any sentence that begins with "in China..." is a problem. China is huge and far more diverse than Westerners realize. It's like lumping Brazil and New Hampshire together because they are both in the Americas. Chinese are fiercely provincial and are only barely unified by a common tongue- which is used only when they cannot use their local dialect. There is a vast range in culture, industrial development and business practices depending on where you are and the background of the people you are dealing with.

In 3D printing there are crappy cupcake clones:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=20844024334

...and top end all metal machines like like the Zbot and the QUBEe
http://52printer.com/proinfo.asp?bid=14&id=273
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=35873125758

But people have "cheap Chinese knockoff 3D printer" stuck in their mind because that's all anyone imports. Likewise there is filament here that is better than any I have used in the West- Faberdashery etc. The problem is that it is just as good- or a bit better, but costs only 10-15% less after shipping so is not a viable export product. People won't pay top dollar for "Chinese junk" even if it's actually better.

[Geoff]

I have a dual flashforge 3d, from china, and it's excellent, 6 months+ down the track still loving it. The filament is hit and miss, the bright colours are great, black is hard to get a good quality from china, all the ones so far ive ordered from various suppliers are rubbish filament - but thats just the black, no other colour ive had problems with. Even the cheap stuff, the white I buy for $20/1kg 1.75mm abs and its just great.

[jimc]

to be honest all the chinese filament i have tried has been crap except one. reprapper....i have had good luck with that other than when they decided to use some new type of plastic stretch wrap to wrap the spools in. the wrap had a god awful chemical smell to it and was degrading the abs. other than that one time their stuff is a great printing filament...so far. all i print in is black abs geoff and can say that theirs is great. if you dont mind ordering from the US though village plastics/filaco and www.onlinefilament.com which is mfg by toner plastics had super high grade stuff. both blacks are excellent.

[Vanguard]

I respect your thoughts, as with anybody or any country, it comes down to the INDIVIDUAL, not the country. Your Comment of comparing Brazil and New Hampshire is off base, not even the same continent, let alone the same COUNTRY.

Yes China is a VERY large place, HUGE, and it has, at the moment 20% of the worlds populations, soon to be surpassed by India. Referring to things as "in China" may not be completely accurate, but that is how westerners view things. As stated, we do not understand their culture, and they do not understand ours, I have dealt with the "Chinese" on many occasions. However those were only individuals, perhaps only the individual did not understand our culture, or myself theirs, but it would seem to be a safe overall bet.

As I also said, I'm sure there are good filament suppliers "in China", buying from ANY unknown source is risky.
"In USA" plastics suppliers will state what percentage of recycled plastic there is in any feedstock, whether it is post consumer recycle, or industrial recycle. All of this matters for the price of the feedstock, the reputation of the seller, and if they will ever have repeat business. ANY supplier, ANY where in the WORLD, that does not care about having repeat customers is going to have shady practices.

So how does this add up overall, pretty easy, you don't know the supplier, you are taking your chances.

[botfeeder]

I asked for 2 big China suppliers for samples to start selling filament in USA and Canada... but the quality and service are very bad. First supplier sample, 4/5 spools are totally broken into pieces, only 1 spool survive the delivery. They also reject to compensate for my lost. So disappointed. Second supplier sample, 3/5 spools are broken but they did enhancement already by adding few screws to hold it in one piece. To me, it counts as broken. I can't sell a broken spool to any of my customers. There's not the way to treat my customers. After I told them, they shipped me 5 new spool holders for compensation. Overall, I don't have much good experience dealing with China supplier. Even though their price is extremely cheap, I can tell you that the quality is even cheaper. Later, I turn to Taiwan supplier and here I am as a filament supplier.

Daniel Poon
BotFeeder Canada

[McNabb5]

Let me ask this. Is there any good filament that is worth buying from China?

[Timaz]

I buy PLA from this place, they just started International orders: http://www.honplasfilament.com

Very good quality (black is no problem). Works in my Up Plus 2 and Leapfrog Creatr without issues. I have not tested their ABS yet though.

[3ddplas]

Hello, we are a chinese 3d filament supplier, our chinese website: www.3ddplus.com.cn ,a register gold paid member in alibaba.
and our english website: www.3ddplas.com
we have 3 years produce experience, we supply high quality compare to other chinese, we have a chinese trande mark "3DDPLUS", and we get a reward from chinese goverment department, chinese qualify and trust brand ,photo as https://www.flickr.com/photos/esunpl...s/15256480227/
produce filament diameter laser data showing :3.0mm, 1.75mm
we sale some cheap samples in aliexpress,for bulk order please contact us
this is Tommy, my facebook is here if you like contact from there