I decided to try out Afinia’s value line filament and tried a spool of gold ABS because if it turns out looking good I’ve got a number of cool ideas I can use for that. In the end I have nothing but good things to say about Afinia’s filament, the gold doesn’t get a gold star.
First the good: For cheap filament Afinia’s value line is great, possibly better than the more expensive stuff. It’s a little more melty than the stuff I get from MBI or Protoparadigm, but that just means the layers melt together a little better and smooth out, which is actually a good thing. It’s also a little narrower and while I haven’t seen any problems with diameter consistency if you don’t have a Mk8 upgrade or other spring loaded filament option you may want to get it before risking cheap filament. Plus it’s cheaper. Honestly, I think I’m sticking with Afinia from now on.
However, if you’re looking at the gold ring above and thinking “That’s not very shiny, or gold”, you’re right. In real life it’s more of a muddy brown. Even after a little acetone smoothing the result is not anything like gold (tho it might make for good alots). I’ve also heard that their color changing filament doesn’t survive the extruding process with the same effect. I may still try out silver and glow in the dark just to be fair but by all reports their novelty filaments are 0 for 2.
So there you have it. Gold, not so good but Afinia very good.
