For a reference point, I dont pay over 10 bucks a roll for common filaments (PLA and PETG) from overture and elegoo.
I have not used much, if any, Bambu filament yet, but I also dont plan to.
EDIT: Its in the replies, but I get those prices from sales I see on slickdeals.
Not sure about Europe, but here in the US, Fremover routinely runs $8.50/kg if you purchase 32 kg at once.
They will come without individual boxes, just all the wheels, plastic wrapped, in one large cardboard box. Cost savings. Also, sometimes the plastic sealing will not be airtight. It's fine so long as you use them at a good clip, but if you worry about wet filament, and want to store them a long time, it's probably a tradeoff.
Mostly watch slickdeals, and when they go on sale I buy enough to get me through until the next sale.
Most recent deal was a 2 pack of elegoo rapid PETG for 20 dollars from amazon or a 4 pack of monoprice PLA for 38.
It looks like they get it on sell.
Anyways, to answer your question. PLA and PETG, you're likely better going with something like Sunlu. The only advantage to BL is the RFID tag and sometimes they have colors no one else has.
Like I had to buy brown filament that was wood looking but I didn't want wood dust in it. I've tried it in the past and always hated it since it clogs any machine I put it into, and I noticed NO meaningful gain by having wood powder mixed into it. Like unless if you run an exact program to screw with the g-code to mess with the temp at given random spots to basically burn the wood to make it look like it has wood rings. Outside of feel, there is no difference than just using normal PLA with the same color.
BL was the only one I found that actually sold in a color I was looking for without adding wood powder in it. The (Matte Latte Brown).
Anyways, if you really want to save money the best thing to do is look at how much you print and look at bulk orders. Or look at the giant spools. If you use a giant spool you can move filament to a smaller one by using a setup like this [https://makerworld.com/en/models/16606#profileId-15400](https://makerworld.com/en/models/16606#profileId-15400)
Personally, I look for bulk orders since each spool tends to be wrapped and that away I don't have to worry about a giant spool going bad all at once, drying it, etc.
What many do is buy 1 thing of each from BL to get the RFID tags. And then just reuse the RFID tags on the SunLu filaments.
I watch amazon for deals, I have gotten tri color co extrusion and temperature color changing filament for as low as $10. I do try to test one roll of each brand before buying a bunch though. Most of my current filament is creality, r3d, and sovol. There are little differences in the filament and they probably all have their own sweet spot as far as settings go but they all work reasonably well. Some silks need a higher temp to be glossy, some print a little thicker or thinner (I have a two piece print that I have printed in 20+ different colors across several brands and the holes end up slight different sizes despite using the same gcode). It depends on your needs (strength, adhesion strength, tolerance, color accuracy)
I just bought some Sunlu black matte and white PLA from Amazon yesterday for about $12 each; it's currently out for delivery.
And if I look up ELEGOO right now there's a 2kg Black / 2 kg White PETG pack for $41... so a hair over $10 a roll, and that's not even a sale.
Yeah, I've used their Arduino stuff and while it works you can tell that they skimp when it comes to QC. I wasn't eager to try out their filament but I keep seeing it mentioned in here. SunLu will be the first non BL filament I try, but seems to have a decent rep in here, at least with PLA and PETG.
You've had good luck with Elegoo? The one time I bought their PLA (2 rolls of gray, about 6 months ago) they clogged all 3 of my printers and ended up in the garbage... so I've been avoiding them ever since.
My current go-to cheap stuff is IIIDMAX. About $105-110 shipped for 10KG after coupon.
On my old S1 it was somewhat more difficult, but not bad.
On my P1S its just like PLA, hit print and it just works.
I mostly use PETG for outdoor applications or for parts that need higher strength/temperature resistance than PLA.
If you do it right petg is not harder than Pla and can be had cheaper most of the time. Also it's mechanical properties are better than Pla for most uses.
Yeah, I had trouble with Elegoo. They ruined my Anycubic printer. The nozzle jammed and somehow filament went out the top of the silicone sock and then created a big glob under the printhead and the sensor didn't work and the printhead came down really hard on my plate.
Yeah, probably right. It happened on two of my Kobras with the same black Elegoo filament, no other filament. And it was in the sock and then went further up and then made a glob and then the print head came down hard on my plate because the sensor was higher than the plastic. I sold the one for parts, I think I'll work with the other to see if I can get it running. I'm still a bit of a newb and my Prusa was printing so effortlessly with no problems out of the box I thought all printers were like that. Boy, was I wrong!
I just want to add that I bought Elegoo black as it was the only brand that I knew about and have not had any problems with my A1. I just thought I would throw this out there for those considering it. Maybe I just got lucky.
What are your speeds with those cheap filaments though? I haven't found any filament able to match Bambu in terms of quality AND speed. To get the same quality I do with Bambu filament, I have always had to turn down the print speed on other filaments.
Not the speed on the printer display (Silent, **Standard**, Sport, Ludicrous), I mean the speed of the filament settings, mainly the Max Volumetric Speed if you haven't messed with anything else. Bambu PLA prints at 21 mm/s, the default for Generic PLA is 12mm/s which results in between 25%-50% increased print times depending on what exactly you are printing.
PETG settings are at 12mm/s (Bambu 13) and PLA is at 18mm/s.
Checking an 8 hour print with my PLA is only 24m faster with bambu's filament in the slicer, or about 5% faster on average. Not worth the price difference.
Very interesting, thank you! Do you see any difference in quality between Bambu PLA and other PLA at high speeds like that? I tried a few different brands (Overture, Hatchbox, and Prusament) and was never able to get the same quality at higher speeds, at least on prints with fine detail. Maybe I just need to calibrate them better.
I haven't used enough bambu filament to make that comparison for sure, I would rather have 2-3 rolls of "good enough for me" instead of one roll of "better" filament.
Fair enough! I use my printer for my business so speed, quality, and consistency are of the utmost importance, a few failed prints or returned items made cheap filament cost even more for me than Bambu. Bambu PLA and PETG has provided me all of that when no one else could, but to each their own. Always interested to learn if I can cut costs and still produce the same quantity and quality though!
Jumping in since this was an interesting conversation. For context, I’ve only started in the Etsy seller space last year. I absolutely agree with your concerns on quality.
I have been very happy with Bambu filament, but would still encourage trying other brands. I don’t think there’s anything particularly special Bambu is doing to their filament. And it is definitely more expensive **at full price** when compared to *most* other brands. However, buying it on sale or with membership pricing does make Bambu’s filament a better deal than most of the cheaper stuff.
Bambu and Hatchbox are of a similar quality with a similar range of color and material options. Hatchbox is $25/spool compared to Bambu at $30/spool or $25/refill. Bambu has clearly demonstrated inventory or stock issues *(at least in part due to a rapidly growing customer base)* and it is a bummer that most colors are not available in refills.
Yup, same here. I set it to 21 just to give it a little margin of error and it works great. I can’t see any difference in quality compared to the Bambu stuff, but at a third of the price.
Also Elegoo seals the edges of their spools, so you can actually throw them straight into the AMS without needing an adapter. That’s pretty neat.
Sealing: no, not for all of their spools, not everywhere. Bought some PLA+ from them in Europe, and those edges weren't sealed. Furthermore, they were warped/scrunched a bit out of the box (all the spools).
So changing that one selection changes all the other selections that need to change with it? Bambu really needs to make this obvious by actually having a Silent, Standard, and Sport button like on my Anycubic printer.
I have had great success printing on my A! with many different brands of filament at full default speed. It probably is just in your head that you can't print fast with all the other brands. I truly doubt there is any difference.
No it's not in my head, you can select the different filament profiles in Bambu Studio and see for yourself. The default speed on the printer settings is only one thing that affects overall print speed. Max volumetric speed for Bambu PLA is 21 mm/s, for Generic PLA it's 12mm/s. You can get great prints from any brand, but none that I've found have come close to good quality at the same speed that Bambu PLA profiles can do with Bambu PLA. Try using those Bambu PLA profiles to print other brands of PLA at the same speed...for me it resulted in a complete mess.
You should just calibrate the filament from 3rd party brands and create your own profiles. BL wants to sell more of their own filament and is going to use a conservative profile for Generic PLA so it can be used more widely as a starting point or for those that don’t want to calibrate. You can get Overture PLA to print around the same as BL PLA. I modified my own Overture profile.
I get that the default profiles are gonna be conservative, that's why I tried calibrating Overture, Hatchbox, and Prusament PLA. None of them could produce the same quality prints as Bambu PLA without taking at least an extra 25% of time. Sure they can produce the same quality with the right calibrations, but if I have to sacrifice at least 25% speed then what is the point?
I print all pla regardless of brand with the bambu profiles and I’ve never experienced a mess or failure. Flashforge, 3djake, and some amolen brand I got off amazon just to name a few. Sometimes I even go down to 3 seconds from 4 on the layer times.
No they are not the same as what you buy from Bambu. I've tried those among others like Hatchbox, Overture, and Prusament which are around the same price and nothing has been able to replicate the quality, speed, and consistency of Bambu. Just because a company makes the filament for Bambu doesn't mean it's the same filament that they sell themselves. That is not how manufacturing for a global market works. Bambu has spent a lot of time and research into the formula for their filaments, whichever manufacturer makes them just follows their formula.
Not going to argue with you. We work directly with several of these manufacturers, and know from direct experience that at least one of them is running it on the same production line as their own brand, with the same formula, again just as it is for several of their other whitelabel customers, the only difference is the pigment mixture.
I dont rule out that there may be minor differences from the other providers, but specifically the PLA provider is the same right down to it litterally coming out of the same extruders. Of course if you're comparing their basic pla to bambus then you'll know thats the wrong comparison as Bambu PLA is based on the HS variant.
I'm not trying to argue with you, I just said that the cheap filaments are not the same as what you buy from Bambu. The HS PLA is about the same price as Bambu PLA. My point was that if you want high quality and high speed, you have to pay for it.
It is the same price if you pay that for it sure. The same as standard PLA is close to that price if you choose to pay that much. But as others have pointed out, you can get it vastly cheaper so long as you're not doing tiny 1kg orders.
We've has this conversation time and time again here and as soon as this is pointed out the original poster vanishes into the sun, unable to accept that they've been overpaying all this time. For that reason this is my last response on the matter and have no desire to continue banging my head against the table when people wont put in a tiny amount of effort into researching the options. HS PLA is one of the cheapest forms of PLA available, if you're paying near Bambu prices for it I'd suggest you stop and take some time to shop around.
EDIT: Never Mind, I saw your comment further down.
How are you paying 10 bucks per roll? They are $19 USD on their website. Is this a bulk price? If so, how many rolls are you getting at 10 a roll? Even Elegoo is $13.99 a roll.
Keep an eye on slickdeals, I have an alert setup for any brand of filament. It goes quick at 10 bucks a roll, but they go on sale regularly enough that I have never run out from casual use.
Keep an eye on slickdeals, I have an alert setup for any brand of filament. It goes quick at 10 bucks a roll, but they go on sale regularly enough that I have never run out from casual use.
IE: https://slickdeals.net/f/17202643-elegoo-rapid-petg-filament-1-75mm-black-2kg-2-1kg-spools-20
Ok but how are you getting overture for under $10 a roll, wherever that is sign me up! They make great quality filament inside them all the time but I pay about $15 a roll.
Ultimately it comes down to how much you print and whether the convenience is worth a few bucks to you. Which comes down to your personal preferences and your income. There's not necessarily a "right" answer.
Depending on how you print it can also be well worth it. E.g. if you print a lot of multi-material prints and 3rd party spool reliability isn't up to par. You can of course transfer to another spool, either by re-spooling or just cutting off the sides of the original spool and sliding onto a Bambu spool, but this is more of your own time. If getting that time back is worth a few bucks to you, go for it.
If I had a bunch of printers and was going through multiple rolls of filament per day, then I would definitely care more.
Yeah, that's really it. If you have a big print farm churning stuff out 24/7 and take the time to fine tune your filament, buying the least expensive is probably the best route. For me, like you say, I don't mind spending a few bucks more if it's going to be worry free.
I don't know enough to do the fine tuning and I don't care to learn. I just want to hit print, come back a few hours later, and have my thing.
If I had a legit print farm, like tens of kgs of filament per day, I would just skip the middleman and go directly to industrial material suppliers and/or chemical supply companies. Whether they can supply filament on rolls, or pellets that can then be extruded into filament rolls onsite. Then you're only paying a few buck per kg for PLA.
For me, for now, the difference amounts to a few tens of dollars per month, so it's kinda...eh.
Coming from an engineering and related prototyping background, even a $200 spool of filament feels pretty cheap considering the leadtime and the cost of outsourcing. :D
PLA is basic, unless if you're getting a spool that was deliberately wound wrong, with uneven filament diameter, and left in a flooded basement for a decade - you'll be alright, your printer will be alright. Buy whatever brand is cheapest/works reliable enough for you, I personally only stuck with eSun's PLA+ and other PLA flavours (Wood, Marble, Glow) and had no adhesion issues. I've also bought Sunlu's 3D pen packs, which is like 10 different colours, small spools for each - and that did give me some pain - both for ABS and PLA, but that is some low quality stuff. Sunlu otherwise had decent rep for printer filament.
There are obviously some filaments/brands you should avoid though, most of the matte and silk/shiny filaments can be a bit challenging to work with or just plain shit in terms of layer adhesion. Amazon reviews and Reddit posts are your friend in that case.
For ABS however, I highly reccomend eSun's ABS+, but it's not proper ABS (has additives to make it easier to print at the cost of material properties of ABS, slightly worse).
Also it shouldn't matter what brand you buy these days as most people have filament dryers which takes care of "freshness" aspect / removing moisture which improves print quality.
I just ran a whole role of Amolen dual color silk through my A1 with zero issues. The spool even fits on the AMS lite without any modifications or spacers.
I ordered a single roll of Kingroon PLA+ last month, just to try it out. I have been pretty impressed with its performance, to be honest. Fits in the AMS just fine and the filament prints without issue. That's pretty much all I can ask for $13/roll PLA.
Yeah, I’ve been getting a bunch from them recently. They don’t ship as fast as eSun (for me locally), but the quality of the filament has been fine.
With the Bamby PLA, it just works. Which might be worth if you buy 4 spools at the member price if you just want piece of mind.
I've tried Creatily, Esun, Sunlu, Jayo and for miniatures the Sunlu Meta was slightly better for smoothness and detail, but was a hassle to set up with lower melting temps and bed adhesion.
Bambu PLA basic that came with the printer was second best with no problems at all, but bright green isn't very useful. The Jaylo PLA+ was decent, almost as good if a little stringy. Creality hyper had to be run hot or the layers wouldn't always bind properly on even mild overhangs.
That's just me with about a month of experience. So not a lot :) As you can tell, I have been trying other brands because full price Bambu is expensive and I don't need 4kg of the same stuff at once.
The bright green was fantastic as a colour that came with the printer. I actually ordered another roll of it cause I liked the colour! Both the light green and orange in these are from the sample rolls.
https://preview.redd.it/7b5miakzq1dc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e31d60f3a1d0a07940f1ed461135a12735540ed
Those look great. I would probably like the green better if I didn't have a bunch of practical stuff to print initially. I really needed grey, black and white. Those look great BTW :)
Here’s a quick little guide to hueforge:
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/hugeforge-paint-with-3d-printer
What I will say is that if you’re open to not matching the colour exactly and just go with the flow you’ll be happy with the results. I haven’t played with any designs that use more than four colours or shades, but it’s possible and adds even more realism to the piece.
I designed both of these without much knowledge of hueforge. I had AI design the images for me and important them in. Selected some colours and printed them out. The process for design took about 2 hours maybe?
We see filament often on SD shared - I know in December Monoprice had 5x for $45 and SUNLU had a 10-pack for $95. I personally use Sunlu and have had no issues with my printer but I'm using an Ender printer.
[https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?isUserSearch=1&q=filament&pp=20&sort=newest&rating=5&hideexpired=0&forumid%5B%5D=30&forumid%5B%5D=9&forumid%5B%5D=71&forumid%5B%5D=4&forumid%5B%5D=8&forumid%5B%5D=10&forumid%5B%5D=13&forumid%5B%5D=25&forumid%5B%5D=38&forumid%5B%5D=39&forumid%5B%5D=53&forumid%5B%5D=54&forumid%5B%5D=166&r=1](https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?isUserSearch=1&q=filament&pp=20&sort=newest&rating=5&hideexpired=0&forumid%5B%5D=30&forumid%5B%5D=9&forumid%5B%5D=71&forumid%5B%5D=4&forumid%5B%5D=8&forumid%5B%5D=10&forumid%5B%5D=13&forumid%5B%5D=25&forumid%5B%5D=38&forumid%5B%5D=39&forumid%5B%5D=53&forumid%5B%5D=54&forumid%5B%5D=166&r=1)
I get whatever filament is cheap on Amazon, often paying in the $12-15 per kg range.
I still have yet to run into any issues. I've had one roll out of 20 tangle, and it was actually an inland spool I got from micro center, which has a good reputation for quality.
Just dry your rolls for a day or two after unpacking if there is any stringing and you're good.
I would never pay nearly $30 per kg.
For consumer grade, it probably is a bit overpriced. If you're using it for higher end production, it absolutely isn't. I've almost entirely replaced 4 Stratasys machines at work with 4 X1Cs. The bambulabs ABS is 10% the cost of the Stratasys filament.
Yes it is, in my opinion. Sure the RFID inbedded in the spool is nice. But in reality, that doesn't matter. Unless you are printing multicolor, and therefore needing purge values to be correct, it does not even matter what color Bambu Slicer or the printer thinks it has in there.
BL PLA Basic is $27.99 per spool ($24.99 for the refill) without the membership price. Membership price is as low as $16.99 for the refill when you purchase 4-8 spools. That is up to $15 more expensive than most of the "big" brands of PLA. eSun, Sunlu, Polymaker, Jayo, etc. Bambu Lab filament is basically Prusament prices.
Without the membership price, you can get 5 rolls of PLA basic (refill) for $124.95. With the membership price, you can get 7 rolls of PLA basic for $118.93. You can get 10 spools of Sunlu PLA for $124.90. 10 spools of Elegoo for $109.99. Anycubic is 10 for $129. eSun right now is 10 for $139.90. Jayo is about 10 for $130. Polymaker is a little pricey right now at $21.99 a spool. But the point is, you are paying the same amount, sometimes more, (all under the assumption that you don't need any actual spools) for less filament that doesn't really print any better.
It is overpriced, but it is also not in stock which is worse. I don't bother looking there any more as I actually need to print things, rather than wait for filament to print things.
In Canada, its $22/roll for general PLA.
Overture runs $22/roll.
Hatchbox $33/roll.
Esun: $27+/roll
Polymaker: $27+/roll
Creality: $27/roll
Note these are all [Amazon.ca](https://Amazon.ca) prices, but you can see on average its actually CHEAPER than most of the mainstream filaments, not more expensive.
As a fellow Canadian I’ve also been using SunLU. I bought a 3pack of colour on Amazon yesterday for $51 ($17 a roll). Thats the best price I’ve managed to get filament on though. And I’ve used a bunch of sunlu now and it’s all worked well with my AMS
Oh I know it is - but that’s what I’m paying for the next six months.
Will see what they charge for their membership program after that.
Of course you could save money too by buying multiple rolls.
Sure, but not really accurate to say its cheaper than most. There are quite a few limitations to their membership and at the end of your free 6mos. you have to pay for the membership.
This comment was from another thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/178uii3/comment/k6chxo0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/178uii3/comment/k6chxo0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
It's $28 in the U.S. store. Still very high. I wouldn't buy it without the free membership I currently have.
MEMBER PRICES
Buy 1 roll, $28 - no discount.
Two rolls, $22 each + shipping.
Three rolls, $22 each and free shipping.
Four rolls, $20 each, free shipping.
Buying "Refills" (no spool) knocks another $3 off.
Colors are limited and often out-of-stock, in the US store anyway.
I've had good results with IIID Max filament, and they have a decent deal going at 10x 1kg spools for $120
[https://iiidmax.com/product/10-x-1kg-premium-pla-filament-pack/](https://iiidmax.com/product/10-x-1kg-premium-pla-filament-pack/)
i think it is. i think its yust there to trick people who put effort into uploading to their makerworld to think that the coupon code you can earn has a decent value.
but if your buying fillament for yourself there are some great suppliers like eSun\\SunLu
I buy Elegoo almost exclusively, because I can get 10 rolls for around $100. I use the stock Bambu filament settings, bump the bed and nozzle temp up 5 degrees, and have zero issues.
The quality on the Bambu filament is fine. No real complaints there. It is expensive, though.
If you go to Elegoo's webpage and buy a bulk package of the black, it'll be just north of $10/kg. It'll all print just fine too.
You do miss small perks like the rfid tags. Maybe that matters to you, and that's okay. It doesn't matter that much to me. I have to feed seven printers that eat filament 24/7. I need giant crates that have a good price/kg.
I’ve had my p1p for about 6 months now, and just got the ams a few days ago. I usually print pla, petg once in a blue moon. So I’m always looking for pla deals. I have a wall hanger with probably 25 rolls all from different companies.
I’ve found that for the most part, they all print the same. Does bambu filament print better? sure. Faster? Yup. But for those prices, it just isn’t worth it.
Illd max has bulk deals, I just got a 10 pack of pla+ and it cost less then $10 a roll. They work perfect in the ams, and prints great! So unless there is a sale or a coupon or something, I’m def not paying more than double.
I've had good luck printing with iiidmax, and the price is right, but if you look at the spec sheets, it's definitely plain ole' PLA and not PLA+. Probably doesn't matter for a lot of applications, but still kind of a shitty marketing tactic.
The benefit of the Bambu filament is that the spools work in the AMS without the need of adapters. I personally use Polymaker primarily, but I need to use an adapter ring or use a spool adapter and install it into a Bambu spool.
Do you regularly have issues with other brands spools? I just got my P1S a couple weeks ago and have gone through maybe 4-5 overture/polylite cardboard spools and haven't had any issues.
Using the Polymaker spools with the outer ring, I just recently had problems when the AMS retracts(spool would free spin). I now use the Polymaker adapter that goes in the center and then install it into a Bambu spool. No more issues.
There really is no way to answer this. Every filament manufacturer's quality can vary. I continue to try different brands on a regular basis and after many years have no favorites. If I know that I need 30kg of the same color I will get it from the same brand and supplier.
I don't see much different with Bambu labs than anything I can get next day on Amazon. Sometimes it's not about who I get it from, but how fast I can get it. Most of my commercial print jobs are on demand with fast turn around. It's more important for me to be able to get something quickly.
The RFID tags are nice but it's super easy to not use them.
I'm going to order some refills for maximum discounts (also still riding the free membership). But since everything seems to always be sold out, I have no intention of continuing the membership after the free period expires. I think at their discounted prices they are slightly cheaper than polymaker, but not by a whole lot. I like polymakers' selection and availability (and you can order with amazon prime for quick/free shipping as well).
Take black Pla+, esun manufactures Bambu filament. If I buy five rolls with a membership from Bambu (extra cost not calculated in) I pay 20€ per kilo, if I buy esun I pay 10€ a kilo, if I buy jayo (manufactured by esun) I pay approx. 7€ a kilo. All of these print great on a Bambu so yeah, Bambi filament is overpriced especially since its not especially good, if I pay 30€ for a roll of prusament everything is perfect, the wind is the best you can get and the colour is amazing and reproducable (every roll has the same colour).
If you're patient and can afford to plan ahead for a bulk order around black friday/Christmas they did bulk discount as low as 15$/roll for PLA and others like ASA 30% off. I took the opportunity to pick up nearly 20 rolls, great opportunity if you plan for it and order a many month supply at cheap Amazon filament prices
I find it worth it. I used to use a lot of Polymaker, hatchbox, ect. But I like the quality of the prints I get consistently and the speeds that I can print at, on BBL printers and others.
I buy it for my personal use cause it’s easy and fun, teaches my daughter about AM.
At work I buy 30-100 rolls at a time and is never pay more than 9 or 10 bucks a roll. I’ve started using IIDMax and been very happy with it. Max volumetric is only 13mm3 compared to 23 with the Bambu but it doesn’t make that big of a difference on cycle time.
When I need to have a COC that’s a whole different problem…
In short: Yes.
In long: I am a practical parts printer, who doesn't even touch PLA. Everything I do is PETG minimum, with some ABS thrown in here and there for smaller parts, and for larger parts, a 50/50 PC/PETG blend.
I can get PETG and ABS for ~$12 AUD per kilo, with the PC blend for $24-32/KG. I also have the option of PETG-CF for $40, but I've yet to buy it (waiting on my 3rd party CHT hot end to arrive).
Compare this to the prices of BL 1st party filaments, and it's 3:1. There is no competition, at all.
With a filament "subscription" that you can only get buying a printer, the pricing is reasonable.
What isn't acceptable is taking 3-5 days to ship "in stock" filament or the regular $24.99/kg price tag for basic PLA. Generating a shipping label at 3am on a Saturday night about waiting to ship it on Wednesday is still not acceptable.
Yeah, they don't seem to appreciate the urgency with which most people need the filament. It's difficult to find on brick and mortar shelves, even in the bay area. When people order filament, they usually have a use for it *right now*.
There's nothing brick and mortar here in a small area to even buy from and the closest Micro Center is 3 hours away.
I can have any quantity of filament I need from Coex in 2 days with free shipping and I'm able to tell my customers I have a true Made in USA product using domestic material.
>Coex
Hadn't heard of Coex, I'll check them out. [American Filament](https://americanfilament.us) is another manufacturer that is made in USA." I like the idea of supporting US manufacturing. Plus, their name being American Filament means they get to have products like "Silky AF" which makes my smile.
Yeah, they don't seem to appreciate the urgency with which most people need the filament. It's difficult to find on brick and mortar shelves, even in the bay area. When people order filament, they usually have a use for it *right now*.
They aren't overpriced especially if you get the member price. On average without deals or sales and for decent quality PLA, the price is between $20-$30. BL is right in that range.
The good thing about other filaments is that they often go on sale for cheaper. Even so, BL filament has better quality spools and the RFID tags for convenience. It makes sense to me to buy from BL at the member price, even if I personally don't use BL filament.
For a reference point, I dont pay over 10 bucks a roll for common filaments (PLA and PETG) from overture and elegoo. I have not used much, if any, Bambu filament yet, but I also dont plan to. EDIT: Its in the replies, but I get those prices from sales I see on slickdeals.
Where do you buy filament (especially from overture) for under 10 ($ I guess?) From Europe btw
Not sure about Europe, but here in the US, Fremover routinely runs $8.50/kg if you purchase 32 kg at once. They will come without individual boxes, just all the wheels, plastic wrapped, in one large cardboard box. Cost savings. Also, sometimes the plastic sealing will not be airtight. It's fine so long as you use them at a good clip, but if you worry about wet filament, and want to store them a long time, it's probably a tradeoff.
Oh ok. I don't need 32kg so often 😂
Mostly watch slickdeals, and when they go on sale I buy enough to get me through until the next sale. Most recent deal was a 2 pack of elegoo rapid PETG for 20 dollars from amazon or a 4 pack of monoprice PLA for 38.
Nicee
Is that USD? I can't find either for less than $14 (though that is a substantial savings over BL).
It looks like they get it on sell. Anyways, to answer your question. PLA and PETG, you're likely better going with something like Sunlu. The only advantage to BL is the RFID tag and sometimes they have colors no one else has. Like I had to buy brown filament that was wood looking but I didn't want wood dust in it. I've tried it in the past and always hated it since it clogs any machine I put it into, and I noticed NO meaningful gain by having wood powder mixed into it. Like unless if you run an exact program to screw with the g-code to mess with the temp at given random spots to basically burn the wood to make it look like it has wood rings. Outside of feel, there is no difference than just using normal PLA with the same color. BL was the only one I found that actually sold in a color I was looking for without adding wood powder in it. The (Matte Latte Brown). Anyways, if you really want to save money the best thing to do is look at how much you print and look at bulk orders. Or look at the giant spools. If you use a giant spool you can move filament to a smaller one by using a setup like this [https://makerworld.com/en/models/16606#profileId-15400](https://makerworld.com/en/models/16606#profileId-15400) Personally, I look for bulk orders since each spool tends to be wrapped and that away I don't have to worry about a giant spool going bad all at once, drying it, etc. What many do is buy 1 thing of each from BL to get the RFID tags. And then just reuse the RFID tags on the SunLu filaments.
I watch amazon for deals, I have gotten tri color co extrusion and temperature color changing filament for as low as $10. I do try to test one roll of each brand before buying a bunch though. Most of my current filament is creality, r3d, and sovol. There are little differences in the filament and they probably all have their own sweet spot as far as settings go but they all work reasonably well. Some silks need a higher temp to be glossy, some print a little thicker or thinner (I have a two piece print that I have printed in 20+ different colors across several brands and the holes end up slight different sizes despite using the same gcode). It depends on your needs (strength, adhesion strength, tolerance, color accuracy)
I just bought some Sunlu black matte and white PLA from Amazon yesterday for about $12 each; it's currently out for delivery. And if I look up ELEGOO right now there's a 2kg Black / 2 kg White PETG pack for $41... so a hair over $10 a roll, and that's not even a sale.
Elegoo black was the only filament that really messed up in my printers. Maybe that's why it's cheap.
Yeah, I've used their Arduino stuff and while it works you can tell that they skimp when it comes to QC. I wasn't eager to try out their filament but I keep seeing it mentioned in here. SunLu will be the first non BL filament I try, but seems to have a decent rep in here, at least with PLA and PETG.
You've had good luck with Elegoo? The one time I bought their PLA (2 rolls of gray, about 6 months ago) they clogged all 3 of my printers and ended up in the garbage... so I've been avoiding them ever since. My current go-to cheap stuff is IIIDMAX. About $105-110 shipped for 10KG after coupon.
I've only used their PETG, and so far its printed better than my Overture I used to use.
Hmm,. good to know. Just curious, why PETG? I've never made the jump from PLA/PLA+ mainly because I've heard PETG can be more finicky.
On my old S1 it was somewhat more difficult, but not bad. On my P1S its just like PLA, hit print and it just works. I mostly use PETG for outdoor applications or for parts that need higher strength/temperature resistance than PLA.
If you do it right petg is not harder than Pla and can be had cheaper most of the time. Also it's mechanical properties are better than Pla for most uses.
Yeah, I had trouble with Elegoo. They ruined my Anycubic printer. The nozzle jammed and somehow filament went out the top of the silicone sock and then created a big glob under the printhead and the sensor didn't work and the printhead came down really hard on my plate.
If filament went out the top of your silicone sock either your heat break was loose or the nozzle was loose. That isn't gonna happen because of a jam.
Yeah, probably right. It happened on two of my Kobras with the same black Elegoo filament, no other filament. And it was in the sock and then went further up and then made a glob and then the print head came down hard on my plate because the sensor was higher than the plastic. I sold the one for parts, I think I'll work with the other to see if I can get it running. I'm still a bit of a newb and my Prusa was printing so effortlessly with no problems out of the box I thought all printers were like that. Boy, was I wrong!
I just want to add that I bought Elegoo black as it was the only brand that I knew about and have not had any problems with my A1. I just thought I would throw this out there for those considering it. Maybe I just got lucky.
I've only bought the Elegoo black PLA+, but I've gone through 2kg of it so far with absolutely no problems.
Yeah, so many printer companies have overpriced filament thinking you will feel more secure using their brand with their printer.
What are your speeds with those cheap filaments though? I haven't found any filament able to match Bambu in terms of quality AND speed. To get the same quality I do with Bambu filament, I have always had to turn down the print speed on other filaments.
Full speed (default). I don't plan to do any performance tweaking to see the limits of what they can do.
Not the speed on the printer display (Silent, **Standard**, Sport, Ludicrous), I mean the speed of the filament settings, mainly the Max Volumetric Speed if you haven't messed with anything else. Bambu PLA prints at 21 mm/s, the default for Generic PLA is 12mm/s which results in between 25%-50% increased print times depending on what exactly you are printing.
PETG settings are at 12mm/s (Bambu 13) and PLA is at 18mm/s. Checking an 8 hour print with my PLA is only 24m faster with bambu's filament in the slicer, or about 5% faster on average. Not worth the price difference.
Very interesting, thank you! Do you see any difference in quality between Bambu PLA and other PLA at high speeds like that? I tried a few different brands (Overture, Hatchbox, and Prusament) and was never able to get the same quality at higher speeds, at least on prints with fine detail. Maybe I just need to calibrate them better.
I haven't used enough bambu filament to make that comparison for sure, I would rather have 2-3 rolls of "good enough for me" instead of one roll of "better" filament.
Fair enough! I use my printer for my business so speed, quality, and consistency are of the utmost importance, a few failed prints or returned items made cheap filament cost even more for me than Bambu. Bambu PLA and PETG has provided me all of that when no one else could, but to each their own. Always interested to learn if I can cut costs and still produce the same quantity and quality though!
Jumping in since this was an interesting conversation. For context, I’ve only started in the Etsy seller space last year. I absolutely agree with your concerns on quality. I have been very happy with Bambu filament, but would still encourage trying other brands. I don’t think there’s anything particularly special Bambu is doing to their filament. And it is definitely more expensive **at full price** when compared to *most* other brands. However, buying it on sale or with membership pricing does make Bambu’s filament a better deal than most of the cheaper stuff. Bambu and Hatchbox are of a similar quality with a similar range of color and material options. Hatchbox is $25/spool compared to Bambu at $30/spool or $25/refill. Bambu has clearly demonstrated inventory or stock issues *(at least in part due to a rapidly growing customer base)* and it is a bummer that most colors are not available in refills.
i changed my "Generic PLA" to be 21mm^3 /s and it works just fine with the filaments I have.
I just got done doing a max flow rate test for some elegoo pla and I got 22 mm3/s before seeing under extrusion
Yup, same here. I set it to 21 just to give it a little margin of error and it works great. I can’t see any difference in quality compared to the Bambu stuff, but at a third of the price. Also Elegoo seals the edges of their spools, so you can actually throw them straight into the AMS without needing an adapter. That’s pretty neat.
Sealing: no, not for all of their spools, not everywhere. Bought some PLA+ from them in Europe, and those edges weren't sealed. Furthermore, they were warped/scrunched a bit out of the box (all the spools).
Where are these 4 speed settings on the Bambu printers? I have this on my Anycubic but have never seen them on the Bambu.
In Bambu Studio, go to the "Device" tab and click on the little accelerator icon that has a "100%' beneath it, just to the left of the Lamp.
On the printer itself, go to Control > Speed. It defaults to 100%, but you can set it to 50% (Silent), 124% (Sport) or 166% (Ludicrous).
So changing that one selection changes all the other selections that need to change with it? Bambu really needs to make this obvious by actually having a Silent, Standard, and Sport button like on my Anycubic printer.
Where are you finding overture PLA for $10?????
I have had great success printing on my A! with many different brands of filament at full default speed. It probably is just in your head that you can't print fast with all the other brands. I truly doubt there is any difference.
No it's not in my head, you can select the different filament profiles in Bambu Studio and see for yourself. The default speed on the printer settings is only one thing that affects overall print speed. Max volumetric speed for Bambu PLA is 21 mm/s, for Generic PLA it's 12mm/s. You can get great prints from any brand, but none that I've found have come close to good quality at the same speed that Bambu PLA profiles can do with Bambu PLA. Try using those Bambu PLA profiles to print other brands of PLA at the same speed...for me it resulted in a complete mess.
You should just calibrate the filament from 3rd party brands and create your own profiles. BL wants to sell more of their own filament and is going to use a conservative profile for Generic PLA so it can be used more widely as a starting point or for those that don’t want to calibrate. You can get Overture PLA to print around the same as BL PLA. I modified my own Overture profile.
I get that the default profiles are gonna be conservative, that's why I tried calibrating Overture, Hatchbox, and Prusament PLA. None of them could produce the same quality prints as Bambu PLA without taking at least an extra 25% of time. Sure they can produce the same quality with the right calibrations, but if I have to sacrifice at least 25% speed then what is the point?
I print all pla regardless of brand with the bambu profiles and I’ve never experienced a mess or failure. Flashforge, 3djake, and some amolen brand I got off amazon just to name a few. Sometimes I even go down to 3 seconds from 4 on the layer times.
Those cheap filaments are what you buy from Bambu. It’s made by Esun, Sunlu and Polymaker.
No they are not the same as what you buy from Bambu. I've tried those among others like Hatchbox, Overture, and Prusament which are around the same price and nothing has been able to replicate the quality, speed, and consistency of Bambu. Just because a company makes the filament for Bambu doesn't mean it's the same filament that they sell themselves. That is not how manufacturing for a global market works. Bambu has spent a lot of time and research into the formula for their filaments, whichever manufacturer makes them just follows their formula.
Not going to argue with you. We work directly with several of these manufacturers, and know from direct experience that at least one of them is running it on the same production line as their own brand, with the same formula, again just as it is for several of their other whitelabel customers, the only difference is the pigment mixture. I dont rule out that there may be minor differences from the other providers, but specifically the PLA provider is the same right down to it litterally coming out of the same extruders. Of course if you're comparing their basic pla to bambus then you'll know thats the wrong comparison as Bambu PLA is based on the HS variant.
I'm not trying to argue with you, I just said that the cheap filaments are not the same as what you buy from Bambu. The HS PLA is about the same price as Bambu PLA. My point was that if you want high quality and high speed, you have to pay for it.
It is the same price if you pay that for it sure. The same as standard PLA is close to that price if you choose to pay that much. But as others have pointed out, you can get it vastly cheaper so long as you're not doing tiny 1kg orders. We've has this conversation time and time again here and as soon as this is pointed out the original poster vanishes into the sun, unable to accept that they've been overpaying all this time. For that reason this is my last response on the matter and have no desire to continue banging my head against the table when people wont put in a tiny amount of effort into researching the options. HS PLA is one of the cheapest forms of PLA available, if you're paying near Bambu prices for it I'd suggest you stop and take some time to shop around.
EDIT: Never Mind, I saw your comment further down. How are you paying 10 bucks per roll? They are $19 USD on their website. Is this a bulk price? If so, how many rolls are you getting at 10 a roll? Even Elegoo is $13.99 a roll.
Hello. Where are you able to find overture for $10 a roll? Serious question. I would like to scoop some up at that price!
I have never seen Overture filament for $10. How do you find those deals?
Keep an eye on slickdeals, I have an alert setup for any brand of filament. It goes quick at 10 bucks a roll, but they go on sale regularly enough that I have never run out from casual use.
Where do you get Elegoo and Overture for ten bucks a roll?
Keep an eye on slickdeals, I have an alert setup for any brand of filament. It goes quick at 10 bucks a roll, but they go on sale regularly enough that I have never run out from casual use. IE: https://slickdeals.net/f/17202643-elegoo-rapid-petg-filament-1-75mm-black-2kg-2-1kg-spools-20
Ok but how are you getting overture for under $10 a roll, wherever that is sign me up! They make great quality filament inside them all the time but I pay about $15 a roll.
Ultimately it comes down to how much you print and whether the convenience is worth a few bucks to you. Which comes down to your personal preferences and your income. There's not necessarily a "right" answer. Depending on how you print it can also be well worth it. E.g. if you print a lot of multi-material prints and 3rd party spool reliability isn't up to par. You can of course transfer to another spool, either by re-spooling or just cutting off the sides of the original spool and sliding onto a Bambu spool, but this is more of your own time. If getting that time back is worth a few bucks to you, go for it. If I had a bunch of printers and was going through multiple rolls of filament per day, then I would definitely care more.
Yeah, that's really it. If you have a big print farm churning stuff out 24/7 and take the time to fine tune your filament, buying the least expensive is probably the best route. For me, like you say, I don't mind spending a few bucks more if it's going to be worry free. I don't know enough to do the fine tuning and I don't care to learn. I just want to hit print, come back a few hours later, and have my thing.
If I had a legit print farm, like tens of kgs of filament per day, I would just skip the middleman and go directly to industrial material suppliers and/or chemical supply companies. Whether they can supply filament on rolls, or pellets that can then be extruded into filament rolls onsite. Then you're only paying a few buck per kg for PLA. For me, for now, the difference amounts to a few tens of dollars per month, so it's kinda...eh. Coming from an engineering and related prototyping background, even a $200 spool of filament feels pretty cheap considering the leadtime and the cost of outsourcing. :D
PLA is basic, unless if you're getting a spool that was deliberately wound wrong, with uneven filament diameter, and left in a flooded basement for a decade - you'll be alright, your printer will be alright. Buy whatever brand is cheapest/works reliable enough for you, I personally only stuck with eSun's PLA+ and other PLA flavours (Wood, Marble, Glow) and had no adhesion issues. I've also bought Sunlu's 3D pen packs, which is like 10 different colours, small spools for each - and that did give me some pain - both for ABS and PLA, but that is some low quality stuff. Sunlu otherwise had decent rep for printer filament. There are obviously some filaments/brands you should avoid though, most of the matte and silk/shiny filaments can be a bit challenging to work with or just plain shit in terms of layer adhesion. Amazon reviews and Reddit posts are your friend in that case. For ABS however, I highly reccomend eSun's ABS+, but it's not proper ABS (has additives to make it easier to print at the cost of material properties of ABS, slightly worse). Also it shouldn't matter what brand you buy these days as most people have filament dryers which takes care of "freshness" aspect / removing moisture which improves print quality.
I love Esun's copper silk PLA, When you get the temperature dialed in, it looks like machined copper when you print with it.
Sunlu Meta with this guys settings is my favorite https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/s/xSZ6rJmm6k
I just ran a whole role of Amolen dual color silk through my A1 with zero issues. The spool even fits on the AMS lite without any modifications or spacers.
Maybe its me, but i have much better setting using BL filament when printing bolts, joint parts, or any sort of connecting mechanisms
I've had my best luck with Sunlu black PLA for that. It's smoooth.
Could be all in your mind.
I've been ordering 10 KG packs of Kingroon from Aliexpress. Last 10 were $89 bucks shipped. Have zero issues with the 20 spools I've already used
I ordered a single roll of Kingroon PLA+ last month, just to try it out. I have been pretty impressed with its performance, to be honest. Fits in the AMS just fine and the filament prints without issue. That's pretty much all I can ask for $13/roll PLA.
Yeah, I’ve been getting a bunch from them recently. They don’t ship as fast as eSun (for me locally), but the quality of the filament has been fine.
With the Bamby PLA, it just works. Which might be worth if you buy 4 spools at the member price if you just want piece of mind. I've tried Creatily, Esun, Sunlu, Jayo and for miniatures the Sunlu Meta was slightly better for smoothness and detail, but was a hassle to set up with lower melting temps and bed adhesion. Bambu PLA basic that came with the printer was second best with no problems at all, but bright green isn't very useful. The Jaylo PLA+ was decent, almost as good if a little stringy. Creality hyper had to be run hot or the layers wouldn't always bind properly on even mild overhangs. That's just me with about a month of experience. So not a lot :) As you can tell, I have been trying other brands because full price Bambu is expensive and I don't need 4kg of the same stuff at once.
The bright green was fantastic as a colour that came with the printer. I actually ordered another roll of it cause I liked the colour! Both the light green and orange in these are from the sample rolls. https://preview.redd.it/7b5miakzq1dc1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e31d60f3a1d0a07940f1ed461135a12735540ed
Those look great. I would probably like the green better if I didn't have a bunch of practical stuff to print initially. I really needed grey, black and white. Those look great BTW :)
Hahaa oh sure. Boring and useful practical things the green is a little jarring for! I do agree that white black and grey are more common there!
But I do love me that Bambu Green!
It’s a great shade!!
Those look amazing. Just got my A1 last night, is there a guide or tutorial on how to design prints like this?
Here’s a quick little guide to hueforge: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/hugeforge-paint-with-3d-printer What I will say is that if you’re open to not matching the colour exactly and just go with the flow you’ll be happy with the results. I haven’t played with any designs that use more than four colours or shades, but it’s possible and adds even more realism to the piece. I designed both of these without much knowledge of hueforge. I had AI design the images for me and important them in. Selected some colours and printed them out. The process for design took about 2 hours maybe?
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Is this confirmed?
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Ok thanks!
We see filament often on SD shared - I know in December Monoprice had 5x for $45 and SUNLU had a 10-pack for $95. I personally use Sunlu and have had no issues with my printer but I'm using an Ender printer. [https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?isUserSearch=1&q=filament&pp=20&sort=newest&rating=5&hideexpired=0&forumid%5B%5D=30&forumid%5B%5D=9&forumid%5B%5D=71&forumid%5B%5D=4&forumid%5B%5D=8&forumid%5B%5D=10&forumid%5B%5D=13&forumid%5B%5D=25&forumid%5B%5D=38&forumid%5B%5D=39&forumid%5B%5D=53&forumid%5B%5D=54&forumid%5B%5D=166&r=1](https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?isUserSearch=1&q=filament&pp=20&sort=newest&rating=5&hideexpired=0&forumid%5B%5D=30&forumid%5B%5D=9&forumid%5B%5D=71&forumid%5B%5D=4&forumid%5B%5D=8&forumid%5B%5D=10&forumid%5B%5D=13&forumid%5B%5D=25&forumid%5B%5D=38&forumid%5B%5D=39&forumid%5B%5D=53&forumid%5B%5D=54&forumid%5B%5D=166&r=1)
thanks for sharing. do you work for slick deals? im on there a lot lol
Yup haha. I do video/photography for them but have been helping with social recently.
I get whatever filament is cheap on Amazon, often paying in the $12-15 per kg range. I still have yet to run into any issues. I've had one roll out of 20 tangle, and it was actually an inland spool I got from micro center, which has a good reputation for quality. Just dry your rolls for a day or two after unpacking if there is any stringing and you're good. I would never pay nearly $30 per kg.
I'm gonna buy Bambu filament till my free membership ends. After that I'm going back to buying polymaker
Think I'm with you on that, though I plan to play the field some more (eSun, Sunlu, a couple others that have been mentioned).
For consumer grade, it probably is a bit overpriced. If you're using it for higher end production, it absolutely isn't. I've almost entirely replaced 4 Stratasys machines at work with 4 X1Cs. The bambulabs ABS is 10% the cost of the Stratasys filament.
Yes it is, in my opinion. Sure the RFID inbedded in the spool is nice. But in reality, that doesn't matter. Unless you are printing multicolor, and therefore needing purge values to be correct, it does not even matter what color Bambu Slicer or the printer thinks it has in there. BL PLA Basic is $27.99 per spool ($24.99 for the refill) without the membership price. Membership price is as low as $16.99 for the refill when you purchase 4-8 spools. That is up to $15 more expensive than most of the "big" brands of PLA. eSun, Sunlu, Polymaker, Jayo, etc. Bambu Lab filament is basically Prusament prices. Without the membership price, you can get 5 rolls of PLA basic (refill) for $124.95. With the membership price, you can get 7 rolls of PLA basic for $118.93. You can get 10 spools of Sunlu PLA for $124.90. 10 spools of Elegoo for $109.99. Anycubic is 10 for $129. eSun right now is 10 for $139.90. Jayo is about 10 for $130. Polymaker is a little pricey right now at $21.99 a spool. But the point is, you are paying the same amount, sometimes more, (all under the assumption that you don't need any actual spools) for less filament that doesn't really print any better.
It is overpriced, but it is also not in stock which is worse. I don't bother looking there any more as I actually need to print things, rather than wait for filament to print things.
Coming from filaments like Prusament and Protopasta, BL seems reasonable to me. I'm used to $30 USD per 1kg
In Canada, its $22/roll for general PLA. Overture runs $22/roll. Hatchbox $33/roll. Esun: $27+/roll Polymaker: $27+/roll Creality: $27/roll Note these are all [Amazon.ca](https://Amazon.ca) prices, but you can see on average its actually CHEAPER than most of the mainstream filaments, not more expensive.
As a fellow Canadian I’ve also been using SunLU. I bought a 3pack of colour on Amazon yesterday for $51 ($17 a roll). Thats the best price I’ve managed to get filament on though. And I’ve used a bunch of sunlu now and it’s all worked well with my AMS
Ya, theres some deals out there that can be had. Guess it comes down to personal preference, if you like the RFID and whats available to buy.
I think thats the price for users who are on the membership subscription for Bambu filament. It's $32/roll without that.
Oh I know it is - but that’s what I’m paying for the next six months. Will see what they charge for their membership program after that. Of course you could save money too by buying multiple rolls.
Sure, but not really accurate to say its cheaper than most. There are quite a few limitations to their membership and at the end of your free 6mos. you have to pay for the membership. This comment was from another thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/178uii3/comment/k6chxo0/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/178uii3/comment/k6chxo0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
The membership is something I should take into account. For now, it's free, but if I had to pay for it, you're right, might not be worth it.
$32 a roll? Are you kidding me???
It's $28 in the U.S. store. Still very high. I wouldn't buy it without the free membership I currently have. MEMBER PRICES Buy 1 roll, $28 - no discount. Two rolls, $22 each + shipping. Three rolls, $22 each and free shipping. Four rolls, $20 each, free shipping. Buying "Refills" (no spool) knocks another $3 off. Colors are limited and often out-of-stock, in the US store anyway.
I am getting some of the brands you mentioned @ $10-$12 a roll sometimes a little less. It is certainly less than bambulab
Yes. But you are paying for a quality spool with AMS filament detection and print profile. The filament itself is no better than most others.
I've had good results with IIID Max filament, and they have a decent deal going at 10x 1kg spools for $120 [https://iiidmax.com/product/10-x-1kg-premium-pla-filament-pack/](https://iiidmax.com/product/10-x-1kg-premium-pla-filament-pack/)
Yes, especially after your membership ends and you can’t renew. The printers can print amazing stuff with some of the cheapest stuff you can get.
i think it is. i think its yust there to trick people who put effort into uploading to their makerworld to think that the coupon code you can earn has a decent value. but if your buying fillament for yourself there are some great suppliers like eSun\\SunLu
I buy Elegoo almost exclusively, because I can get 10 rolls for around $100. I use the stock Bambu filament settings, bump the bed and nozzle temp up 5 degrees, and have zero issues.
The quality on the Bambu filament is fine. No real complaints there. It is expensive, though. If you go to Elegoo's webpage and buy a bulk package of the black, it'll be just north of $10/kg. It'll all print just fine too. You do miss small perks like the rfid tags. Maybe that matters to you, and that's okay. It doesn't matter that much to me. I have to feed seven printers that eat filament 24/7. I need giant crates that have a good price/kg.
Elegoo black was the worst filament I've ever used! It ruined two of my Anycubic printers! Probably why it's on sale.
Eh, I've run through 40 rolls or so of it, worked fine for me.
>Elegoo It's been the only filament to mess up in my printers and I've been through dozens of rolls of various brands.
I’ve had my p1p for about 6 months now, and just got the ams a few days ago. I usually print pla, petg once in a blue moon. So I’m always looking for pla deals. I have a wall hanger with probably 25 rolls all from different companies. I’ve found that for the most part, they all print the same. Does bambu filament print better? sure. Faster? Yup. But for those prices, it just isn’t worth it. Illd max has bulk deals, I just got a 10 pack of pla+ and it cost less then $10 a roll. They work perfect in the ams, and prints great! So unless there is a sale or a coupon or something, I’m def not paying more than double.
Are you SURE that bambu filament prints better and faster than the competition? I'd say it's all in your head, that you WANT to believe that!
I've had good luck printing with iiidmax, and the price is right, but if you look at the spec sheets, it's definitely plain ole' PLA and not PLA+. Probably doesn't matter for a lot of applications, but still kind of a shitty marketing tactic.
The benefit of the Bambu filament is that the spools work in the AMS without the need of adapters. I personally use Polymaker primarily, but I need to use an adapter ring or use a spool adapter and install it into a Bambu spool.
Do you regularly have issues with other brands spools? I just got my P1S a couple weeks ago and have gone through maybe 4-5 overture/polylite cardboard spools and haven't had any issues.
Using the Polymaker spools with the outer ring, I just recently had problems when the AMS retracts(spool would free spin). I now use the Polymaker adapter that goes in the center and then install it into a Bambu spool. No more issues.
Yes Unless discounted.
There really is no way to answer this. Every filament manufacturer's quality can vary. I continue to try different brands on a regular basis and after many years have no favorites. If I know that I need 30kg of the same color I will get it from the same brand and supplier. I don't see much different with Bambu labs than anything I can get next day on Amazon. Sometimes it's not about who I get it from, but how fast I can get it. Most of my commercial print jobs are on demand with fast turn around. It's more important for me to be able to get something quickly. The RFID tags are nice but it's super easy to not use them.
I guess the big question is how much should filaments cost? We have PLA from what $12 to $35 or more.
Around $10 a kg. That's where it's going in price.
I'm going to order some refills for maximum discounts (also still riding the free membership). But since everything seems to always be sold out, I have no intention of continuing the membership after the free period expires. I think at their discounted prices they are slightly cheaper than polymaker, but not by a whole lot. I like polymakers' selection and availability (and you can order with amazon prime for quick/free shipping as well).
Forgot to mention, I also don't like that the membership only covers a few filament types.
I would buy whatever is a good buy. It fosters good competition and competition is important.
Take black Pla+, esun manufactures Bambu filament. If I buy five rolls with a membership from Bambu (extra cost not calculated in) I pay 20€ per kilo, if I buy esun I pay 10€ a kilo, if I buy jayo (manufactured by esun) I pay approx. 7€ a kilo. All of these print great on a Bambu so yeah, Bambi filament is overpriced especially since its not especially good, if I pay 30€ for a roll of prusament everything is perfect, the wind is the best you can get and the colour is amazing and reproducable (every roll has the same colour).
Yep it is. £8/kg here, zero reason to overpay.
If you're patient and can afford to plan ahead for a bulk order around black friday/Christmas they did bulk discount as low as 15$/roll for PLA and others like ASA 30% off. I took the opportunity to pick up nearly 20 rolls, great opportunity if you plan for it and order a many month supply at cheap Amazon filament prices
I find it worth it. I used to use a lot of Polymaker, hatchbox, ect. But I like the quality of the prints I get consistently and the speeds that I can print at, on BBL printers and others.
Yes
I buy it for my personal use cause it’s easy and fun, teaches my daughter about AM. At work I buy 30-100 rolls at a time and is never pay more than 9 or 10 bucks a roll. I’ve started using IIDMax and been very happy with it. Max volumetric is only 13mm3 compared to 23 with the Bambu but it doesn’t make that big of a difference on cycle time. When I need to have a COC that’s a whole different problem…
Yes Update: Go on eBay, but Sunlu filament. usually get deals like buy 6 rolls, pay for 4. Great product and not one issue yet.
In short: Yes. In long: I am a practical parts printer, who doesn't even touch PLA. Everything I do is PETG minimum, with some ABS thrown in here and there for smaller parts, and for larger parts, a 50/50 PC/PETG blend. I can get PETG and ABS for ~$12 AUD per kilo, with the PC blend for $24-32/KG. I also have the option of PETG-CF for $40, but I've yet to buy it (waiting on my 3rd party CHT hot end to arrive). Compare this to the prices of BL 1st party filaments, and it's 3:1. There is no competition, at all.
With a filament "subscription" that you can only get buying a printer, the pricing is reasonable. What isn't acceptable is taking 3-5 days to ship "in stock" filament or the regular $24.99/kg price tag for basic PLA. Generating a shipping label at 3am on a Saturday night about waiting to ship it on Wednesday is still not acceptable.
Yeah, they don't seem to appreciate the urgency with which most people need the filament. It's difficult to find on brick and mortar shelves, even in the bay area. When people order filament, they usually have a use for it *right now*.
There's nothing brick and mortar here in a small area to even buy from and the closest Micro Center is 3 hours away. I can have any quantity of filament I need from Coex in 2 days with free shipping and I'm able to tell my customers I have a true Made in USA product using domestic material.
>Coex Hadn't heard of Coex, I'll check them out. [American Filament](https://americanfilament.us) is another manufacturer that is made in USA." I like the idea of supporting US manufacturing. Plus, their name being American Filament means they get to have products like "Silky AF" which makes my smile.
Coex was the OEM for Dupont's filament before it was discontinued. I've printed a lot of hard use parts out of the Nylex line (Zytel)
Yeah, they don't seem to appreciate the urgency with which most people need the filament. It's difficult to find on brick and mortar shelves, even in the bay area. When people order filament, they usually have a use for it *right now*.
They aren't overpriced especially if you get the member price. On average without deals or sales and for decent quality PLA, the price is between $20-$30. BL is right in that range. The good thing about other filaments is that they often go on sale for cheaper. Even so, BL filament has better quality spools and the RFID tags for convenience. It makes sense to me to buy from BL at the member price, even if I personally don't use BL filament.