At work we use an inexpensive PLA filament to do our prototyping before we finalize the part design. Unfortunately it is not cost effective at the volumes that I will use and we get it in 12KG spools.
So, what is a good PLA for prototyping at home? Not specifically looking for the cheapest and colors don’t matter. Ideally it exhibits consistent printing roll to roll, it isn’t so brittle you cant put a screw in it for a mockup and it works in the AMS Lite.
TIA!
I had pretty good experience with eSun’s PLA+ or PLA-HF. If you are looking for a bigger range of colours and a nice matte finish, try PolyMaker’s PolyTerra PLA. Both are relatively cheap and I had not a single bad spool. Both the eSun Spools and PolyTerra Spools for flawless with the AMS Lite. If you are rocking the OG AMS with your X1 or P1 Series, you should look for some spool wheels like these since the cardboard spools that PolyMaker ships its filament on might work properly or even cause damage. But thats nothing to worry about on the AMS Lite.
I discovered ColorFabb Regrind PLA for that purpose. it is ~10€/kg and is produced from production scraps. The color is a varying shade of grey.
ColorFabb definitely is one of the top quality suppliers especially with their PLA/PHA blend, so you can expect the best quality and consistency.
Only caveat: it comes in 2,2kg spools.
Polymaker has draft PLA that is cheap. I use PolyTerra personally.
I don’t have AMS lite, but Sunlu PLA works well in the regular AMS. When bought in bundle on their website, black, grey or white costs under $13 and free-shipping. Try one or two and see if they work for you. Check if you need to find and print an adapter to use in AMS lite.