Choosing the Right 3D Printing Filament
(A simple, honest guide from your neighbourhood 3D print shop)
Every plastic behaves a bit differently. Some are perfect for your desk or studio, others can live outside through a Calgary winter.
Here’s what to choose — and when it’s worth paying a little more.
🌿 PLA — Clean, Bright, and Perfect for Indoors
Best for:
Decor, art pieces, prototypes, organizers, hobby projects, and light-duty tool systems.
Why people love it:
- Prints crisp and smooth in any colour or texture.
- Odor-free and plant-based.
- Precise details and low cost.
Reality check:
- PLA starts to soften around 55 °C, so don’t leave it on a window ledge or in a warm car.
- In a cold garage, it’s fine — it just gets more brittle below freezing.
Where it shines:
- Art displays, home décor, Gridfinity bins for stationery or craft supplies.
- Jigs and fixtures that stay in your office or basement.
When to upgrade:
If the part will ever see rough handling, sunlight, or a heater vent, skip straight to PETG.
💪 PETG — The Everyday Workhorse
Best for:
Garage and shop organizers, enclosures, brackets, and anything that actually does work.
Why it’s great:
- Tough and slightly flexible — resists cracking.
- Handles moisture, cold, and light UV exposure.
- Easy to clean and holds shape from –20 °C up to 80 °C.
Calgary reality:
PETG stays stable through our deep freezes and summer heat waves.
It won’t warp in a hot car or crack from the cold.
Where it shines:
- Gridfinity bins for hardware and tools.
- Wall-mounted holders, garden fixtures, pet gear.
- Enclosures that might get bumped or sit near a furnace vent.
When to upgrade:
If it’s going to live outside all year or face full sunlight, ASA is the next step.
☀️ ASA — Built for the Outdoors
Best for:
Anything that lives outside — bike accessories, greenhouse sensors, deck fixtures, mail slots, camper parts.
Why it’s special:
- UV-resistant and weatherproof.
- Strong even at –30 °C or +100 °C.
- Matte finish hides layer lines and grime.
Calgary reality:
ASA can sit on your fence through snow and summer sun without warping or fading.
It’s what we use for outdoor sensor housings and long-term fixtures.
Where it shines:
- Permanent mounts or housings.
- Vehicle and bike accessories.
- Anything that stays outdoors all season.
When to save money:
If the part’s inside, ASA is overkill — PETG does 90 % of the job for less.
🧩 TPU — The Flexible Specialist
Best for:
Bumpers, phone grips, vibration mounts, flexible couplers.
Why it’s great:
- Rubber-like stretch and durability.
- Excellent grip and shock absorption.
- Works well from –40 °C to +60 °C.
Where it shines:
- Protective sleeves and corner guards.
- Shock-absorbing feet for electronics.
- Soft gaskets and weather seals.
When to avoid:
If you need precise edges or rigid fit, pick PETG or PLA instead — TPU flexes too much for tight tolerances.
⚙️ Quick Reference
| What You Need | Best Choice | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Clean, colourful indoor piece | PLA | Cheapest and sharpest finish. |
| Tough everyday use, some heat | PETG | All-rounder for the prairies. |
| Permanent outdoor part | ASA | Handles both snow and sun. |
| Flexibility or shock absorption | TPU | Rubber-like feel. |
⚙️ Material Quick-Compare Table
| Property | PLA | PETG | ASA | TPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ (flexible) |
| Flexibility | ⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Heat resistance | ⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Outdoor durability | ⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Print cost | 💰 (low) | 💰💰 | 💰💰💰 | 💰💰💰 |
| Finish quality | Glossy / smooth | Semi-gloss | Matte | Soft touch |
💬 Honest Advice
Upselling on filament is stupid from both an ethical perspective, and even if it wasn’t, the price difference is relatively negligible for most orders.
We really want you to use the best and most eco-friendly filament for your print:
For indoor tools and organizers, PLA is completely fine — cheaper, cleaner, and often prettier.
For garage and shop use, go PETG so it won’t crack in the cold or soften by a heater.
For anything outdoors in Calgary’s climate swings, ASA is the no-nonsense, year-round option.
And if you’re unsure, just tell us what you’re making — we’ll match the right filament for your part before we hit “print.”
💡 Still Not Sure?
If you’re unsure which material fits your project:
📩 Contact us with your part’s use case — we’ll match it to the best filament and finish for you.
Or choose “Shop Recommendation” at checkout, and we’ll pick the strongest, cleanest material for your job.
💬 A Note from the Print Bench
We’ll be honest — most of what we print starts in PLA.
It’s our favourite for a reason:
- It prints beautifully and precisely.
- It’s made from plant starch instead of petroleum.
- It has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any 3D printing plastic.
- And when a print reaches the end of its life, it’s far easier to recycle or repurpose than almost anything else.
We’re completely comfortable printing in PETG, ASA, or flexible TPU — and we’ll recommend them anytime your project actually needs that extra durability or weatherproofing.
But for indoor parts, décor, prototypes, and most organizers, PLA simply makes sense: it’s clean, strong, and sustainable.
If you care about the planet and want a perfect-looking print, we do too — and that’s why we usually start with PLA.
⏱️ A Few Notes on Time and Efficiency
Not every print costs the same — even in the same material.
The two biggest factors are complexity and how full the print bed is.
Here’s what that means in practice.
🌀 1. Intricate Designs Take Time
A small, simple part can print in under two hours — while a complex, detailed piece of the same weight can take twice as long.
That’s why a high-detail PLA print might cost more than a simple PETG one: you’re paying for machine time, not just plastic.
Example:
- Our Mini Gridfinity “pod” bin (100 g PLA) takes about 2 h → ≈ $3.00.
- The Gridfinity Desk Organizer XL (also 100 g PLA) takes 4 h+ → ≈ $6.00, purely because of taller walls and finer features.
Both use the same material — one just asks more of the printer.
📦 2. Batch Printing Saves You Money
Every print job has a setup and machine time cost. That’s not really relevant if you’re buying from the catalog. But…
If you order multiple small custom parts, it’s usually cheaper for us to fill the print bed and run them together.
That way, you pay for setup once instead of several times.
Examples:
- A single Cable Clip Pod in PETG: ≈ $4.50.
- A full bed of 12 clips: ≈ $20 total — about $1.70 each.
- One Weather Sensor Pod (PLA/ASA hybrid): ≈ $7.
- Four printed together: ≈ $16 total — roughly half the per-unit cost.
Batching parts doesn’t lower quality; it just uses printer time efficiently.
🎨 3. Mixing Your Own Orders Can Save You Too
If you’re ordering something from our product line and want to add your own STL — say a fidget spinner for your kid, or a small bracket you found online — you’ll often save money by printing them together.
For example:
If both are PLA in the same colour, we can run them on the same bed at once.
That means you only pay for one setup and one run cycle instead of two.
It’s not an upsell — it’s smart bundling.
We’re always happy to help you group smaller prints into a single run to make the most of your budget.
⚙️ Quick Recap
| What Affects Price | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Material | Different plastics cost different amounts and print at different speeds. |
| Machine Time | Printers bill by hours running, not just grams used. |
| Complexity | More details = longer runtime. |
| Batching / Bundling | Multiple parts in one job reduce setup cost. |
| Same Material + Colour | Lets us print catalog and custom pieces together for less. |
We’d rather explain how to save money than surprise you later — it’s part of how we keep printing fair, local, and transparent.
⚙️ Shop Base Pricing Model
💰 Material Rates (per gram)
These include the filament’s base cost, waste allowance, and my small margin.
| Filament | Base Cost/kg | Rate per gram | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | $25 | $0.05 / g | Sustainable baseline, least energy to print |
| PETG | $30 | $0.06 / g | Slightly higher feed rate + nozzle wear |
| ASA | $36 | $0.075 / g | Premium filament, enclosed prints, slower cooling |
| TPU | $38 | $0.085 / g | Flexible handling, longest print times |
⏱️ Machine Time Rate
| Printer | Rate per hour | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Standard PLA / PETG jobs | $3.00/hr | Covers power, wear, and operator time |
| ASA / high-temp runs | $3.50/hr | More chamber heating + venting time |
| TPU or long precision runs | $4.00/hr | Slower speeds + higher babysitting time |
Minimum charge: $6.00 (to cover setup and cleanup).
🧮 Example: What That Means in Practice
| Weight | Time | Material | Est. Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gridfinity Mini Pod | 100 g | 2 h | PLA | (100×$0.05)+(2×$3) → $11.00 |
| Cable Clip 10-pack | 120 g | 3 h | PETG | (120×$0.06)+(3×$3) → $13.20 |
| Weather Sensor Pod | 150 g | 4 h | ASA | (150×$0.075)+(4×$3.5) → $19.63 |
| Flexible Shock Mount | 90 g | 3.5 h | TPU | (90×$0.085)+(3.5×$4) → $15.65 |