Filaments for beginners

This category is for people who have only just got their printer running, or who want to be sure the print succeeds first time. Only materials the manufacturer marks as easy or very easy to print in its official FDM data table have made it in here.

The PLA family — PLA, Tough PLA, Hyper PLA+, Silk PLA, PLA Premium, PLA Army and PLA Stone — prints on an open printer, with no enclosure. Warping tendency: none. Stringing tendency: low. Bed in the 0–60 °C range, nozzle from 200 to 260 °C depending on the variant. xPLA also belongs to the PLA family, but we do not yet have the manufacturer's full FDM parameter table for that variant, so we quote no comparative data for it.

PETG is the natural second step. The manufacturer rates its layer bonding as very good, and the declared temperature resistance is 85 °C rather than 60 °C. The trade-off is real, though: PETG needs a heated bed at 60–80 °C and has a high stringing tendency, so the spool has to be kept dry.

ABS, ASA and PA are deliberately absent. The manufacturer classes them as difficult or very difficult, and all of them require an enclosed chamber.

The data comes from Porima's official FDM technical data table. Full listing of 25 materials: print parameters.