Monoprice sells Filament?!

[lordbinky]

I get a secret you might want... Crap, I used it as the subject.

Well then, first the important part, they have 1.75mm Black ABS is on sale right now for just under $20.

Besides that they have Red, Black and white PLA and ABS for $26. I don't know about the quality, but monoprice has never let me down on value of their products without being great about resolving it somehow.

They also post the specifications of the filament which I found interesting. They have a diameter tolerance of 0.10mm, which didn't seem that good, but then they state a roundness variation of only 0.05mm (.03 for PLA) which is spec that is not usually given and has been one of the biggest variations of any filament I've used so far.

My interest is definitely piqued.

[edward]

Ordered.

I've had a note to pick up a couple of cables, so it seemed like a good excuse. I'll be sure to update with results.

[lordbinky]

Some extra cables are what I was there for originally too. Even though I keep a few spares, I tend to run out of USB 3.0 extensions and HDMI cables when friends/family need them because it irks me so badly for them to spend $15-$40 for something that cost me ~$3.

[edward]

So did you get some filament?

[lordbinky]

I ordered a spool of the black filament, I needed more since I went through a roll of SainSmart black filament quickly because it worked so well. When I went back to order more from amazon it wasn't a prime product anymore so I put off the purchase.

I'm looking forward to this though, black is such a useful color to paint/whatever. If it is their typical ratio of quality to price, I'm going to be very happy. If it is not, I don't see them selling something worse than filaments in that price range.

[edward]

WTF!? SainSmart isn't using Amazon anymore!? Man that stuff was surprisingly great for the price. I was watching their "sales" and picked up most of my ABS at ~$30/spool shipped with Prime.

Man. Now I'm really hoping that the Monoprice stuff comes through, and that if it does, they get more colors.

BTW - SainSmart has their own site (which may be new, I didn't ever look before) and currently is having a sale on 1.75mm ABS for $25.99/spool, free shipping to US and select other countries.

http://www.sainsmart.com/other-1/3d-pri ... s-1kg.html

[lordbinky]

That makes sense if it's a new site and they are trying to encourage traffic straight to them. What made me pass on another spool was the current $55 +$15 S&H when I went back to what I ordered.

[edward]

So I now have ~15 hours on the Monoprice Black 1.75mm and I only have one complaint. The corners on thin-walled objects aren't quite as sharp as other filaments I've used. The top finishes are super nice, though. Also, not really a complaint, compared to the other blacks that I have used that had a nice gloss, this is, well, flat. Otherwise, seems to be good stuff.

Settings --> Temp: 235-245, speed dependent; measured no better/worse than others, I averaged at 1.76mm; increased my default fan settings to help with the corners.

[geneb]

I've been running some SeeMeCNC Navy Blue at 210C and the results are astonishingly good. I'm really surprised. My thermistor is pretty accurate too.

g.

[edward]

I've checked mine with a TC, and it's only off by 1-2 deg through this entire range. If I try that low there is a noticeable increase in effort by the extruder motor. I'll keep in mind, though...

[edward]

I have to revise my earlier comments about the Monoprice filament.

After a bit more use this weekend I'm now not so sure. This stuff is warping like a brand-new Enterprise no matter the temps and/or cooling I use. That is to say, compared to the other brands of black ABS that I also have, when printing the same part, it pulls so much that I can't get a flat first layer. For small stuff I'm not having this problem, and even though I've decreased my infill, the larger parts won't stay in place.

A big *maybe* I'd go for it again if it stayed at $20/kg, knowing its place, but since they've increased the price to be only slightly cheaper than some competitive offerings that perform much better, I probably won't buy again.

[lordbinky]

I haven't gotten to print with it yet, got stuck doing larger projects all weekend on top of being called out to work sunday. Since it seems to be a dubious quality I'll start with the torture tests

[edward]

I'm certainly interested to hear someone else's thoughts. Have fun!