3D PRINTING RESOURCES

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT FILAMENT TYPE

Sources:

http://3dprintingfromscratch.com/common/how-to-choose-a-right-3d-printer-filament-type/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling

http://3dprintingindustry.com/3d-printing-basics-free-beginners-guide/

 

As the 3D printing industry evolves, there are now so many types of filament, manufacturers. Hence choosing the right 3D printer filament is becoming a challenge for consumers, so we have consolidated information from several sources to put together what we believe we need to take into account when buying filament.

 

There are several characteristics we need to consider:

 

Diameter - We will need to know the diameter of filament that is being used by your 3D Printer. There are several common 3D printer filament diameters which are 1.75 and 3.00mm. There are of course some manufacturers like Ultimaker who have chosen 2.85mm as their filament diameter for some reasons. 

 

 

Filament Type - Next is the filament type that you will need to choose from. Before you even choose the type of filament, you will need to find out what filament types is suitable for your 3D printers. The most common types of filament are ABS, PLA, PVA, Nylon. 

 

ABS is very long-lasting and strong material, usually slightly flexible and relatively resistant to heat. Printers able to process ABS plastics normally require heated bed and extrude at a temperature around 225°C. ABS 3d printer filaments are considered to be the cheapest and most popular among 3D printing community. This material is suitable to the big variety of purposes but also it’s a petroleum-based non-biodegradable plastic with quite fumes produced during printing. So printers need to be placed in a good ventilated room or area.

 

PLA in contrary is a biodegradable thermoplastic that is derived from renewable resources, which makes it more environmentally friendly among others plastic materials like ABS and PVA. The other great feature of PLA is its biocompatibility with human body. It does not leave any adverse effects when put in close contact with human body. This allows to use this filament for wide use in medical industry. It also significantly more shatterproof and flexible than the others. This type of plastic becomes soft around 50°C, which is considered to be a disadvantage of PLA filament type.

The third by popularity material is PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol). It used in printers with multiple-extruders to provide support structure to objects that do not have any layers below it. After the object is finally printed it can be put in the water until PVA structure is completely dissolved in water. Drawback of this material type usage is special requirements of storage conditions, difficult sourcing and relatively high price.

 

Filament Grade - The other good feature to know before purchase is Filament Grade. The same material can come in different grades. There are several grades such as 4043D and 2003D for PLA and PA-747 for ABS that are considered to be the standards of material that was adopted by 3D Printing Community. The filaments with named grades are good to use for new comers to 3D Printing Area. So make sure to select a material from a supplier that specify the grade they sell. Good advice can also be is to buy material of mentioned earlier grades.

 

Color Selection - Color selection is very wide from type to type. Natural or transparent colors tend to be cheaper that other as they don’t have pigment expense included. Colors can be translucent or transparent. It’s also important to keep in mind that it’s easier to caliber your settings at printer when using colored filament, not transparent one. The rest is just a meter of color preference.

 

Package (Spools or Coils) - Packaging varies from different suppliers. Material can come in spools and coils. Spools are easier to work with but they have more weight that affects shipping and total cost. Coils are cheaper and more practical for smaller quantities of plastic filament. Having said this, different 3D printers may require different form of spools compatible to the specific 3D printer hence it will also be important to consider this when buying filament. The worst we have encountered is to respool what we have bought into the spools used by the printer and this can be a tedious process. So never throw away your empty spools until you know what you are doing!

 

Filament Melting Temperatures - This is something which, in most times, overlooked. Filament manufacturers mix different components to get you the end product which is the filament and the melting temperatures MAY differ, depending on the mix. We have so far had to use the trial and error method in our prevous experiments to find the optimal melting temperatures of the different filaments from different manufacturers. 

 

Printing Conditions - Another factor to think about is Printing Conditions of filament. If your printer operates in bad-ventilated room or temperature of air is relatively low like in basement or shop during winter, then possibly it would be better to switch to PLA material. In cold environment there are much more probability to get cracked or warped ABS object then PLA one.

 

 

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