filament of the month box?
- Thread starter dengar256
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CaptCaveman37
New member
Makergeeks is one of the websites that offers that, they also have decent prices on random color rolls. 2 rolls for $36 and 4 rolls for $60 of basic materials.
Jamie
Jamie
I've been doing the MakerGeeks one since they started in November. It's been...mixed. This is almost certainly my last month since I don't like shipping PLA to myself in the summer (I live in the desert, filament sitting in a UPS truck in 113f heat just doesn't seem like a great idea. Plus our electric bill more than doubles so $30 a month on filament isn't really in the books.)
The price is good, $30 a month for 2kg of filament, some kind of "tool" and some stickers. The tool has been...meh. The last box came with a little plastic/copper wire brush for cleaning your hot end...Big deal. But...it also came with a PEI sheet - good deal! Except they packaged things so poorly it sounds like just about everyone got a damaged PEI sheet, mine was but it's a big enough sheet I think I can still use it. Just haven't got to it yet. The tools were:
Nov - Print smoothing pen. I wasn't impressed with it and I don't print ABS much. Vapor smoothing works way better.
Dec - Print removal tool. A wilton cake spatula. Too blunt to actually be useful IMHO.
Jan - Clog clearing kit. I actually got to use this a few weeks ago when I got the worst nozzle clog I've ever had. Unfortunately with the design of my extruder the length of nylon for cold pulls was too short to use enough times to actually clear my clog. The .3mm finger drill was kind of useful...but mostly just pushed the clog up so it would keep coming back. The nozzle floss I couldn't push through from the top and from the bottom was no more useful than the drill. I had actually planned on buying one of these kits at one point - kind of glad I saved my money now. I eventually got it clear by using a foot or two of my Taulman 910 and doing a half dozen cold pulls.
Feb - 4 608 bearings instead of a tool for making a fidget spinner. I'd much rather see things like this than the past tools - stuff to complete projects is way better than marginally useful "tools"
Mar - Brass brush and PEI sheet. (see above)
My big complaint is that the filament selection has been...ok at best. Mostly PLA - which I expected. There was a roll of clear PETG for December - but it wasn't a full KG because they sent 3 smaller rolls instead of 2 full ones (clear PETG, translucent red PLA, and translucent green PLA.) The first box in november was 1 roll of PLA and 1 roll of ABS...plus a small roll of TPE (which I haven't tried yet since I had just ordered TPU a few weeks before and don't want to break the seal on the TPE until I need it.) The February box included a roll of MG's Raptor PLA which was a nice upgrade.
The filaments have been:
Nov - 2.5# ABS in Army green, 2.5# of PLA in Urban camo, small roll of TPE in aqua
Dec - 1.55# spool of crystal red PLA, 1.55# spool of Crystal green PLA, 1.55# spool of Clear PETG
Jan - 2.5# Black PLA, 2.5# White PLA
Feb - 2.5# Nuclear green PLA, 2.5# Battleship Grey Raptor PLA
Mar - 2.4# "Navy" blue PLA, 2.5# White PLA
So the filament is ok. I have had some issues with MakerGeeks PLA and my e3d V6 hotend (all metal not the lite) but adding an oiler (Just a little bit of paper towel with a few drops of veg oil attached to the filament with a clothespin before it goes into my extruder) solved them. Their PETG has always printed great for me and I went through 2 or 3 spools of it before signing up for the box.
My big complaints is the colors. They're all pretty ugly. Other than the Dec colors which were pretty nice, but even then the red was more of an orange. The Navy in the latest box is nice - but kind of dark for Navy IMHO. The raptor was I excited to get...but grey...after a month of black and white? The Nuclear green is nice for my nano quad since it's highly visible...but is pretty obnoxious and has the look of a color that they just couldn't sell.
But the biggest issue I have is the 2 spools of white. I already had a spool of white from a grab bag I bought from them before signing up so now I've got 3 spools of white. They're all slightly different shades but still just white. Yeah, I could run sharpies along it and color it somewhat...but I tried that and wasn't very impressed with the results. Overall the color selection really just feels a lot like what they can't move and want to get rid of.
This months box just "shipped" on Friday. So I probably won't see it until next week because they use that UPS smart post where UPS slow boats it then hands it off to USPS to drag their feet on for a few more days. And while they sent the shipping notification on Monday UPS still shows it as not in their system just a label printed on Friday. So even though it's only coming from Missouri it usually takes 2 weeks to get to me. They did post a teaser on twitter that this months tool is project parts again which they say the electronics alone would cost almost as much as the box to buy retail...so...kind of hopeful. Also kind of hopeful for some better brighter colors because I've got a BIG stack of dull colors right now and could use something bright and cheery (other than the nuke green.)
I've seen a few other monthly printing boxes but they only included samples of filament...they were cheaper but I'm not a fan of filament samples since I like to do a few test prints with each new filament to get it dialed in...and most samples are pretty much just enough to do that and then nothing left to actually print any parts. I have a dozen or so samples I ordered when I ordered my printer over a year ago which I've yet to use for that very reason. By the time I get temps and extrusion multipliers optimized on them there isn't enough left to actually print anything. So IMHO samples are pretty useless for comparing filaments - unless you get a sample like the TPE spool from Maker geeks. That seems to have enough on it to actually be useful for testing. But even that is short enough that I find myself not wanting to mess with it for the same reason. (It's about 2 maybe 2.5 layers wound on a fullsize spool...so not much more than most of the samples I've got from sample places.)
So...I dunno. If you're not picky about colors then it's not a bad deal. $30 for 2kg of filament is cheaper than any other decent quality filament I can get reliably. But I've got enough PLA to last me the rest of the year now and the other aspects of the box have left me unimpressed. I'm also not generally picky about colors...but the colors they've been sending have really been meh. The colors I got in their grab bags were fine. (I got yellow and white PLA, glow PETG, black PETG, Turquoise PETG, and translucent green PLA) And the grab bag prices are about the same but you aren't on the hook for it every month whether you need more or not.
The price is good, $30 a month for 2kg of filament, some kind of "tool" and some stickers. The tool has been...meh. The last box came with a little plastic/copper wire brush for cleaning your hot end...Big deal. But...it also came with a PEI sheet - good deal! Except they packaged things so poorly it sounds like just about everyone got a damaged PEI sheet, mine was but it's a big enough sheet I think I can still use it. Just haven't got to it yet. The tools were:
Nov - Print smoothing pen. I wasn't impressed with it and I don't print ABS much. Vapor smoothing works way better.
Dec - Print removal tool. A wilton cake spatula. Too blunt to actually be useful IMHO.
Jan - Clog clearing kit. I actually got to use this a few weeks ago when I got the worst nozzle clog I've ever had. Unfortunately with the design of my extruder the length of nylon for cold pulls was too short to use enough times to actually clear my clog. The .3mm finger drill was kind of useful...but mostly just pushed the clog up so it would keep coming back. The nozzle floss I couldn't push through from the top and from the bottom was no more useful than the drill. I had actually planned on buying one of these kits at one point - kind of glad I saved my money now. I eventually got it clear by using a foot or two of my Taulman 910 and doing a half dozen cold pulls.
Feb - 4 608 bearings instead of a tool for making a fidget spinner. I'd much rather see things like this than the past tools - stuff to complete projects is way better than marginally useful "tools"
Mar - Brass brush and PEI sheet. (see above)
My big complaint is that the filament selection has been...ok at best. Mostly PLA - which I expected. There was a roll of clear PETG for December - but it wasn't a full KG because they sent 3 smaller rolls instead of 2 full ones (clear PETG, translucent red PLA, and translucent green PLA.) The first box in november was 1 roll of PLA and 1 roll of ABS...plus a small roll of TPE (which I haven't tried yet since I had just ordered TPU a few weeks before and don't want to break the seal on the TPE until I need it.) The February box included a roll of MG's Raptor PLA which was a nice upgrade.
The filaments have been:
Nov - 2.5# ABS in Army green, 2.5# of PLA in Urban camo, small roll of TPE in aqua
Dec - 1.55# spool of crystal red PLA, 1.55# spool of Crystal green PLA, 1.55# spool of Clear PETG
Jan - 2.5# Black PLA, 2.5# White PLA
Feb - 2.5# Nuclear green PLA, 2.5# Battleship Grey Raptor PLA
Mar - 2.4# "Navy" blue PLA, 2.5# White PLA
So the filament is ok. I have had some issues with MakerGeeks PLA and my e3d V6 hotend (all metal not the lite) but adding an oiler (Just a little bit of paper towel with a few drops of veg oil attached to the filament with a clothespin before it goes into my extruder) solved them. Their PETG has always printed great for me and I went through 2 or 3 spools of it before signing up for the box.
My big complaints is the colors. They're all pretty ugly. Other than the Dec colors which were pretty nice, but even then the red was more of an orange. The Navy in the latest box is nice - but kind of dark for Navy IMHO. The raptor was I excited to get...but grey...after a month of black and white? The Nuclear green is nice for my nano quad since it's highly visible...but is pretty obnoxious and has the look of a color that they just couldn't sell.
But the biggest issue I have is the 2 spools of white. I already had a spool of white from a grab bag I bought from them before signing up so now I've got 3 spools of white. They're all slightly different shades but still just white. Yeah, I could run sharpies along it and color it somewhat...but I tried that and wasn't very impressed with the results. Overall the color selection really just feels a lot like what they can't move and want to get rid of.
This months box just "shipped" on Friday. So I probably won't see it until next week because they use that UPS smart post where UPS slow boats it then hands it off to USPS to drag their feet on for a few more days. And while they sent the shipping notification on Monday UPS still shows it as not in their system just a label printed on Friday. So even though it's only coming from Missouri it usually takes 2 weeks to get to me. They did post a teaser on twitter that this months tool is project parts again which they say the electronics alone would cost almost as much as the box to buy retail...so...kind of hopeful. Also kind of hopeful for some better brighter colors because I've got a BIG stack of dull colors right now and could use something bright and cheery (other than the nuke green.)
I've seen a few other monthly printing boxes but they only included samples of filament...they were cheaper but I'm not a fan of filament samples since I like to do a few test prints with each new filament to get it dialed in...and most samples are pretty much just enough to do that and then nothing left to actually print any parts. I have a dozen or so samples I ordered when I ordered my printer over a year ago which I've yet to use for that very reason. By the time I get temps and extrusion multipliers optimized on them there isn't enough left to actually print anything. So IMHO samples are pretty useless for comparing filaments - unless you get a sample like the TPE spool from Maker geeks. That seems to have enough on it to actually be useful for testing. But even that is short enough that I find myself not wanting to mess with it for the same reason. (It's about 2 maybe 2.5 layers wound on a fullsize spool...so not much more than most of the samples I've got from sample places.)
So...I dunno. If you're not picky about colors then it's not a bad deal. $30 for 2kg of filament is cheaper than any other decent quality filament I can get reliably. But I've got enough PLA to last me the rest of the year now and the other aspects of the box have left me unimpressed. I'm also not generally picky about colors...but the colors they've been sending have really been meh. The colors I got in their grab bags were fine. (I got yellow and white PLA, glow PETG, black PETG, Turquoise PETG, and translucent green PLA) And the grab bag prices are about the same but you aren't on the hook for it every month whether you need more or not.
Well as I already said I was planning on canceling my maker geeks box after this month. Partly because I always planned on doing so, partly because I have 5 or 6 spools I haven't even opened yet from subscribing for 6 months. But...also because the color selection hasn't been great.
Well, this month was another repeat. More Crystal green PLA. I like the Crystal PLA - I printed a plane in it:
(Which has been waiting since the end of February for me to find time to actually try flying it...)
But I already have a roll of green from the December box. And I have a partial spool of a very similar green from Maker Geeks I got in a grab bag last summer. That one isn't Crystal series but is still translucent and almost the same color. I printed a robotic arm in it, and my current needle cutter:
Robot arm video:
That original roll of green has given me many nightmares though. It's clogged and jammed in my nozzle more than any other filament I've used. However since I added an oiler it's been doing ok.
But I'm getting off track. The point is I now have 3 rolls of white and 3 rolls of translucent or crystal green - admittedly only 2 rolls of each came in the boxes and 1 of the rolls of green is a smaller roll since it was the December box which included 3 rolls instead of 2. But still...2 dupes in 6 months? And they're dupes of colors I already got in grab bags. It REALLY starts to feel like they're just using this to dump colors that aren't selling.
This months "tool" was also a bit of a disappointment. On the plus side it was parts for a project again - which I think is a better idea than tools. But the parts this month consisted of a small DC motor and a 3v-5v USB boost board. The idea is to print this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:944461 A two year old design still listed as unfinished. I already have a bag of almost identical motors, I got a bag of 20 them for like $5 15 years ago...you can easily find them on ebay or all electronics for <$2. The boost board? I got a half dozen of them for $5 off ebay a few months ago to use as 5v converters (I just wish I knew what I did with them, been looking for them for over a month) and mine are actually buck/boost so they can raise lower voltage up to 5 or drop higher voltage down to 5. So...the value in these parts is pretty minimal. Oh...they also tossed in two bits of (ugh) solid core hookup wire. Solid core? Come on, that's just going to cause more people to fail at this.
Anyway I printed up the vanes tonight and stuck them on the motor. But can't get anything out of the boost board - and even holding it right in front of a big fan can't get the vanes to spin. If I blow on them I can make them spin...but bottom line is this thing is a joke.
So between the "tool" being consistently disappointing, the mediocre colors, the repeating colors and it being the start of summer - I'm going to have to cancel at this point. I still think it's a good value just for the filament - but you have to really not care what color filament you get. Honestly I think the grab bags are a bit better of a deal since you can get PETG or ABS for the same price and choose if you want ABS/PETG/PLA. Colors are still a toss of the dice but price is about the same and you're not on the hook for more each month.
To end this on a positive note...the second color this month looks spectacular. It's a blue crystal PLA and looks great on the spool. They retweeted a photo someone shared of some prints in it and it looks great: https://twitter.com/WupinStick/status/856470088580509699
I kind of wish I had waited to print the plane until I had this so I could have done Red White and Blue instead of Red White and Green
Well, this month was another repeat. More Crystal green PLA. I like the Crystal PLA - I printed a plane in it:
(Which has been waiting since the end of February for me to find time to actually try flying it...)
But I already have a roll of green from the December box. And I have a partial spool of a very similar green from Maker Geeks I got in a grab bag last summer. That one isn't Crystal series but is still translucent and almost the same color. I printed a robotic arm in it, and my current needle cutter:
Robot arm video:
That original roll of green has given me many nightmares though. It's clogged and jammed in my nozzle more than any other filament I've used. However since I added an oiler it's been doing ok.
But I'm getting off track. The point is I now have 3 rolls of white and 3 rolls of translucent or crystal green - admittedly only 2 rolls of each came in the boxes and 1 of the rolls of green is a smaller roll since it was the December box which included 3 rolls instead of 2. But still...2 dupes in 6 months? And they're dupes of colors I already got in grab bags. It REALLY starts to feel like they're just using this to dump colors that aren't selling.
This months "tool" was also a bit of a disappointment. On the plus side it was parts for a project again - which I think is a better idea than tools. But the parts this month consisted of a small DC motor and a 3v-5v USB boost board. The idea is to print this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:944461 A two year old design still listed as unfinished. I already have a bag of almost identical motors, I got a bag of 20 them for like $5 15 years ago...you can easily find them on ebay or all electronics for <$2. The boost board? I got a half dozen of them for $5 off ebay a few months ago to use as 5v converters (I just wish I knew what I did with them, been looking for them for over a month) and mine are actually buck/boost so they can raise lower voltage up to 5 or drop higher voltage down to 5. So...the value in these parts is pretty minimal. Oh...they also tossed in two bits of (ugh) solid core hookup wire. Solid core? Come on, that's just going to cause more people to fail at this.
Anyway I printed up the vanes tonight and stuck them on the motor. But can't get anything out of the boost board - and even holding it right in front of a big fan can't get the vanes to spin. If I blow on them I can make them spin...but bottom line is this thing is a joke.
So between the "tool" being consistently disappointing, the mediocre colors, the repeating colors and it being the start of summer - I'm going to have to cancel at this point. I still think it's a good value just for the filament - but you have to really not care what color filament you get. Honestly I think the grab bags are a bit better of a deal since you can get PETG or ABS for the same price and choose if you want ABS/PETG/PLA. Colors are still a toss of the dice but price is about the same and you're not on the hook for more each month.
To end this on a positive note...the second color this month looks spectacular. It's a blue crystal PLA and looks great on the spool. They retweeted a photo someone shared of some prints in it and it looks great: https://twitter.com/WupinStick/status/856470088580509699
I kind of wish I had waited to print the plane until I had this so I could have done Red White and Blue instead of Red White and Green
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