PLA
PLA+
PETG
TPU
Wood - I have used a PLA based filament that consisted of 20% light wood powder. The results are an excellent natural wood type color where the layer lines simulate wood grain in a way. Its not exactly like wood grain, but it is similar. I have not tried it, but apparently applying wood stain works well.
Glow in the Dark - Glow in the Dark has an abrasive additive that makes the filament store photonic energy and releases that energy in the absence of light. In other words, it glows in the dark. A UV light can be used to quickly charge the print and make it glow very strongly.
Starry Sky - This prints in a matte black kind of color that is semi-translucent. It contains flecks of glow filament that is meant to glow in the dark and give the impression of stars glowing in the night sky. Conceptually, this filament shows a very interesting glow in the dark aesthetic. In actuality, it does not work well. I have charged this filament using a UV lamp and received short lived results. For the time that it did glow, it was a fascinating effect. But it dissipates quickly and doesn't give much time to study it. I plan to place it under a UV lamp for a few hours to study the duration of the effect after a much longer charge.
Translucent - I purchased translucent filament from Amazon expecting that I was going to be able to make see through parts. That is incorrect. While there are transparent filaments on the market, this is not one of them. This filament does let light pass through, just not in a way that you can see through it. While I got the "clear" translucent, other color translucent filaments are available and maybe used in the future for keys or other electronics parts that you could put light behind.
Silk - Silk PLA gives prints a shiny, almost metallic like finish to the print. Silk PLA is my favorite filament to work with so far. While it does loss a little strength with the additive that provides the shine, it works really well for models and display pieces. Pair Silk PLA with a Rainbow gradient to get some unique color changing effects throughout each print.
Rainbow/Gradient - Rainbow and gradient filaments are formed in such a way that multiple colors are added to the filament in order to provide a steady progression through the colors. The progression is different for each filament and contain two, three, or more colors. One of my favorites is a Silk Rainbow PLA from Amolen that progresses every 5m. This allows for a lot of color variation, particularly through larger prints.
Marble - Have not tried yet but it is supposed to work similarly to Wood PLA. Wider nozzles are apparently recommended to avoid clogging.
Cleaning Filament - Picked up 0.1 kg of cleaning filament from Matterhackers. Heated the nozzle to 240 and fed about 100mm through. It picked up a bunch of PETG left behind. I ran another 100mm through and it picked up more. In total I ran about 350mm through before it ran clear. My next print was pristine with less stringing even when I used Wood PLA.
Comments