Filament Reviews

[Keno]

ColorFabb has come out with a new light weight filament LW-ASA I think this is something for us to look at. I really disliked when my newly printed LW-PLA glider got sun burned with wing drooping and tail bent. Maybe this could be a better choice for us that have 100F summer heat.
From ColorFabb's site on LW-ASA Quote "Like regular ASA the LW-ASA features inherent UV stability and high temperature resistance of 96C. Rest assured this material will be more capable of handling increased temperatures compared to our LW-PLA.
LW-ASA is more susceptible to warping compared to LW-PLA type filament. Especially models with a large footprint can shrink and warp during printing, but compared to ABS in most cases less severe."

 

[Matagami Designs]

UV stability and high temperature resistance of 96C.
Wow that sounds like it's worth trying gonna have to get me some of this to play around with.

 

[Keno]

UV stability and high temperature resistance of 96C.
Wow that sounds like it's worth trying gonna have to get me some of this to play around with.

At present you have to get it from them, shipping a bit heavy.

 

[Keno]

Been working with ColorFabb LW-ASA it is quite interesting compared to LW-PLA. It is more rubbery which can be a good thing, however it warps much more and distorts if not internally supported. You have to use a lot of "Stick-cum" such as hair spray on the bed to keep it from warping "Lifting" off the bed. Printing nozzle temp seems best at 240c or better, at 230c layer fail to adhere, slower speed may help. The bed temp needs to be 90c or above. The first print using the Labprint VL Pyorremyrsky thin wall print settings its wall thickness was .47mm and was found to be too thin for the average flyer. However it was quite light. I had to revert to my own way of printing. This is done by setting the excursion multiplier at a calculated value. Default printing speed 3600. Excursion width set value in the middle of the width/height when the ratio becomes lower than 1.2 to the nozzle diameter. Then using the override speed adjusts to blended colors respective to its shape to an almost single color, viewed on to be printed sliced view. this allow you to adjust the Excursion width in .01 values the wall thickness desired (0.6 - 0.7mm seems to be best). The use of retraction settings can help to reduce stringing, I prefer 0. and spiral printing is good if you can. LW-ASA surface is a little smoother than LW-PLA but foaming won't offer you a raw shinny finish. This what I have seen so far and I will keep working on it to determine where best to use it.

 

[Robert S]

IEMAI Carbon Fiber PLA 3D Printer Filament, 1.75mm, PLA Filament Spool 1KG, Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.02mm Black Filament https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTRCWHS/?tag=lstir-20

I bought an enclosure and was about to try ABS for the first time in order to print some peg board organizers, but then I saw this Carbon-Fiber PLA and wanted to try it first.

I've printed a few things with it and so far so good. It prints just like regular PLA, but it seems to like the nozzle and bed temps about 10C higher for each. I use 220 and 70 respectively for this stuff.

My uncalibrated hands tell me that it feels stiffer than PLA or PLA+. In fact, the Filament resists making bends more than others I've used. Part of that also has to do with it being "rougher" than other PLA filaments so there is some added friction going through tubes.

I did upgrade to a hardened steel nozzle as recommended. So far I think I like it. It seems to have the attributes it claims to have and I have nothing bad to say.

 

[Robert S]

IEMAI Carbon Fiber PLA 3D Printer Filament, 1.75mm, PLA Filament Spool 1KG, Dimensional Accuracy +/- 0.02mm Black Filament https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTRCWHS/?tag=lstir-20

I bought an enclosure and was about to try ABS for the first time in order to print some peg board organizers, but then I saw this Carbon-Fiber PLA and wanted to try it first.

I've printed a few things with it and so far so good. It prints just like regular PLA, but it seems to like the nozzle and bed temps about 10C higher for each. I use 220 and 70 respectively for this stuff.

My uncalibrated hands tell me that it feels stiffer than PLA or PLA+. In fact, the Filament resists making bends more than others I've used. Part of that also has to do with it being "rougher" than other PLA filaments so there is some added friction going through tubes.

I did upgrade to a hardened steel nozzle as recommended. So far I think I like it. It seems to have the attributes it claims to have and I have nothing bad to say.

Update:

This Carbon Fiber filament is pretty tough and sturdy, but its very hard on nozzles. I purchased a (5) pack of what was supposed to be heat-treated steel .4mm nozzles and after 3 or 4 long prints, I started to have failures. I tried printing some test prints and I noticed the layers looked very bad. They looked torn and ripped. Also, as the filament came out, it wanted to always pull to one side. I changed the tip and everything was fine again. With regular PLA, I think I used the same tip for a year. With Carbon Fiber PLA, a steel tip didn't last a couple of weeks.

I suppose that I could have gotten tips that were not what they were advertised to be and I could have tried another brand, but, tonight I put in a ruby tip. I think its made of the same industrial made rubies that watch jeweled bearings are made of. Finger's crossed that this works better than the last ones.