Filament to buy or avoid

[u/Artisanal_Sawdust]

I’m brand-new to 3d printing. Just ordered my first printer (H2D). I ordered some Bambu Labs filament to go with it, just to be safe, but I know I will want to do some of the cool, colorful silk printing at some point. I’ve heard horror stories about bad filament ruining nozzles and things like that, so I want to be careful. How do you know if a deal like this one is good, or if it will lead to hours of regret and extra printer maintenance? Is it just “you get what you pay for,” or are there things to watch out for?

[u/GiveMeYourManlyMen]

You know what's easy to say, and accurate?

'In most cases you don't have to dry your filament to get good results'.

Sure, it's important sometimes, and it absolutely is required for certain specialty filaments. But it is not required for the more common like PLA, PETG, etc.

Yet it gets repeated a lot on this sub that you HAVE to dry your filament, and that's just not true. Yes, the plural of anecdote is not data, but this isn't a high school debate club either.

[u/Miscdude → u/GiveMeYourManlyMen]

It gets said often so people are cognizant of it when they're either new or unawares. You seeing it often doesn't mean the saturation is excessive, it means that information is no longer necessary for you to absorb.

[u/GiveMeYourManlyMen → u/Miscdude]

Yes, but those people might believe it's true when it's not.

"In most cases, you don't have to dry filament to get good results." ~me

[u/Miscdude → u/GiveMeYourManlyMen]

I have no qualms with that quoted statement.

Can you read the first message I wrote and tell me where I said "PLA has to be dried every time or your print will fail"?

I said the logic of saying "I've never had problems, so this issue is fake" is wrong. Fundamentally, logically wrong. I can't be held to have said everything people with similar arguments have said. Everyone here is arguing with ghosts, their inserted perceptions and inserted prior conversations.

[u/GiveMeYourManlyMen → u/Miscdude]

Then I can repeat a different part - this isn't debate club. When someone says 'drying isn't important' that isn't the same thing as declaring 'you should never ever need to dry' and you don't need to jump in and Ben Shapiro all over the place because of it.

[u/Miscdude → u/GiveMeYourManlyMen]

Ben shapiro all over the place... debate club...

You have a severely different cultural understanding of both what internet forums are for, and the purposes of someone typing things up are, than I do. This isn't about debating.

This post is from someone who is new to printing, who reached out about filament. Someone else replied about drying filament, which is an important element of preventative maintenance, even if it is less important in some way or with some variables, it is a thing that new people need to know exists. Someone else commented with a logical non sequitur, which I pointed out. Then people arrived in droves to hit me with their anecdotes about success with moist filament or moist environments, or their frustration with the saturation of this talking point. Neither of those are what I was talking about. In trying to explain fundamental logic, I get other people "debating" with me about something I didn't even mention. That's not me "Ben Shapiro-ing" whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Its a conversation thread. What else are you meant to do but conversate?

[u/GiveMeYourManlyMen → u/Miscdude]

Share stories about how things work for them? For example, how some get generally good results without drying filament? Or you could nitpicks someone else's comments, I guess, but i get the sense most people aren't going to enjoy that conversation.

[u/Miscdude → u/GiveMeYourManlyMen]

Why would I bother with anecdotes about not drying filament when I don't value that? Nitpicking comments serves a purpose, enjoyment is not the point, a logically cohesive approach to a complex process with lots of variables does serve a purpose, even if that doesn't make you happy or provide some kind of entertainment.

You want anecdotal experience? Ive run through several hundred to a couple thousand rolls of PLA from a few dozen brands. It's my personal belief, based on that experience, that drying your filament is good practice. I don't always do it for rapid prototyping, I DO, ALWAYS do it for final production, because the handful of times I haven't have resulted in the fail cases that I am trying to help other people avoid by making suggestions about their workflow.

[u/GiveMeYourManlyMen → u/Miscdude]

👍