Cheaper filament source?

Hi all,

Can anyone vouch for the quality of some of the filaments for sale on trademe?

So far I've been sourcing from diamondage.co.nz but the only have 3mm filament that is reasonably price, their 1.75mm is significantly more expensive.
By the time you add tax, and shipping, one roll set me back $70 which is far too much. It wouldn't be as bad with shipping when buying more, but really I'm looking for cheaper source for decent filament.

I've bought some half a dozen spools of PLA off one supplier on TradeMe, and don't have a problem with it.

I also bought some spools from AliExpress... quite a bit cheaper (US$105 for 5 reels = NZ$35/kg, incl courier) and again no problems. Lot's more colour choice than TM, but you might not get exactly the colour you expect. I suspect most TM filament comes from here anyway.

DON'T buy loose filament that's not on spools... it's far more trouble than it's worth.

A couple of things to be aware of:

• Spools vary in width and hole size (although thankfully they all seem to have the same outer diameter)... the spoolholder that works with your DiamondAge spools may not (easily) handle other spools.
• Whilst I've had no problems attributable to cheap filament, it may be because my printer (now it's set up right) is quite resilient to variabilities. It may also be because I measure my filament diameter and adjust my slicer settings accordingly. I've found that my "1.75mm" filament varies between 1.68mm and 1.95mm, and that it can vary from place to place on the one spool.Maybe (hopefully) expensive filament like DiamondAge doesn't have these variabilities. Or it may be that I don't realize that I'm having problems, because I've only ever bought cheap filament.
• AliExpress is a bit Wild West... beware of ripoffs, particularly "Free shipping" not being free. FWIW, I've had good deals from http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1372009 and http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1847612. If buying several reels, shop around with the suppliers for a better deal.... they *all* claim to be selling "best price on Internet", and have never-ending "special one-[day/week/month]-only discount".
• It can take up to a month to get your filament, so plan ahead.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2015 09:07PM by frankvdh.

Thanks. What sort of variation do you get in one roll of filament?

The 3mm diamond age filament can vary from 2.80 to 2.84mm in a roll. From roll to roll it can vary a bit more. 2.8 - 2.9 ish.

EDIT: diamond age used to be cheaper..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2015 04:27PM by TTN.

dx.com
polymaker.com
colorfab.com
matterhackers.com
taulman3d.com
ninjaflex3d.com
reprapworld.com

Just some...
I've found the dx.com stuff quite printable. Usually sits around 1.62-1.72mm diameter.