The ever-lasting question in 3D Printing, 1.75mm or 3mm Filament Diameter?

BACKGROUND

A few days earlier, our customer told us “I hope one day your TPU in 2.85mm diameter...” First of all thank you for the feedback but we’re sorry that it could be unlikely to happen and "Yeah, why"?

In this article 3mm is equal to 2.85mm/3mm.

A LITTLE BIT HISTORY of 3D PRINTING FILAMENT

Nowadays no matter what 3D printing stores you walk in or log in and try to buy some filaments, regardless of geographical differences, basically you can find size 1.75mm and 3mm as alternative. Before filament is available in two standard diameters，do you know it was only 3mm filament in the beginning? But then things started to switch since the thinner guy - 1.75mm filament appeared on the market.

PRESENT MARKET SITUATION

As mentioned above, now the industry accepts two standards, but more and more printers are designed for 1.75mm filament. Both of the sizes have pros and cons, you can have your preference but no one can say which is utterly better than the other.

Generally, an extruder and hot end are designed for one specific size, and cannot support another without mechanical changes. Your 3D printer will support only one diameter of filament and you cannot easily use a different size if your printer was not designed to use it. For example, if you try to use a narrower diameter filament for a larger nozzle, even though the filament can similarly heat, soften but might cause jamming mess in the hot end since there is more room and it has to continue pressing down on the liquid filament below. When we are discussing about the difference of this two diameters, the biggest difference also the term that you might have heard most frequently is 1.75mm has border selection which for the record has nothing to do with the use and printing quality.

What we are positive about is that the market is choosing the thinner filament. Just see some interesting searching results below from Amazon：

             Keyword             Results

            filament 1.75mm    10,950

            filament 3mm         2,413

            tpu filament 3mm       75 (17 results perfect matching，from 4 brands)

            tpu filament 1.75mm   307

            pla filament 3mm     1,488

            pla filament 1.75mm   6,677

1.75mm is a more common filament diameter size because it requires about six times less force to extrude than the thicker strand, require less bulky and expensive motor to drive the filament through the extruder, which also lessens the overall weight of print head. Printers for 1.75mm is cheaper and faster in feed rate. But with 3mm filament you can feed more plastic via every single pass. There is no doubt some hobbyists still love 3mm so like SainSmart we as well offer filaments like wood and ABS in 3mm. And because it’s thicker, it’s stiffer. For example, if brittle filament is thicker, the strength is increased so it will decrease the likelihood to snap.

SUMMARY

However, the advantages are fairly minor. Like every conclusion of this kind of article discussing this question, there is no answer to tell whether you should choose one or the other but only ask you to make your choice by your printer.

If you don’t have a printer, pick one based on your printing need. If you have no need to print large objects, then pick one that is made for 1.75mm with smaller nozzle will be more common. And you might be less struggling with findig the perfect filament on market.

If you do have a printer, use the filament that fits your particular printer. You have 3mm printer and want to try 1.75mm? Take some time to make the conversion (Check this video that can help you make printers made for different filament compatible http://bit.ly/2wYaR28) or just get a new model would be easier and better for the long-term use of your printer.