3DPrinting

Re: Pets. I have three cats and I've been doing well with my Qidi X-Max 3, which has a fully enclosed filament path even in stock configuration. And mine still does now in its current getup, where I feed it directly from my filament dryer.

The PLA I currently use near-exclusively is Elegoo Rapid PLA+ which at least when you buy it in the bulk 4 packs is $12.99 per 1kg spool. I've occasionally used other off brand sub-$15 PLA filaments and not gotten screwed. Cheap bullshit filament can be OK if you are willing to commit to thoroughly drying it out before use and can have its uses if you need one decorative thing in a particular weird color and don't feel like shelling out for an oddball. For me, the Elegoo stuff is as cheap enough and is a known good quantity so I don't see much reason to mess with success unless I have to.

You're right about TPU being a specialty material, but for the times I have needed it, it has definitely come in clutch. Its unique mechanical properties have allowed me to make various weird gaskets (most recent being a replacement air intake gasket for an old motorcycle), adapter boots, bumpers, buffers, and most recently this thing. TPU exhibits incredible layer adhesion -- you can make parts out of it that are basically completely isotropic, even with a bog standard filament machine -- which turn out to be damn near indestructible provided you don't need them to tolerate high heat or be rigid in any way whatsoever. It's a rather silly choice to use for just making static objects, though. For printing your low poly Pikachus and Deadpool busts and Yoda bobbleheads or whatever the hell, PLA is much easier to use.

I think a lot of people get caught up in the trap of thinking of your material choices being a "ranking," with the cheaper and easier to print polymers being lower on the totem pole and assuming that the more expensive and harder to print ones are "better." This is not necessarily the case. Every material choice (excepting various strange exotic materials some of which have no realistic purpose other than showing off) has its advantages and disadvantages that may be a consideration depending on your application. Boring old cheap PLA, for instance, is actually the most rigid of the commonly available materials that are possible for ordinary people to print without non-industrial printers. It also confers the second best layer adhesion strength out of the rigid polymers in that same category (behind TPU which is not rigid, and arguably polycarbonate which is a pain in the ass to print and presents it own other problems). Really, the only failings PLA has is a very low temperature resistance and susceptibility to cold creep.