I recently found a new filament supplier CHCKX (which I guess you could pronounce “chicks”) on Amazon that has VERY cheap filaments. In particular PPS-CF for $40/kg (!!) (4-5x cheaper than Fiberon or Bambu) and PPA-CF for $25/kg! They also sell the normal filaments as well as PCTG for $20/kg. So I picked up a spool of each to try it out. There is the adage “you get what you paid for” which in the case of PPS-CF and PPA-CF was most definitely true. This company does not have a website (that I could find) and no TDS documents are available.
In all three tests the filament was dried after removing from the packaging at 85° and 60° (PCTG) for 12 hrs.
PPS-CF - Don’t know where to start with this one. After removing the spool from the dryer the label was completely black and illegible. Basically they used a thermal printer to print the label. Not exactly confidence building. I then printed a temp tower across the published ranged (published meaning the Amazon description). The thing practically crumbled in my hands. I was able to snap it in half vertically across the layer lines. I found that the best layer adhesion was at 350 nozzle and 65 chamber. I was still able to snap the test objects in half like they were dried twigs. I have both BL and Fiberon PPS-CF and they are in no way like this at all. I’m not even sure this filament is PPS even. It smells like ABS and it certainly doesn’t ring like PPS (PPS has a distinct metallic sound when struck). Even the shrinkage (which is intrinsic to a polymer) is off and interestingly similar to ABS (around 0.7%)
PPA-CF - Marginally better but after drying it a lot, it doesn’t print cleanly. Certainly not as clean as my Siraya Tech PPA-CF. They are not even in the same league. I don’t think this is PPA and acts more like a PA6.
PCTG - This is actually decent filament and gave me a clean print. I will continue to buy this.
Fortunately Amazon has a very liberal return policy that I will take advantage of. I’m keeping the PCTG. It’s nice filament for the price.
Agreed but then they are a new seller. Plus no risk to me due to free returns. I left reviews for PPS and PPA-CF, just waiting for them to get approved.
Here is a Benchy with Siraya Tech on the left and CHCKX on the right. Both spools dried at 85° for 12 hrs and printed on the H2C with a Diamondback 0.6mm nozzle.
I would not trust their material composition to match up with their marketing!
Ordered some various PLA they have at good prices [clear w/ sparkles, some other fringe stuff] and I do not think it is [all] PLA. It feels, snaps, and cuts a lot like a nylon blend. I dunno what to make of it. It did print ok.
Their PCTG seems to be PCTG, print temps, flow and shrinkage match up with my 3D-Fuel rolls. At $20/kg it’s a good buy.
With regard to their “engineering” filaments, I don’t know what these are but the “PPS-CF” was definitely some sort of ABS blend. Most definitely was not PPS. I’m not sure what the PPA-CF is. Maybe a PA6 since even 12hrs at 85° wasn’t enough to dry it. PPA is hygroscopic but not like this.
85C is not enough to fully dry these polymers my guy. Not if they’re really wet, which I wouldn’t put past chckx. I’m extremely invested in this though — can you dry them at higher temps and post results? Would the spool handle 110C+ temps?
85° is plenty if you adjust the drying time. The spools are (supposedly) PC so, no 110 is too much. PPS itself is not a particularly hygroscopic filament. It doesn’t require aggressive drying. The “PPS-CF” I suspect is actually ABS-CF since the density is too low for PPS. The “PPA-CF” is most likely PA6-CF.
I also compared it to PolyMaker Fiberon and Siraya Tech filaments under the same drying conditions. The results are much better. The PPA-CF was actually dried for 24hrs at 85°
But you are welcome to buy your own spools and run your own tests. I’ve already returned them.
