eSun ePLA-LW Lightweight Filament – 1.75mm 1kg

Please Note: eSun has recently changed their filament spool material. You may receive a cardboard spool, instead of the plastic spools depicted above. This move means a more environmentally friendly design to their 3D filament spools which comfortably sit on your 3D printer's standard spool holder for smooth filament feeding.

Specialized and exotic PLA filaments are always fun to experiment with and stretch the limits of what your 3D Printer can achieve. We’ve truly enjoyed the wacky and impressive filament types that have come from eSun, who leads the way in developing high-quality filaments for 3D Printing Hobbyists and professional fields alike. eSun ePLA-LW Lightweight Filament is one of the more fascinating in how it utilizes active foaming technology. By adjusting your temperatures to heat up this polymer higher than 210°C, you’ll watch the filament foam as you print! Although this may not result in the cleanest prints with high chances of stringing, the focus here is how incredibly lightweight your models will be, while maintaining stable adhesion and decent strength. 

This eSun ePLA-LW Filament may arrive in the standard 1.75mm diameter and 1kg Spool we expect. However, because of its unique foaming capabilities, 1 roll of ePLA-LW filament will last twice as long as ordinary PLA when printing the same volume, because the 220% foaming ratio means only half as much ePLA-LW filament is needed for the same print. This is absolutely perfect for Cosplay enthusiasts, who’s elaborate, and more bulky costumes have known to eat precious supplies of filament for breakfast and 2nd breakfast for good measure. eSun ePLA-LW Filament has an impressive low density at up to 0.54 g/cm3, making the weight difference between ePLA-LW and other filaments very significant. When building things like model aeroplanes and drones, every gram of weight tips your beautiful model closer towards unflyable. We’d still recommend the tried and true PLA+ filament for crucial parts like the frame which needs to remain sturdy, since ePLA-LW tends to have a less hard surface and be more flexible – something you wouldn’t want the arm holding the blades of your helicopter to do. However, casings for wiring or the larger bodies of aeroplane models need to be as light as possible and are perfect components to print in eSun ePLA-LW Filament to ensure a smooth lighter wing load. There are any number of other exciting applications we haven’t mentioned which you can experiment with this ePLA-LW Filament. 

Colour options are great fun to choose from for your various filament stores. Unfortunately, ePLA-LW Filament is still relatively new from eSun and only available in one natural white colour that looks cream-like and very reminiscent of the foam powers it possesses. If your crafty fingers are itching, this is not a problem for you in the slightest since the natural white colouring of ePLA-LW has particularly very strong paint adhesion. You may splash paint over your glorious prints in any patterns you imagine as you craft the lightweight DIY masterpiece we cannot wait to see! 

Additional Resources for Printing ESUN EPLA-LW Lightweight Filament: 

Unlike the beginner friendly standard PLA, eSun ePLA-LW Filament is a bit trickier to print. If you use the same settings you would for usual PLA prints, you will get a model but it won’t have any of the lightness that eSun has promised for this interesting filament. The ability to tap into the real advantages of ePLA-LW comes by knowing how to manipulate the printing temperatures and extrusion rate of your nozzle to get the foaming ratio that’s just right for you. Some trial and error are only expected when working with a new interesting type of filament, but we hope to make the process easier by offering these resources to get you started printing eSun ePLA-LW Filament perfectly: 

To achieve the density we’re looking for, we found this table from eSun themselves very useful. Control the temperature and extrusion rates of your printer to increase and decrease the foaming ratio. The greater heat that is applied increases the foaming ratio which in turn gives you lighter prints. 

This handy video from True Elite Geek in the DIY community lays out how you would use the recommended printer settings and the above table to quickly set up your slicer for printing eSun ePLA-LW Filament: