We've never had good luck with glow-in-the-dark PLA filament.

3D Printing
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We’ve never had good luck with glow-in-the-dark PLA filament. But yesterday my daughter suggested printing a glowing articulated trilobite, and that sounded cool, so against my better judgement I dug out the spool and tried it. The print succeeded - despite the filament breaking, there was just enough left - but as always the printed parts are brittle and covered with blobs and strings, and the finished model is almost impossible to assemble.

This is Matterhackers 1.75 mm PLA, and I’ve already blacklisted them after the insane levels of frustration with their too-fat “pro” filament and the clogged J-Head that resulted. I’m ready to throw away this spool too, but the question is whether anyone else makes GITD PLA that’s worth using.

My favorite sources don’t sell it, which makes me think that it’s hard to make in good quality. The leading contender seems to be Makergeeks, but I’d like to hear a positive report on it before investing $46 in a spool. Has anyone tried and not hated it?

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Well I haven’t used the 1.75mm variety, just the 3mm, but I have been using this GITD blue for a while now and it works a treat. My whole desk now glows at night. They are an Australian seller but perhaps you can track down where they get it from? This stuff actually prints better than my regular black and the subtle translucency looks really good and hides imperfections beautifully.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=141194255637

3

I’ve had good success with GID green Reprapper branded filament from @Francois_Lahey 's Voxel Factory in Montreal, Canada. 31 CDN for a 1 Kg spool. Diameter is consistent and prints well. Ships FedEx or your choice.

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@Erica_Anne
I remember seeing Makerbot GITD and thinking that it was an insane price on their website, it seems to be sold out now but links to it appear to indicate that it was $130/kg?! Even if it’s perfect, I wouldn’t pay that much. . .

5

Hey guys!

I usually avoid discussions about filament myself but here are some toughts in case anyone is interested to read a supplier point of view :slight_smile:

First, thanks for the nice comments @William_Frick :slight_smile: It’s a pleasure to count you in our regular customers!

Ok so regarding filament quality. I think it’s important to make the distinction between the reseller and the manufacturer.

That’s why we now only send spools with original manufacturer’s logo so that anyone know exactly wich product they have in hand.

Before blacklisting a supplier, please consider how good the service is with them. Resellers have full control over service they offer to you. Filament quality is more tricky.

Now if they only sell “nonames” filament or rebranded with resellers logo, then it’s another concern.

Filament quality is tricky for resellers as you could have 200 good spools then 2 or 3 bad spools in the lot. You want to keep spools intact and avoid humidity as much as possible so opening each one and test tolerance or try to see if it’s brittle is not something we can do as resellers.

If someone can’t use our filament because it’s really out of specs or too brittle etc, we can offer exchange. That’s what we do at Voxel Factory. First we need to recieve the bad spool so that we can confirm it’s really problematic, it’s from us and keep it for manufacturer records (pictures/print test etc). Then we offer both shipping back and new replacement spool shipping.

Maybe it’s something matterhacker would be willing to do if you ask.

On the other hand, at some point, anyone need to understand that you pay for what you get. Cheap stuff is cheap because someone cut somewhere. There’s no magic deal.

Moreover, even high quality filament can sometimes be problematic. Even MAC send defect units, nothing’s always perfect. Also dry air in winter ans humidity in summer certainly influence filament usability.

Finally we offer RepRapper Tech GITD green and blue and glowing intensity is totally batch dependant. Glow green PLA is usually the most glowing and glow blue ABS the less.

But we will soon offer another high quality glowing green wich is good news for you I guess :slight_smile:

Last words, please try to see what can be done with resselers before blacklisting them. They may be more comprehensive than what you think.

Cheers :slight_smile:

6

I have had a good deal of success with GIDblue from reprappers. Have bought a couple of rolls even. Prints easier for me than some other regular colored stuff too.

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Oh and sometimes, what is the worst filament ever for someone is the best for someone else so it’s kind of confusing. That’s why we will keep adding more choice and anyone can have what they really like or can afford. You can even pick cheap stuff in testing phase then print the final part with higher quality filament :slight_smile:

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I will say that I have not tried the GIDGREEN from reprapper, but the blue glows brilliantly!

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I’ve used various glow in the dark and UV reactive ‘failiments’ over the last few years,
Faberdashery’s offerings (no affiliation) are what have always produced the best results for me…
http://www.faberdashery.co.uk