Here is the checklist you may consider to find the best quality filament :
- Diameter Constancy :
The Filament tolerance must be less than +/- 0.05mm. Higher tolerance may lead to jamming the filament at heat sink’s PTFE tube or irregular low at the nozzle.
- Good packaging :
That’s not just to look nice, but all filaments should come in sealed bags with desiccant at a minimum. It should supply in vacuum sealed bags with Moisture Absorber Bags inside.
- Practical Bending Test :
Bend your filament until it snaps. Was it easy to snap or brittle? If PLA, that means it might be stale (or just not very good to begin with) You should be able to bend the filament at least 3 times without it easily breaking.
- Dryness:
There should be no popping or steam from the nozzle. This means your filament is dry. Wet filament makes for poor finish quality on your prints.
- Dust Free:
There shouldn’t be any dust on the filament. Mostly one or two specks of dust is harmless, but some on a whole roll can build up and clog your nozzle.
- Winding :
Winding must be proper to assure automatic unwinding without any glitch. There must be an hole at filament spool to hold the end of the filament to prevent it from unraveling. or you need to make clip.
- Customer Support :
Did everything go to plan? Great, sounds like you’ve found a good filament supplier. But if the finish quality isn’t spot on, or you have other issues – don’t be afraid to write mail to customer support. Discuss the printing temperature , printing speed and other necessary parameter related to your issue.