by Properties
- Manufacturer: Hello3D
- Color: Firefly
- Printability: Easy, if you have a hardened 0.5mm Nozzle
- Enclosure: no
Summary
Hello3D Firefly PLA is a glow in the dark filament that contains large glow particles. This is an abrasive filament, requiring a hardened nozzle of at least 0.5mm or larger. We already tried printing it with a 0.4mm nozzle for you, and proved that it will clog! So heed the warning and do use the correct size nozzle. For this review, we used a 0.6mm E3D Nozzle X, that was part of a Makerbox group buy.
In the video we compare several different glow in the dark filaments. The first was 3D Solutech glow, which we purchased back in 2019. The 3D Solutech was our first glow filament. It produces models that glow very well, better than many competing filaments. The second sample is KVP Glow Green, which came with a 2019 Makerbox set. The KVP also glows pretty well, about as well as the 3D Solutech. An advantage of the KVP is that it also has a green color during the daytime, which is more interesting than the clear/cloudy-white of typical glow filaments.
Unfortunately, we didn’t feel the glow of the Hello3D Firefly PLA was up to par with the 3D Solutech glow or the KVP. The Hello3D filament was dimmer right from the onset, and within a few minutes had dimmed to the point we could not easily see it, in a completely dark closet. The primary feature of a glow filament is that it … glows … and the Firefly unfortunately did not meet our expectations. It did have one redeeming value, which is that it did in fact have a glittery-glow appearance. But as nice as that is, it’s very hard to see.
We printed three models that are covered in the above video, Yet Another Filament Sample Keycard Edition, Marlin by Alsamen, a 60% SirLayersalot, and an XYZ calibration cube.
Close-Ups
