eSUN – PLA+ – Fire Engine Red -1kg – 1.75mm

Please Note: eSun has recently changed their filament spool material. You may receive a cardboard spool, instead of the plastic spools depicted above. This move means a more environmentally friendly design to their 3D filament spools which comfortably sit on your 3D printer's standard spool holder for smooth filament feeding.

These 1kg spools of 1.75mm Fire Engine Red eSUN PLA+ Filament are an excellent choice for 3D Printing, and are particularly good for printing bright and colourful objects to cheer up a room or add some vibrance to an outside setting. These PLA+ spools are similar to standard PLA spools, but offer quite a range of unique benefits that add value both during the 3D Printing process, as well as once the prints are done. In fact, PLA+ is arguably better in almost every aspect, except for the fact that it has slightly lower tensile strength – although PLA is not ideal for applications requiring high tensile strength, so this is hardly an issue when compared to the many benefits that PLA+ can offer.

ADVANTAGES OF PLA+

eSUN PLA+ is an upgrade from standard PLA, with extra materials imbued into the plastic to change the characteristics. Although it is slightly more expensive than standard PLA 3D Printer Filament, many 3D Makers insist that it offers more value for money. This is due to three defining characteristics of PLA+, which include a higher melting temperature, a lower distortion temperature, and more impact and flame resistance.

The higher melting temperature means that it is less likely to string and web during printing, as the tiny blobs on the end of the nozzle stay liquid for long, allowing the Hotend Assembly to move away without dragging the plastic behind it. The lower distortion temperatures helps by allowing the plastic more time to solidify, rather than being forced to harden rapidly. This means that the previous layer is still busy hardening while the next layer is being extruded, which then of course acts as a “warm blanket” of sorts to prevent previous layers from distorting or warping – especially if you don’t have a 3D Printer Enclosure to keep the surrounding environment warm.

These characteristics ultimately improve print finish quality substantially, resulting in smoother, cleaner prints without having to invest in an enclosure or other additions. And if that wasn’t enough of a benefit, PLA+ also offers higher impact resistance and elongation capabilities, allowing the plastic to resist damage related to impacts and stretching. This is why so many Makers prefer PLA+ over the standard PLA plastics, as they not only offer better print quality, but also improved durability for more versatility.

WHY BUY ESUN FILAMENT FROM US:

eSUN has been in the industry of 3D printing and OEM services for top brands since as far back as 2002, and have garnered a strong reputation for providing consistently great quality materials, ranging from ABS to PETG as well as a few eSUN-specific materials like eNinja and eFlexy. We, as engineers who love 3D printing, know that we can rely on their strict quality control standards, and that each and every spool we acquire from them will be consistent, stable and reliable. This quality control is then fortified by our own quality checks, so that we can guarantee the value of the materials we supply to you. This way, you as the end-user never have to even think about the quality of printing materials you acquire from us.

eSUN 3D printer filament is designed and tested to work with all popular makes of FDM printers, and is available in a wide range of natural and obscure colours. eSUN have also designed more advanced types of plastic filament, including eCopper, eBronze and eSteel – which are fortified with metal powders to give prints a metallic, polishable finish – making the material choices for 3D Makers far more diverse than ever before.

The following are some of the primary reasons why we choose to procure and supply eSUN 3D Printer Filament:

• Good Temperature Stability – Due to the quality control checks administered to each spool, eSUN filament contains no defects and has a smoother, more consistent flow. This allows Makers to enjoy cleaner printing with smoother, neater and more aesthetically pleasing prints.

• Pure and Fresh Materials – eSUN choose to not utilize any recycled materials, as these can lead to slight defects, inconsistencies and an overall drop in quality of filament. Instead, eSUN only utilize pure and fresh raw materials for each and every spool.

• SGS Certified – Compliant with FDA and ISO9001 standards, eSUN operate in a safe, controlled and sustainable way – ensuring the quality and safety of the products they supply.

• Excellent Packaging and Spooling – There are few things worse than badly packaged filament that has been exposed to air and absorbed moisture. This is why eSUN place a lot of focus on the neatness, dryness and cleanliness of their packaging – so that the product you receive works precisely as expected without sputters or air bubbles.

• High Standards of Quality Control – In addition to strict checks on the raw materials utilized for filament, eSUN utilize lasers to ensure an impressive diameter spec’ difference – ensuring a consistent diameter that may vary by up to 0.03mm throughout each spool of filament. On the filament box they claim that it’s 0.05mm, but in reality it’s actually even less than that.

• Leaders and Innovators in 3D Printing – As providers of OEM services for top brands since 2002, eSUN have made great advances in 3D printing, including the invention of 3D printer cleaning filament. Additionally, they are widely regarded as the leaders in PETG filament, which many Makers consider to be one of the easiest and most durable materials available.

While there are a wide range of suppliers throughout the world, each offering their own unique range filaments, we have chosen eSUN as our primary supplier simply because we believe they are the best. Not only have they been leaders and innovators, providing services for other companies to market and sell, but they are also constantly refining their existing products as well as producing brand new types of materials like the eFlexy, eBronze or the recent eMorph. This innovation, coupled with stringent quality control and a very affordable price range, makes eSUN our favourite supplier for all types of 3D printer filament.

TOUGH YET FLEXIBLE

FIL X SBS

Did you know that you are in daily contact with SBS products such as the soles of your shoes or the tyres of your car? But how can SBS be used in FDM 3D printing?

SBS (Styrene-butadiene-styrene) has the unique properties of being both tough and flexible at the same time, thanks to its Polystyrene origin lending it a hard, tough consistency and the Polybutadiene giving it a bit more bounce with its rubbery properties.

This powerhouse combination offers, apart from good layer adhesion, no odour during printing and does not absorb moisture. Furthermore, it has been FDA and EU directive approved for food contact.

Fil X SBS filament is very easy to print with on a glass bed with some hairspray for better bed adhesion and best of all can be smoothed with d-limonene (also available from Fil X!) leaving you with a stunning finished product.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR PRINTING WITH SUNLU PETG FILAMENT:

• PETG Printing Tips – First Layer Adhesion: Although it may come as second nature to try and get the squishiest squish-factor around for all kinds of filaments and polymers, PETG is a little different, and actually shouldn’t be squished too hard for the first layer. In fact, it’s good practice when printing with PETG to have your first layer print at around 125% of the defined layer height. This will give it the ability to “grab” the following layers more effectively, and because PETG layers tend to bond well to each other, this dramatically helps with the overall print quality. This is primarily due to the glass transition temperature of around 85°C for PETG, as well as how the heatbed draws heat away from the first layer due to the direct contact with the thermally conductive heatbed.
• PETG Printing Tips – Effective Bridging: With PETG Filament, one of the more difficult factors to get right is bridging between parts, as PETG tends to sag quite dramatically due to the high temperatures required for printing. However, it’s important to note that this is more so for opaque than transparent colours, as the colourants can affect the overall chemical composition of the material being printed. As such, it will take some time to dial in just right, depending on the colour and brand you’re using, but for most cases, it’s prudent to print bridges quite slowly, turn the fan on if you’ve got it off, and then define a bridge overlap of around 1mm. This will help prevent the bridging strands from curling upwards as they’re printing, while also adding some strength to the edges so the strands stick well and don’t pull themselves loose.
• PETG Printing Tips – Strength vs Aesthetics: This factor is certainly one that we love about PETG, and is also a factor that seems quite undervalued in most 3D Maker communities, but with PETG filament you can actually distinctly choose whether you want to focus more on durability and strength, or aesthetics and detail quality. In fact, choosing which you would like to focus on is as simple as defining whether the fan is turned on or off for the print, as printing PETG with the fan on tends to produce a great surface finish, while printing PETG with the fan off helps with layer bonding and lamination, lending itself well to high-strength parts instead. Of course, you could always choose the best of both worlds by printing for strength and post-processing for aesthetics, but if you’re not interested in post-processing your prints afterwards, then the above rule is quite easy to utilise for whatever application your print is being made for.
• PETG Printing Tips – Infill & Top Layers: While it’s typical for people to assume that higher levels of infill result in higher strength prints, the truth is that high infill doesn’t always equal strength, and oftentimes an object with a good internal structure is far stronger than a solid object. As such, it’s important to tailor your infill percentages according to each specific print, and then tailor the number of top layers according to the level of infill. The reason for the differing amount of top layers is because if you are printing with less than around 40% infill, the top layers can easily sink into the infill pattern, resulting in blotchy or patchy top layers. So, if your infill is set to 40% or lower, consider adding up to three extra top layers, allowing for the first one or two layers to fall into the infill spaces, with the remaining top layers producing a strong and aesthetically pleasing top surface.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR 3D PRINTING PETG:

• The following guide is an awesome amalgamation of hundreds of Makers’ hard work, all collected and summarised into a single, easy to understand, rather informal, PETG Filament Printing Guide – with the primary focus being on eSUN PETG, making it very relevant for ultra-cool customers who choose to shop at DIYElectronics.
• This is another PETG Printing Guide, created by a brand known as Rigid Ink. However, it’s important to note that they very likely used their own Rigid INK PETG Filament, so some settings and tips will likely vary from our own.
• This PETG Filament Guide from Tractus is quite unique compared to others, and does an awesome job at explaining what PETG is, how it’s used in various industries, as well as some great technical specifications to help you understand more about this unique but exciting polymer. Bear in mind, however, that their settings and specifications are somewhat specific to their range of 3D Printers, so they may exactly match our suggested settings and parameters.
• Finally, this is a handy MatterHackers PETG Post-Processing Guide, detailing some of the post-processing options you have with PETG prints, as well as tips and basic instructions on how to do each of the different processes.

TOUGH YET FLEXIBLE

FIL X SBS

Did you know that you are in daily contact with SBS products such as the soles of your shoes or the tyres of your car? But how can SBS be used in FDM 3D printing?

SBS (Styrene-butadiene-styrene) has the unique properties of being both tough and flexible at the same time, thanks to its Polystyrene origin lending it a hard, tough consistency and the Polybutadiene giving it a bit more bounce with its rubbery properties.

This powerhouse combination offers, apart from good layer adhesion, no odour during printing and does not absorb moisture. Furthermore, it has been FDA and EU directive approved for food contact.

Fil X SBS filament is very easy to print with on a glass bed with some hairspray for better bed adhesion and best of all can be smoothed with d-limonene (also available from Fil X!) leaving you with a stunning finished product.