Written by James Hill
Quick answer: Before you order, check the stated diameter tolerance, how the roll is sealed, whether the spool fits your printer or AMS, and whether a real data sheet exists. Compare cost per print rather than price per kilogram, and test a single roll before you buy in bulk.
The cheapest roll in the cart is not always the cheapest way to print. A roll that tangles halfway through a 12-hour job, or arrives damp, costs more than it saved. Most of what separates a reliable roll from a frustrating one can be checked before you pay, and this guide shows where to find each detail on our product pages.
The before-you-order checklist
Run through this table for any filament you are considering. Each row is explained below.
| Check | What good looks like | Where to find it on OzFDM pages |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter tolerance | A stated figure such as ±0.02 mm or ±0.05 mm, not just "high precision" | Product Specifications tab |
| Packaging and drying | Vacuum sealed with desiccant, plus a drying temperature and time | Product Specifications tab |
| Spool dimensions | Outer diameter, width, hub diameter and empty spool weight all listed | Product Specifications tab |
| AMS suitability | A clear note on AMS use, especially for flexible or abrasive materials | AMS section of the product page |
| Colour | Colour shown on real prints, with HEX codes treated as a guide | Colour section of the product page |
| Data sheet | Mechanical and thermal properties, each with a test standard | PDF data sheet and the property tabs |
| Real cost | Cost per print, including the prints that fail | Your slicer's filament estimate |
| Stock and delivery | Stock held in Australia and a clear dispatch location | The cart shows which warehouse ships each item |
| Bulk pricing | Discounts that apply without codes, or trade terms for businesses | Volume pricing collection and trade account page |
Diameter tolerance and roundness
Your slicer assumes every millimetre of filament has the same cross-section, almost always 1.75 mm, and calculates extrusion from that number. When the real diameter drifts, the plastic pushed through the nozzle drifts with it. Volume follows the square of the diameter, so small changes add up: filament at 1.80 mm carries about 6% more plastic than 1.75 mm, and filament at 1.70 mm about 6% less. You see it as uneven walls, rough top surfaces and parts slightly over or under size.
What a useful tolerance looks like
Look for a number, not an adjective. A tolerance of ±0.02 mm keeps volume within about 2% of nominal, while ±0.05 mm allows about 6% either way. The tolerances on our own specification tables range from ±0.02 mm to ±0.05 mm depending on the material, with most fibre-filled and engineering grades at the wider end.
Roundness matters too
Filament can also be slightly oval and still pass a single measurement. With digital calipers, measure at a few points along the first metre or two, rotating the filament 90 degrees at each point. Readings that stay close in both directions mean the strand is round. If they differ by more than the listed tolerance, run a flow rate calibration before you start anything long.
Moisture and packaging
Filaments absorb moisture from the air at very different rates. The 24-hour moisture absorption figures in our specification tables show the spread: under 0.3% for PLA+, 1.6–1.9% for PA6 nylon and 10–15% for PVA. Damp filament tends to pop or hiss at the nozzle, string more, and print with rough surfaces and weaker layers. No slicer setting fixes that. The roll needs drying.
- Sealing: the roll should arrive vacuum sealed with a desiccant pack, and the listing should say so. Many of our Product Specifications tabs state it.
- Drying guidance: a good listing gives a drying temperature and time for that material. Ours range from 40–45°C for 4–6 hours for PLA+ to 120°C for at least 8 hours for PPA-CF and PPS-CF.
Once opened, a roll should go back into an airtight bag or container with fresh desiccant. Our guide to storing and drying filament in Australia covers vacuum bags, desiccant and hygrometers.
Spool type and AMS fit
A roll that prints well on an open holder can still cause trouble in an automatic material system if the spool is the wrong size or too flimsy. Before you order, compare the spool dimensions on the product page with the limits in your printer or AMS documentation. Look for:
- Outer diameter and width, which decide whether the spool fits the bay, holder or dry box.
- Hub (inner) diameter, which must suit your spindle or rollers.
- Empty spool weight, which lets you weigh a part-used roll to see how much filament is left.
Most of our 1 kg rolls list a 200 mm outer diameter, 65 mm width, 52 mm hub and 150 g empty spool. Some lines differ: the 0.5 kg PVA roll comes on a smaller spool, and the 2.5 kg PETG spool is too large for the standard AMS and for the AMS 2 Pro. Spool build varies too. Our PLA Basic comes on a thinner standard spool, while PLA+ uses thicker 2.5 mm walls that are gentler on multi-material feeders.
Material matters as much as the spool. Flexible TPU 95A and abrasive PA6-CF, for example, are best fed directly to the printer rather than through an AMS, and our product pages note this where it applies. For presets and setup, see our guide to using OzFDM filament in the Bambu AMS.
Colour consistency between batches
Filament is made in batches, and the shade can shift slightly from one batch to the next. For a single print that rarely matters. For a multi-part build, a replacement part or a product you sell, it can.
- Buy all the rolls a large project needs in one order rather than topping up halfway through.
- Print a small swatch from a new roll and compare it with existing parts under the same light before you start a big job.
- Treat on-screen colours and HEX codes as a guide. Many of the HEX codes on our product pages come from a colour sensor, but slight variation between batches is still normal.
Data sheets: what to read
A data sheet shows a filament has been measured, not just named. It should give temperatures, drying guidance and density, and a useful one adds mechanical and thermal properties with a test standard beside each number.
- Heat deflection temperature (HDT) depends on the load used. Our pages report HDT at 0.455 MPa (66 psi) under ISO 75. Figures measured at 1.8 MPa are lower for the same material, so only compare values taken at the same load.
- Tensile strength should name a standard such as ISO 527, or you cannot compare it fairly with another filament.
- Print direction changes the result. Our High Speed PLA specifications list 45–49 MPa tensile strength in the X-Y direction and 35–40 MPa in X-Z, because printed parts are weaker across their layers.
Most OzFDM filament pages carry a downloadable PDF technical data sheet as well as specification tabs. A few of our newest lines are still having full specifications compiled, and their pages say so. To compare heat resistance across the range, use our heat deflection temperature chart.
Price per kilogram vs price per print
Price per kilogram is easy to compare, but you are paying for finished parts.
Density changes how far a kilogram goes
A kilogram of a less dense material is a longer strand. Using the densities in our specification tables, a 1 kg roll of 1.75 mm PLA+ (about 1.25 g/cm³) holds roughly 330 m of filament, while 1 kg of ABS Basic (about 1.05 g/cm³) holds roughly 395 m. That is about 20% more length for the same weight, so a part that takes 100 g of PLA+ needs only about 84 g of ABS. Set the density correctly in your slicer profile and its estimate accounts for this.
Failed prints are part of the price
Material cost per part is the part weight in grams, multiplied by the price per kilogram, divided by 1,000. Then look at what a failure costs. As a simple example, say Roll A costs $20 and Roll B costs $30. A 200 g bracket uses $4.00 of Roll A or $6.00 of Roll B, a $2.00 saving. If one print on Roll A fails at 80% complete, it wastes 160 g, or $3.20 of filament, before you count machine time, power and your own time. One failure wipes out the saving on that part and more.
Cheaper filament is not the wrong choice, but the saving only holds if the roll prints reliably on your machine.
Local stock and delivery
Stock that is already in Australia avoids international shipping, and a roll that arrives damaged is simpler to sort out with a local seller.
OzFDM ships from two warehouses. Our Melbourne warehouse ships to VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, ACT and NT. Our Perth warehouse at Bibra Lake ships to WA and also serves counter trade. The cart shows which warehouse each item ships from, and the free shipping threshold is $299. If you are browsing with the filament finder, its in-stock filter hides anything not currently available.
Volume pricing and trade accounts
Volume pricing
Volume pricing on filament applies automatically at checkout, with no code needed:
- 3 or more rolls, in any mix: 5% off
- 6 or more rolls, in any mix: 10% off
- 12 or more rolls, in any mix: 15% off
- A complete carton of 12 rolls of the same variant: 20% off, with any remainder on that line getting the mixed tier
Browse eligible rolls in the filament volume pricing collection. Volume pricing is not combined with trade pricing.
Trade accounts
Businesses such as print farms, resellers, schools and manufacturers can apply for a trade account. Approved accounts can:
- check out on invoice or purchase order with Net 30 terms
- get 20% off 360 or more rolls of a single SKU (1 kg filament, excluding sample packs and bundles)
- request upcoming restocks through the trade portal
How to test a new filament
Before you commit to a carton, put one roll through this routine.
- Inspect and measure it. Check the seal and desiccant, then check diameter and roundness with calipers.
- Start from the data sheet. Load a profile for the material and set temperatures inside the listed range.
- Print a temperature tower. Our guide to dialling in your temperature settings explains how to read one.
- Calibrate flow and retraction. Follow the flow rate calibration steps, then tune retraction settings if the material strings.
- Print a real part. Choose something with the features you need, such as bridges, thin walls or a snap fit, and check fit and strength.
- Save the profile. Name it after the product and colour so the next roll starts from settings that work.
If you are setting up a new printer at the same time, work through calibrating a new printer from scratch first, so you are not tuning the filament around a machine problem.
When premium filament is worth it
Paying more makes sense when a failure is expensive, or when you need properties you can rely on:
- Long prints, where a jam or tangle late in the job wastes hours.
- Parts for customers or for sale, where colour consistency and surface finish matter.
- Multi-material jobs in an AMS, where a sturdy spool and consistent diameter keep feeding reliable.
- Functional and engineering parts that need documented strength or heat resistance.
Budget rolls make sense for calibration pieces, fit tests, draft prototypes and learning a new printer. If you are weighing up the step from standard PLA, What is PLA+? Is It Worth the Extra Cost? goes through the trade-offs.
Shop the materials in this guide
- 1.75 mm PLA Basic Filament - 1 KG: an everyday PLA for calibration, prototypes and test prints.
- 1.75 mm PLA+ Filament - 1 KG: toughened PLA on a thicker-walled 200 mm spool for AMS use.
- Filament Storage Starter Kit: vacuum bags, a hand pump, humidity indicator cards and desiccant for opened rolls.
- Filament (Volume Pricing): rolls that qualify for automatic volume discounts.
Frequently asked questions
What diameter tolerance should I look for?
Look for a stated figure rather than a claim of precision. In our own range, most PLA, PETG and ABS lines list ±0.02 mm or ±0.03 mm, and most fibre-filled and engineering grades list ±0.05 mm. Whatever the figure, calibrate flow for each new material.
How do I know if a spool will fit my AMS?
Find the outer diameter, width and hub diameter in the product specifications and compare them with your AMS documentation. Also read the product page's AMS notes, because flexible and some abrasive filaments are better fed directly to the printer.
Does volume pricing work with a trade account?
No. Volume pricing is not combined with trade pricing. Volume pricing applies automatically to eligible rolls, while approved trade accounts get 20% off 360 or more rolls of a single SKU.
