Polymaker Light Weight PLA Filament 1.75mm Grey 0.8kg, PolyLite 3D Printer PLA Filament Grey Low Density, Print with Most 3D Printers

The important bits: layer bonding and strength is incredible! very rigid and much lighter than PLA or PLA+ but heavier than foaming lightweight PLA. I am going to use this on all my future 3D printed planes!Now my long boring story :)Patience was the key with this filament! I have seen too many great reviews to think that there was an issue with the filament itself. I took the recommended approach of printing using PLA settings and increasing the retraction distance and speed to the settings recommended on polymakers website.My prints were completely unusable initially. I didn't have a lot of time after work to run calibration tests but I did what I could in my free time. I would change one setting and print a part, I didn't write anything down and I didn't keep track of my changes. The poor print quality was completely my fault for not taking the proper time to dial in the print settings. I even tried multiple slicers!I finally had a day off! no chores, no work... time to get this right :)I started with the basics, e-step calibration and PID tuning. Those were very close to perfect already so I knew that wasn't my issue. I started back with the defualt PLA settings and did a retraction test (two 10mm cubes spaced 40mm apart). I would do a print and take a picture, record the settings and results and then make only 1 change to 1 setting at a time until I got the setting dialed in. Then I would move to the next setting. Rinse and repeat until I got everything dialed in. About 10 hours later, a nearly perfect print with just the smallest amount of stringing!Don't do what I did and just get frustrated and start throwing different settings at this stuff! It took the perfect mix of speed, temp, retraction speed & distance as well as extra prime after retraction to get this stuff dialed in. A change to any one of those setting will throw off the print!Cura 5.10Artillery Sidewinder X2 (love this printer!)Fulament magnetic flex PEI bedTemp 190Bed temp 60 (I always run 60 for everything, just seems to work)Print speed 40mm/sTravel speed 250mm/sRetraction 3.5mmRetraction Speed 35mm/sExtra prime after retraction .36mmMy issue was an extreme amount of stringing and oozing. I am printing a single walled print and it is important to have a strong Z seam. The loss of material during travel moves and layer changes made the Z seam very weak.

I used this for printing some RC aircraft parts and found that if you follow the instructions the filament performed as advertised. On my avg part I noticed a 20%-45% reduction in weight from standard PLA. One thing to note, this is ***Pre-Foamed***. I have read reviews were people were upset because it did not foam and they had to crank the temps up to get any foaming/expansion of the filament. It is not that type of LW-PLA. This prints better at lower temps, I found 190-195 to be the sweet spot for my parts. It is also not a smooth filament as it is pre-foamed it has a rough texture, to be expected.It prints great and with a nice smooth surface that is easily sanded where needed.

This filament is pre-foamed! If you are printing an eclipson model plane, their recommended settings will not work. I almost returned this filament but eventually got it going after much trial and error.Obviously settings will change based on your printer, but I figured I’d share what I changed vs Eclipsons guide. Here were my findings for a V1 Ender 3 with a steel nozzle.Nozzle: 208Bed: 60Flow: 139Retraction: 3.5I followed all the other eclipson recommendations.I really had to jack up the flow rate to get it to flow smooth. It prints nicely, marginally heavier than ColorFabb. It appears to be very strong as well.I do have some issues with stringing during travel, and it appears to be just a part of this filament. I brought retraction back even further, but was seeing some issues with incomplete extrusion right after it begins printing after travel.

While it does have some positive aspects, I encountered significant issues that outweighed the benefits. Here's a breakdown of my experience:Pros:Very strong for a lightweight PLA: The filament boasts impressive strength despite its lightweight nature. It produces sturdy prints that can withstand some stress.Really nice color and matte finish from the filament.Cons:Constant clogging on multiple printers: The most significant drawback I encountered with this filament was the constant clogging issue. It became a frustrating experience as the filament would clog randomly, either within 15 minutes of printing or after as long as 20 hours. This inconsistency made it difficult to complete successful prints.Random distortion and clogging: The filament showed signs of random distortion in certain sections, which eventually led to clogs. It seemed like there might be some foreign material embedded within the filament itself, as unclogging the nozzles became nearly impossible without resorting to extreme measures like using a torch.Wasted spool on failed prints: Unfortunately, due to the frequent clogging, I ended up wasting a almost all of the spool on failed prints.

This filament is amazing. Drop it in, print with your normal settings and your prints are lighter. The filament is STRONG!! I have printed a number of rockets with a .6 nozzle in vase mode and a blow to the print with hammer wont break it! This stuff will be amazing for some of my upcoming drones and other RC aircraft. The filament bonds extremely well for each layer. I've tried the grey and the black but the black is beautiful. The filament has almost a texture to it when printing so your prints may need some sanding for a smooth finish but the filament sands wonderfully. This filament was used to win a regional 4H Aerospace competition and will be going to the state finals. Thanks Polymaker for making some great filament.