
What Are Good Filaments to Start With? A 3-Spool Plan
Good filaments to start with: plain PLA, then PETG, then 95A TPU on direct drive. Starting temps, hotend limi…

Dry spools first, then seal them with silica gel and a hygrometer: under 30% RH for PLA, under 20% for PETG, TPU, PC and PVA, kept cool and dark.
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Good filaments to start with: plain PLA, then PETG, then 95A TPU on direct drive. Starting temps, hotend limi…

ASA beats ABS outdoors and emits less styrene at near-identical print settings. Data-sheet numbers, starting …

Why ASA is the default for parts that live in sunlight: published weathering data on ASA, PETG, PLA and ABS, …

Wet PLA, PETG or TPU pops, strings and prints pitted walls. Prusa's drying temperatures by material, plus a r…

PLA+ trades stiffness and a little tensile strength for 5 to 12 times the impact toughness. Data-sheet number…

PLA is the right first filament for nearly every FDM printer. What to buy, which diameter, how much, and the …
Density converts net filament weight into printable volume and length. These published values belong to the named grades; they are starting points for spool arithmetic, not averages for every product carrying the same material label.
| Material | Density (g/cm³) | Product and source |
|---|---|---|
| PLA | 1.24 | Prusament PLA |
| PETG | 1.27 | Prusament PETG |
| ABS | 1.04 | eSUN ABS (2024 product manual) |
| ASA | 1.07 | Prusament ASA |
| TPU | 1.21 | eSUN eTPU-95A (2024 product manual) |
| PC | 1.20* | PolyLite PC (published range: 1.19–1.20) |
| CF-nylon | Grade dependent | eSUN ePA-CF: 1.24; ePAHT-CF: 1.40 (2024 manual) |
*1.20 is the upper end of PolyLite PC's published range. Filled nylons have no single density: the two examples above use different grades. Use the current technical data sheet for your spool. The calculator's presets include other products, so replace its density field when using a figure from this table.
Convert spool weight to remaining metres using material density, tare weight and filament diameter, with a density table for PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU and PC that cites each figure to a named product's data sheet and shows how far vendors disagree. Runs in the browser, no signup.