PLA

[shai]

I'm looking to buy PLA, where did you get yours? and what size filament is needed for the hot end that is shipped with the printrbot?

EDIT: I live in the USA

[eddiema]

[shai]

Yeah forgot that part sorry, USA.

[PxT]

You need 3mm filament. I have been very happy so far with the PLA I got from ultimachine.com.

[shai]

[PxT]

Recommended reading:
http://www.protoparadigm.com/2011/11/fi ... t-quality/

[shai]

[MarcelVal]

I have been looking for PLA as well while I am working to get my printer together. My daughter can't stand the smell of ABS, and I am somewhat concerned with fumes and such so I will be sticking to PLA for now. I was admiring the great colors sold by , but the shipping charges from UK to USA are way to high. While lurking on the reprap.org forum I saw a posting from a company in the US claiming to have faberdashery plastic and it looked good on their website so I want ahead and placed an order.

The store is Handmade Circuits ( I placed an order on Sunday May27th for 100 meters each of 3mm Bling Bling Gold, Fire Truck Red and Galaxy Blue. 100 meters comes out to about 1.9 lbs.

The cost on faberdashery for the same would be £90 or $138.33. The cost from Handmade Circuits came to 147.97 so only a slight markup there. The cheapest shipping offered from UK to Los Angeles would be £112.99 which is about $173 and quite a bit more than the cost of the filament. The shipping from Handmade was $5, that's right, five bucks. So the total from the UK would be about $340 and from HC was only $153.

And the best is that even with Monday being a holiday the shipment made it to me by Thursday, so 3 business days. It came in loose coils (so I will need some sort of spool) in sealed plastic bags (no desiccant though) and it has a faberdashery sticker on it. The colors look great (and just like the faberdashery website). I don't have calipers yet to measure it, but the filament has a good reputation so I am not worried about it.

It's not the cheapest you can get, but the colors are really nice and from what I have read it prints quite well.

The other shop I almost ordered from is TheFutureIs3D but their color selection is not as good - although the prices are a good bit less, so I will probably try them out once I go through this first batch. Assuming I ever get the thing put together!

[shai]

@MarcelVal You're paying a bit over $22 per pound, that's somewhat expensive compared to other places where they sell it at 15-17 per pound.

And don't be fooled by pictures. Those pictures may very well be from google. Just saying.

[MarcelVal]

@ Shai, Yes, it is a bit pricier than other suppliers, but the colors are really exceptional (at least from what I have seen in person which admittedly is not much). The filament does look exactly like the genuine photos from . I have no reason to believe it's not legitimate, once I start printing I will update how it works out.

[DJUltis]

Hello,

David here, I'm the proprietor of Handmadecircuits.com and am replying in order to shed some light on the concerns stated here.

First, yes, I am an official Faberdashery US reseller selling genuine product. Being a fake would really suck, and I wouldn't enjoy life like I do now.

Second, all of the photography is genuine and mine. It looks close to the Faberdashery photos because I'm a budding macro focus ninja and that angle is the only very good way to see the color and finish.

Third, I should and will add dessicant....

I have also begun producing filament available in bulk weight "by the pound" , as opposed to the "by the meter" form that the Fab filament is packaged in. There are differences such as the color quality and tolerances that boutique producers pride themselves on versus affordable, quality filament that simply works well in printing.

Making things reasonably affordable is my first priority, especially when serving fellow tinkers and builders of things. I continue to serve many people with different priorities regarding their own pursuits in 3D printing, some want great colors, others want something that is functional and cost efficient. Personally I ride somewhere in between, making special prints with brighter colors, and experimenting or making large batches of parts with filament that isn't so costly to use/mess up with.

Hope this helps and happy printing

[Mooselake]

Hi, David. Thanks for posting!

Your rainbow sampler packs look like a great idea. Do you plan to offer them again?

Kirk

[jr57k]

[DJUltis]

Moosetalk I certainly can, just give me a few days.

By default I definitely use PLA, as my family and pet conure might appreciate, but things like extruders and other higher temp tolerance items need to be ABS, so I take my printer to the garage or work and print these there. Or make a friend do it....

[faberdasher]

Hi,
I'm Andrew from Faberdashery. Just wanted to support David's comments. Handmade Circuits is the place to acquire some exquisite PLA Stateside. We will be listing our official distributors here in future too: http://www.faberdashery.co.uk/distributors/
Cheers!

[jr57k]

[zachnfine]

Have shipping rates gone up recently?

I just put together an order of 100m of PLA from handmadecircuits, and was quoted $15.85 shipping to Los Angeles rather than $5.

[mdfast1]

I just put together a quote on handmadecircuits as well for some PLA. $15.85 shipped to VA for three 35meter rolls. Seems real high.

[zachnfine]

I wasn't trying to say ~$15 shipping is high, just that it isn't the $5 reported by the previous user. I put together a similar order on makerbot to test and that site quoted a similar shipping charge.

It does seem like filament is something that ought to be shippable in a USPS padded flat rate envelope, which I think should cost $5.35 for up to 4lbs. Maybe I'm underestimating the size and fragility of filament, but it seems to me to be something that doesn't require a ton of protection. It would be cool to find a way to reduce shipping such that it doesn't cost nearly as much as a pound of PLA.

[mdfast1]

Well honestly I guess I should clarify, I thought it was high, but that would have been my first filament purchase. I just haven't seem shipping prices that high on stuff in a while.

[Dick Brewster]

It's probably too fragile for Priority mail padded envelope. If they use a Priority mail box it's approximately $10-$13 inside the US, if they use UPS then they need to pay for a box too. If you consider labor and materials for packaging and shipping it, $15 is maybe a reasonable charge. They might be making dollar or two extra profit on the shipping.

The frustrating part is that if you were buying from a brick and mortar store, they wouldn't change you extra for the time you spent talking to the sales clerk, but many businesses charge you a hidden labor cost when you mail order.

[scantrontb]

[vdubskey]

www.onlinefilament.com

Free shipping and fast shipping. I got a 1kg roll of Black 3mm PLA in 2 days! $39.00 and he accepts PayPal.

[3dprintingpro]

I buy my BotFeeder Filament (made in Taiwan) from 3Dtrend

[YellowGTO]

Amazon.com Tons of selections, most are free shipping. Im a prime member so I pickup 2 kg rolls for 30 bucks with free 2 day shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_ ... 20filament

[EddB]

[Mooselake]

[Jdublu]

matterHackers.com, free 2 day shipping anywhere in the US. They called me up last week because I accidentally ordered a roll of 3mm mixed in with my 1.75, and all my previous orders had been 1.75. Saved me having to ship back something I couldn't use. I can't say enough good things about these guys.

[he3d]

I suggest you buy 1.75 PLA, more practical,
I have a lot of customers in the United States,
we often deal, if you buy more,
we will give you a discount or free transportation,
I come from China, good and inexpensive, you know!
http://www.reprap.cn skype:reprap.cn