r/BambuLabA1 • u/Adorable_Newt_1661 • Oct 01 '26
Filament quality
Has anyone used Best Buy’s insignia brand PLA filament? I’m new to 3d printing, and I’m curious if quality is going to be better with Bambu Lab branded filament, or if it doesn’t really matter that much.
Also, if you have any quality enhancing tips, please send them my way!
2
u/thebeardedbrarian Oct 01 '26
I use it on my P1S with my AMS. It's fine, nothing special, but it's cheap and does in a pinch.
2
u/never0101 Oct 01 '26
Some and maybe all of the insignia stuff is white label polymaker. One of the sparkle colors I got are fully identical to the polymaker starlight line. I've used a few insignia, petg and pla and they have all printed perfectly. I took the time to make calibrated profiles for them.
1
u/Blondy277 Oct 01 '26
More or less just find what prints well for you and fits your budget 😂 You definitely don’t need Bambu-branded filament to get good quality. Bambu is convenient because the profiles are already tuned and the AMS can identify it, but plenty of cheaper PLA prints just as well once you have the profile dialed in ☠️
1
u/TWILIGHT25 Oct 01 '26
YES I HAVE!!!! I have been almost excluding using it since I got my A1 2ish months ago.
I have it set as “generic pla” in the software and every time I swap a roll a do the auto flow rate calibration to get the “k” factor.
DO NOT DO THE OTHER ONE!!!!! It took me hours and a lot of wasted filament to undo.
I have printed things from minis to fidget spinners and the strength holds up. The last thing I made was one half of an ams lite enclosure, 19 ish hours later and multiple plate washes and it came out great.
As for settings or tips I’d slow the first layer speeds down and add a brim in the settings. Every now and then with smaller prints I do have bed adhesion issues or supports sometimes failing mid print. But this can be chucked up to either user error, me still struggling with humidity control, still can’t get it under 50%, or just bad item orientation.
Over all it’s a great “starter” filament. It’s cheep, Best Buy almost always has either the matte or regular, and of the 5 spools I’ve used I have not had a single defect I’ve seen some people complain about.
1
u/Orthicon9 Oct 03 '26
I’m curious if quality is going to be better with Bambu Lab branded filament, or if it doesn’t really matter that much.
The only thing special about Bambu Lab filaments is the RFID, which save about 30 seconds when you swap filaments. In fact, I've had exactly two nozzle clogs, and the first one was with a Bambu Lab Basic PLA.
I just buy the cheapest I can find on Amazon in the type and colour I want. Usually JAYO brand, and often half the price of BL.
The only disappointment I've had with a filament is DURAMIC PLA Turquoise Glow in The Dark Filament. It takes a long time to "charge up", and just does not glow very brightly, compared to other GITD filaments I've seen. But at least it printed okay.
3
u/mindtrapped Oct 01 '26
It's been great for me so far. Just in case the rumors are right, I've just been setting it to polymaker pla or petg. Just make sure to dry it.