Best PLA for particular jobs?

It has become increasingly clear to me that not all PLA is created equal.
I have PLA in red, green, blue and yellow. They are all from different manufacturers and seem to have different characteristics.
I will experiment with what I have and see how it works, but there are hundreds of options out there, what have you all found is best for certain things?
I have been getting 1kg spools of PLA that are $21 a spool. I am wondering if that is junk material...

I am a noob at this (printer only working for the last 3 weeks) and would like to avoid re-inventing this wheel. What have you found? Is there a reputable place with reviews for filament?

Thanks,
DLC

I've had very good results with Hatchbox PLA or eSun PLA and eSun PLA+. Both have been very easy to work with and relatively inexpensive ($20-25 depending on color and availability) from Amazon.com. However, I once saw a "cheap PLA" advertisement from Deltrprinter, and bought a few rolls. I've had nothing but trouble getting them to extrude properly. I've ended up getting them to work, but they require much higher temps and don't look as good in the finished product as the Hatchbox or eSun brands and also require much slower speeds. It's almost as if the Deltrprinter ones have some sort of plastic filler or recycled material in them making them more difficult to work with.

All I can say, is not all PLA is equal, especially if I pull out the Deltrprinter version the melted end looks a lot different than what I've seen from the melted end of the Hatchbox or eSun filament.

Quote
PDBeal
I've had very good results with Hatchbox PLA or eSun PLA and eSun PLA+. Both have been very easy to work with and relatively inexpensive ($20-25 depending on color and availability) from Amazon.com. However, I once saw a "cheap PLA" advertisement from Deltrprinter, and bought a few rolls. I've had nothing but trouble getting them to extrude properly. I've ended up getting them to work, but they require much higher temps and don't look as good in the finished product as the Hatchbox or eSun brands and also require much slower speeds. It's almost as if the Deltrprinter ones have some sort of plastic filler or recycled material in them making them more difficult to work with.

All I can say, is not all PLA is equal, especially if I pull out the Deltrprinter version the melted end looks a lot different than what I've seen from the melted end of the Hatchbox or eSun filament.

I have wondered about this. I have some BAMTack! PLA that is a bear. It globs up, strings and does not flow well at the temps I have run my other PLA at. It may be similar to what you are seeing. I am going to up the temperature on this stuff and see if it cleans up.

Indeed, if I set layer one temperature on the BAMtack Blue PLA to 225 C, and layer 2+ to 210. Set layer one to be 150% and slow it down. It prints very nicely, but still leaves annoying threads that none of my other PLA leaves. But it does work, just MUCH differently than my other PLA stuff.

DLC

Thanks!
DLC

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2017 12:11AM by dlc60.

I also run Esun PLA+ with nothing but good things to say about it.

With Excelvan Filament disappearing I have yet to try anything else, any day now i'll load this no name grey I bought will be interesting to see if I can get parts as good as some I got with Excelvan, some where so strong they almost looked like expensive CF type filament.
But would like to try something else like these
[www.3ders.org]

[www.3ders.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2017 03:15AM by MechaBits.

When I was building my printer, I wanted a Wade extruder and I had one made. I asked for ABS, but apparently it was made from PLA. I put it on the back seat and drove home. When I got there the extruder motor mount was warped from the sun. What a piece of shit plastic. I have never printed with PLA myself in over 1 1/2 years of printing. I have two rolls still in the plastic wrap, but every time I think about using it, I ask myself it the object I am making needs to be long lasting and I use ABS. What type of objects do you use PLA for?

Quote
cwaa
When I was building my printer, I wanted a Wade extruder and I had one made. I asked for ABS, but apparently it was made from PLA. I put it on the back seat and drove home. When I got there the extruder motor mount was warped from the sun. What a piece of shit plastic. I have never printed with PLA myself in over 1 1/2 years of printing. I have two rolls still in the plastic wrap, but every time I think about using it, I ask myself it the object I am making needs to be long lasting and I use ABS. What type of objects do you use PLA for?

I have so far printed exclusively in PLA. I like the fact that it is bio-degradable, practically compost, and as such is environmentally friendly "fooling around". I make toys primarily and models for the kids which tend to stay in temperature controlled environments. I know that PLA will soften and deform even at 60 C (maybe even cooler) so I keep them out of the sun. It is solid and strong as long as it doesn't get hot. I have made several hot-end mods on my delta printer completely out of PLA. I think it may be safe to make even the end effector out of PLA (high temps don't reach that far up if everything is working), but I am concerned about the high accelerations eventually breaking it- PLA is also a bit brittle.

If I was making something for the engine compartment of my car (or even the interior as you noted!) it would not be PLA.

I am getting my first spool of ABS to see how that prints and develop a whole new set of skills there...

DLC