Alternative PLA for A1

Hi All,

since 2 weeks I am proud of my Bambu Lab A1 :slight_smile:

My favorit PLA would be Bambu Lab Filament but it is all day out of stock :frowning:

I heard a lot about eSun and Sunlu PLA. But they have PLA, PLA+, Tough, Meta …

Which one would you recommend? Where to buy?
Should I wait for available Bambu Lab PLA :smiley: ?

Thanks

I started using Bambu filament about a month or so ago…it seem alright so far.
But my favorite filament is “ZIRO”, you can find it on Amazon.

Personal opinion: I recommend the cheapest one if you don’t mind printing slower (not slow). I have successfully used PLA and PETG from many brands in any printer (not only Bambu). If it is dry and calibrated, it prints smoothly.

I still buy premium brands like BL for specific colours and finishes.

Cheap filaments for regular and consuming prints and quality for the remains.

Regarding PLA types, in a concise summary, every filament entails additives that change their properties.

PLA+ is intended for improved mechanical proprieties;
PLA Tough aims to mimic the strength proprieties of other filaments (e.g. ABS);
Meta usually has lower viscosity, so it is possible to extrude more filament and thus print faster.

I think I will try Sunlu, eSun or Polymaker :smile:
And now the question which Type of PLA :see_no_evil:

if you have the AMS Lite, be sure to avoid glow-in-the-dark filaments as they are abrasive, and will damage the AMS after a while. Only use glow in the dark for the manual spool.

I use eSun, Sunlu, Eryone, Ziro, Bambu Lab, Prusament, Polymaker, and Amazon’s own brand of PLA. All of them work great.

Which type of PLA do you use?
I just need it for Toys and optical things

i mix and match between the brands i listed. It depends on the colour pallet I want.
I tend to like the sparkle filament Bambu Lab makes over the ones I have from Eryone, but I prefer Eryone’s duo-tone silk PLA to Bambu Labs.
As I said, all the brands I listed work great, and some others (mentioned by others on this topic) look like they give great results too. It boils down to two things: how strong do you want it, and what type of finish do you want?

If the toys are going to have a lot of articulation/movement or be used by small children who play rough, you’ll want a stronger PLA to withstand the play they’ll get; PLA+ will suit that need (PLA Tough by Bambu Lab is being discontinued, so sad…)

Optical-wise, I can’t tell you what to use; that’s down to your own colour and finish needs. Just be aware that, again, some materials are not good for the AMS so you should not use them in the AMS Lite if you own it; Wood PLA and Glow-in-the-dark filaments are advised to be used on the external spool only.

I thought the AMS lite had hardened gears?

even if Bambu Lab say it does, I wouldn’t risk it.
They said their own make of glow-in-the-dark was AMS compatible but after a few uses one of my AMS feeders broke because it wore out the gears. So it’s better to err on the side of caution.