Giantarm gradient PLA is the latest filament to come into my possession for testing. Those among you who have read my other reviews will already know, I don’t usually go in for the “Pretty” Filaments. I liked the look of this from the outset, so I had high hopes, to begin with.
Giantarm rightly does not call this filament rainbow, and they call it Gradient. This is a better description of the colour change. Now I need to point out from that start that despite the apparent similarities the Giantarm gradient PLA isn’t like rainbow filaments. The colour change is more subtle and of longer duration. All the better for longer prints, however, perhaps not so good for short ones. We shall see!
Packing is generally as you have come to expect from most filament companies. A nondescript brown cardboard box with the obligatory vac sealed spool inside complete with a desiccant pack. In other words, I wish the box was more indicative of the contents. One of the first things I did like with the Giantarm gradient PLA was the transparent spool. This tiny detail makes it easy to see what colour was coming up and how much remained.
Red and green and yellow and blue I can sing a rainbow…
The colour range of the Giantarm gradient PLA on this spool is more pastel in the shade than a lot of rainbow filaments. It is more subtle and less in your face, and I like it.
If I had a criticism, it would be the duration of each colour run.
I printed and standard calibration cube and benchy. Both came out of the first colour. However, it’s worth noting that for small prints, this filament is not ideal if you want to show off the colour change
Something Giantarm may wish to consider is a range of smaller capacity spools with shorter colour graduations, say 200 or 500 Grams. Giantarm rightly does not call this filament rainbow. They call it Gradient, which is a better description of the colour change.
Bigger is Better!
Getting a bit bolder I scaled up the Benchy to 200% with 20% infill and set the printer off. The print was completed 36 hours later! I am delighted with the results — no stringing, excellent layer adhesion and high colour flow from one shade to the other. I found I needed to print with the bed at 50C as opposed to my usual 55C to avoid warping of the lower layers.
Roses are errr – what colour?
I wanted to try a multi-part print with the Giantarm gradient PLA. Therefore, I chose these Roses from the 3dprinted superstore on Thingiverse,
Printing the head and stems at the same time using my CR10S-PRO, I was able to get opposing graduation of the colours. As a result, a pretty neat way to show off the colour change. I did have minor issues, however. One of the roses lifted and my print head caught the edge of one of the petals and broke it free.
I managed to finish the rest of the print successfully. As a result, I can only put it down to me not cleaning the bed well enough. This is nothing to do with the filaments adhesion properties, which are very good on my glass surface. Overall I would have to say I like this filament. It printed well and gave a subtle effect. Also, over a sizeable dense print, I can imagine you would see a very pleasing change in the colour saturation.
You can buy this great filament from Amazon Uk Here
Are you enjoying this article? Why not check out this one Geeetechs Glow in the dark pla or Filamentives Cosmic blue with metallic flakes!
