So, I’ve heard good things about eSun filament, so decided to get some in. I’m really impressed with it for what it costs. Below is a prototype of my #fuseboxcorexy printer’s extruder carriage, printed at 0.28mm in eSun PLA, very little shrinkage, bridges really well and support is easy to remove. For the price it is, I can’t fault it.
it’s the only rigid PLA I’ve been using since I’ve made my printer. their ABS is also niiiice
Gonna stick with @colorFabb_Filament NGEN most stuff, it can just get expensive when prototyping…
eSun PETG is also very well priced and prints nicely. It’ll print cold on blue tape, just like PLA, and has less shrinkage and less tendency to warp than even PLA does.
Bought some eSun. Gonna give it a try. Can’t beat the price. I heard good things about colorfabb as well, I think lulzbot just switched to carrying it.
It’s a long time ago (mid 2012), but @Richard_Horne found ball bearings in his eSun PLA – lots of them. That rather puts me off eSun as ball bearings just big enough to fit in your hot end, but not large enough to escape the nozzle are my idea of a 3D print nightmare. Here’s his article: http://richrap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jammed-frggn-nozzle-30doc-days-1518.html
Holy crap. Maybe I shouldn’t even try the stuff and return it. Do you think it got any better since that blog post? Or stay away?
And the filament he was using in that review was from 2011 some time, since he mentions he went back to it after about a year.
I would assume, though, that they’ve changed suppliers or fixed the problem with their extrusion setup. I can’t imagine they would have managed to continue as a filament supplier for this long if they regularly produced filament with inclusions in it. Especially now that their filament (both under their name, and rebranded under a store brand) are available at Microcenters in the US.
Fixing an inclusion clog is a lot simpler now that nylon is widely available, though. A nylon cold pull or three will clear that right out.
Another thing about the eSun with ball bearings from 2011-2012 is that it was 3mm filament. At that point, it was pretty common to find 3mm filament that had been purchased from suppliers selling for plastic welding guns and repurposed or rebranded as being 3D printer filament.
The tolerances on size aren’t as tight, and the concern about inclusions doesn’t really exist, when you’re dealing with plastic welding filament. As 3D printing has grown, this practice of rebranding welding filament has become less and less common.
So what I’m getting at is that you probably don’t have anything to worry about with eSun filament purchased now, and even if you do have issues with the filament it’s pretty easy to clear the resultant clogs. It should also be pretty easy to get a refund on it if you do develop issues (assuming you bought it through Amazon or Microcenter or another US based seller and not from a supplier in China).
I’ve been using eSun for 4 years and some months and never had aaaaaany issues. Granted I’ve opted for 1.75 as it makes it better to control prints using a 0.2mm nozzle with a direct drive that does not have any reduction.
The only thing I’ve noticed is the print temp varying with colour, but that is meaningless in the end.
sure I get it from a French reseller (being that I live in France for the time being) but they only test samples of the container sized quantities they bring in. Never had any issues. Never.
And I believe eSun filament brand has now changed it’s name to ‘Sallen’ It certainly looks identical to the eSun and packaging, just a name change or a way to make a fresh start maybe? Anyway the quality has certainly improved in recent years. The guys at RepRapPro were using and selling it for some months before they shut down (that was nothing to do with the filament). I had a roll with my Fisher Delta kit last summer and it printed really well.
Ok. I am using 3mm, but I’ll give it a go. I’ve been a die hard fan of Verbatim for final prints. Gone through countless spools. Had +/- experience with Gizmo Dorks as well for protos. Looking for a cheaper prototype filament. Amazon is my go to source, so if I have problems, I’ll certainly return it. @Richard_Horne
@Ax_Smith-Laffin Looking forward to your carriage design. I think the original design of the carriage is the reason my hotend heats up so slow and is barely able to hold the temperature. With the fan disabled I have no problems at all.
@Paul_Nokel - it’s pretty much there and is usable with the carriage ends. It’s over on Thingiverse at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1313587, I’m just working on a way to attach an endstop to the carriage the holes are currently out of line with the ones I have due to me not setting sizes correctly in the library… I was pre- first coffee when I did it this morning…
@Ax_Smith-Laffin OpenSCAD <3 Thanks for publishing 
I will hopefully have some time at the weekend to print and try it.
@Paul_Nokel - Just uploaded the Carriage end SCAD files too…
@Adrian_Ciubotariu What’s your French reseller?
@Julien_Dodokal LaBoutiquedu3d.com
they’ve just printed a 1.9M Eifell tower in their window for the last month and a half, non stop, using only eSun.