Can you all share any good reliable US sellers for Bambu filaments and/or good quality filament brands, please?
The direct order from Bambu Labs become very unpredictable - packaging damaged, they sit 2 weeks before shipping the order, send a wrong filament,… …you name it.
So any trusted retailer / filament brands names appreciated… I was happy with Hatchbox, their TPU and PETG filaments are decent, Creality is not bad either…
Thank you!
What country are you are based in?
Oh, sorry updated the topic name… US. Much appreciated.
I order from two places. If I’m getting Bambu filament, I’ll wait till I can order at least 8 spools for the extra discount, and I generally order the refills. And Amazon when I want a larger variety or need it same day/next day. I’ve had good luck with Sunlu, Esun, Elegoo, PolyMaker, Creality, Anycubic and a number of others. Sain Smart makes good TPU too.
If you are in the US, I think you have just had a few bad experiences due to chance, not a systemic problem. I’ve ordered many hundreds of kilos from them and I’ve had fewer problems with them than Amazon (and of course very few problems with Amazon also, but certainly problems).
For Bambu Lab (BL) filaments, order it directly from BL. For other brands, from Amazon or directly from the brands’ website. Sunlu is good and cheap. I ordered directly from them.
Two tips:
Buy ahead of time. Have at least one month worth of filaments at hand so occasional delays won’t matter. Amazon orders can be delayed, too. Products can also come damaged. I had one apparently used spool of filament shipped to me at one time. If one buys enough stuff, there will be occasional problems no matter the brand or source.
Diversify. Don’t rely entirely on one brand. Buy from 2 or 3 sources, so if a certain filament is out of stock from one brand, one can get it from another brand.
Good place to order Bambu Lab Filaments in the US?
Sitting in front of your computer!
For Bambu brand specifically, despite the unknowns that come into the equation from time to time, Bambu itself is no doubt the best option.
My preferred filament overall is Polymaker, which I order directly from their website. Polymaker uses Amazon for delivery, but if you order it directly from them they package it and Amazon picks it up from Polymaker’s facility to deliver it to the customer.
I stopped ordering any filament from Amazon itself after a slew of problems. About 10% of the rolls I got from them were damaged so badly I had to respool them by hand to get them off of a completely obliterated cardboard spool or a smashed-to-bits plastic spool. On two different occasions I was sent open and partially used rolls by Amazon (clearly, someone had returned it after using it and Amazon never even checked to see if the product was still new inside the package and just sent it right back out). But the final straw for me with Amazon was when I ordered a “5 roll mix and match to create your own bundle” promotion on Anycubic filament - all set for same day delivery. They shipped me 3 of them and said I would ‘be notified’ when the other 2 shipped. After well over a week on an item that was still in stock for same day delivery to me I finally got a shipping date from them - 7 more weeks. No explanation other than my order ‘got stuck in the processing phase’, and now that it had been cleared and the computer had assigned that shipping date to it they had no way to change it. And they confirmed that if I ordered it again (of course, no bundle price now) it would be delivered same day, but to get the same product from the order I had already placed would be 7 more weeks. They also wouldn’t let me cancel that shipment because it was a part of that multi-pack bundle that I had already been sent part of. So, I canceled my Prime Membership instead.
I now order Bambu, Polymaker, Esun and Elegoo directly from their own online stores. I had to drop Sunlu from my list because they use the worst carrier known to humankind (OnTrac). And I buy Inland brand at my local MicroCenter.
Makes me wonder if it’s our location or just getting super lucky with the drivers on our route or something. We average 400-500 orders from Amazon a year and have for the last 6 or 7 years. I only had one thing slightly damaged this year and I don’t think anything was damaged last year.
Micro center is decent, but they have been out of the colors I wanted the last few times I’ve been there. And their filament is a bit more than what I can get it for on Amazon. One plus is that you can see exactly what the color is before you buy it though.
I’m a lucky dude, decided to get into 3D printing, and found a local brick and mortar store not far from work that is a Bambu Labs reseller. Made a visit to them in effort to glean out answer about the hobby. Ended up having about a 45 minute conversation with the owner and one of the dudes that works there, very well knowledged dudes. Got my printer from the Warden (wife) for Christmas, made a second visit to 3D Printing in Herndon, VA. Walked out with 8 rolls of filament and a smooth plate for $254.xx… If I didn’t work so close I would reach out them or find a local Bambu Labs reseller in your area. One may be closer then you think.
Hi all, I know this is a bit old post. I tried Sunlu PLA Matte before and it was great first print then for some reason it stopped sticking to the bed. I am printing a 9x9 4 stack multiboard core and it is taking almost the entire bed. With BL filament i dnt see much issues but with the Sunlu it keeps missing areas in the first layer. I also see some blobs that might be the issue that the head catches the print and ruin it. Any pointers to how to print with Sunlu in an A1 printer for successful prints like the BL ones
The first things to check are…
I use matter hackers they sell the refills the same size as Bambu and I pull the rfid tag off a bambu lab and use it right on the refill core from matter hacker and use the same PLA Basic profile and works great for me.