Four new PLA filaments from Geeetech, just in time for Christmas 2024: two matte greens, a "red" carbon-fibre that's anything but plain red, and a Sparkly Blue that turned my ornaments into something you'd buy in a shop.
Packaging done right
All four spools were wound very efficiently, and each box has an extra sealed plastic bag inside. Geeetech pays attention to detail. I especially like the cardboard spools: I love knowing exactly how to recycle a spool when it's finished. The unboxing experience was top notch.
Two greens: Matte Green and Matcha Green carbon fibre
Both are matte and one is just slightly darker. Honestly, they're so similar once printed that, had I known, I'd have ordered a different colour. My kids were asking for Christmas decorations, so the first print was a Christmas tree in Matcha Green carbon fibre, with feet in the Brick Red. Then came a grenade-shaped print, which printed fantastically, and my usual filament astronaut, my colour reference.
The key with these carbon-fibre PLAs is getting the temperature exactly right. On my fast Bambu Lab it needed a higher temperature, but on the much slower Artillery X1 you should go lower. Otherwise you get what I call the "hair effect": it looks like stringing but it isn't. These are light, dry bits of filament that didn't fully melt and stick to the surface. A quick brush removes them and the surface underneath is perfect. A key-holder vase by my friend Ivan came out hairy because I had the temperature too high, but the colour effect was really nice.
Brick Red carbon fibre
They call it red, but printed it's somewhere between brown, red and purple, a colour we'd call "vinaccia" in Italy. I love it. A vase-mode pen holder (0.8 mm extrusion) looks great. An Ultimaker phone and earphone stand came out smooth with no hair at all, because the temperature was spot on. An intricate articulated model with lots of bridges printed well, though it needed a brush.
Sparkly Blue
When I unboxed it in poor light I didn't realise how sparkly it was. In the morning sun by the window, it was something else. A spiral tree ornament, a door-corner decoration with a "Merry Christmas" sign (no stringing, no issues) and a Christmas ball on my Bambu Lab X1 Carbon all came out great. I picked the wrong supports for the ball, but it's so shiny it looks like a boxed ornament from a shop. Finally, I printed a vase I bought years ago from an artist, which I use to push printers and filaments to the limit in vase mode. In Sparkly Blue it looks both Christmassy and like a design piece.