Anyone tried Coex?

[BenTheRighteous]

Edit for Googlers
If you're reading this thread, please read it all.
I was very unlucky in that the first spool I received from Coex was dirty and didn't print well.
However, they displayed great customer service and made the situation right immediately. I think my dirty spool was an isolated accident.

Bottom line is that they have a good product and I will be buying from them again.

Original post below...




http://coex3d.com/about/

Caught my eye because they're made in Wisconsin. Most of their spools are $23 too, so that's not too shabby! I'm going to pick up some and try it out, just wondering if anyone else has experience with them.

[KAS]

lol, I'm just being an ass. Sometimes marketing is just that, marketing.

--- "Tired of inconsistent colors? – Coex uses the most accurate color blending and mixing methods to ensure consistent color and filament quality."

Then the first image your eye catches of a spool being wound. I'm sure it's the lighting or glare etc, just funny.

[img]http://coex3d.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... inding.png[/img]

[Jimustanguitar]

I'll have to give it a try. Has anybody else used it before?

I hate paying more than $30ish for a non-specialty plastic (it's only $1/lb of material), but I also hate buying filament from 2nd and 3rd world countries because of their labor standards... An affordable filament manufacturer here in the US would be a win!

[BenTheRighteous]

Har har Kas...

The other thing that really caught my eye was this:

Coex will also produce custom filament blends and colors as special order to both Makers and distributors.

(Emphasis mine)

I wonder what the minimum order is for a custom color? Might be something good to keep in mind!

[KAS]

Video from their YT channel. Now I feel obligated to buy a couple spools.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NAEOMCQieE[/youtube]

[Jimustanguitar]

Video from their YT channel. Now I feel obligated to buy a couple spools.

Because of their cable management prowess?

[KAS]

[jdurand]

I notice their N-PLA reduces the terrible warping associated with PLA. Huh?

As for product photos, I just watched a GE video about servicing my dish washer and the fist thing they show is turning off the water...while turning the valve several turns counter clockwise.

When I worked in semiconductor fabrication, the higher ups sent down a request for some bad wafers and some unlidded chips. Grabbed a handful of rejects from the testing line and sent them off. They appeared in the paperwork announcing our big merger showing our quality...wafers with all the black dots on the bad die (ink from the testing machine) and the parts had been handled so much all the bond wires were torn and crushed. The photographer got good close up photos too!

[BenTheRighteous]

I'm not sure what you're getting at, jd...!

When I was a 3d printing n00b (well, let's say raw n00b, rather than the seasoned n00b I am now...) and struggling with my first prints, I was trying to print PLA on clean glass and probably with a poorly-calibrated z height. That wasn't a great recipe for sticking and yep, would warp before long. Now I've ironed out most of the kinks, but I imagine there are other makers out there with a plug-and-play printer without a heated bed, and who don't like to tinker and just want a filament that works. I'm sure this N-PLA+ stuff appeals to someone, even if it's not anyone here...

Otherwise, yeah they cranked the marketing-speak dial up to 11 on their webpage, but at the end of the day it boils down to A.) made in the US and B.) is cheap, so of course I'm going to try it! Fingers crossed it's worth getting more when the first batch runs out!

[Cleveralias]

I bought a couple spools from them last year. I tried their iridescent purple PLA and another polymer that I can't quite recall at the moment and appears to be no longer offered (PET based IIRC). The iridescent purple is very cool and produced great results for me. I still have a bit left and plan to reorder once the spool is finished.

I was always curious about their MG94 ABS but never did try it.

[Neptune]

The price is a nice tease until you add shipping, 2 spools abs 46.00(great!), shipping to me 18.95(Holy Wallet Vacuums Batman!), final price 32.00 a spool...cheaper to buy many other places for good quality made in the USA filament.

[Jimustanguitar]

cheaper to buy many other places for good quality made in the USA filament.

Which places? I love the idea of not buying Chinese filament!

[mvansomeren]

cheaper to buy many other places for good quality made in the USA filament.

Which places? I love the idea of not buying Chinese filament!

makergeeks.com for one. I just bought two spools of ABS for ~$55 and free shipping. USA made.

[Neptune]

zenikinetic.com I haven't bought anything from them yet, but I'm going to....They too take BitCoin!

[BenTheRighteous]

Yeah the shipping for Coex WAS kind of expensive, but I figure if the filament is quality then it's worth it. Maybe you didn't notice, but additional spools only increase the shipping charge by a dollar or two per spool so if you buy a bunch then it's not so bad.

My spools arrived today so I hope to print some soon and post my thoughts.

[BenTheRighteous]

I checked out zenikinetic.com and they do have some nice colors available, but they seem to be in the same shipping bucket - pretty steep for just one spool but additional spools only add a few dollars each. I do like that they take bitcoin...

I opened up a spool of ABS from Coex and it's printing now. My first impressions are that the filament feels nice and smoooooth and has a nice gloss to it - I want to like it right away. I measured it 6 times and the diameter was between 1.74 and 1.78. Not the tightest tolerance, but certainly acceptable.

The one downside is that the filament is dirty. It did come in two(!) vacuum-sealed bags along with desiccant, but even just loading the filament into my printer I wound up with around 5 specks of grime on my finger. I probably ought to have set up some kind of filament sponge/filter thingy to wipe the filament prior to entering the extruder, but I wasn't that patient.

EDIT - I went to try and take a picture but my camera won't focus enough to see it. I guess the grime isn't terribly excessive, but I bought a bright color so it really stands out. I'd say just rotating the spool in my hands and giving it a quick eyeball, I can probably find 8 or 9 tiny little spots, some of which seem to be a couple layers deep in the spool. Otherwise, except for those spots the filament is clean. It's not like it was sitting in a pile of dust or someone dropped it in mud before they bagged it. (And when I pointed out the double-bagging thing earlier, my point was that it wasn't the shipper's fault.)

[BenTheRighteous]

Ok well I have some bad news. After my first print finished, I saw streaks of brown in the layers at various heights in the print. (For reference, I bought the "Fluorescent Magenta" ABS, which is pretty much pink.) My first thought was "hmm, well I printed at 245c, maybe that's just on the high border and maybe I'm burning the filament in the slower parts of the print" so I printed a second at 230c. Got the exact same thing. So now I'm wondering if the grime that came on the filament is being melted in the hotend along with the filament and becoming an ugly brown additive colorant.

I can probably salvage the spool using one of those sponge holder thingies I mentioned earlier but there is no reason I should have to deal with this. Sadly at this point I can't really recommend this stuff. If I open one of the other spools and it's clean then I'll post back here and update, but as they say "you don't get a second chance to make a first impression."

[Jimustanguitar]

You might want to contact them and tell them about it. Supposedly they use "the most accurate color blending and mixing methods to ensure consistent color and filament quality", so I'd hope they'll want to make it right with you.

[KAS]

[BenTheRighteous]

Got something you want to share with the rest of the class, Kas?

Anyway here's the email I sent to Coex. My camera was feeling more cooperative tonight so I was able to get some photos, but I'm having a hard time uploading them here. I'll try again later, but for now, here's the text:

Hey guys - I received the filament the other day. I've only opened the Magenta ABS so far, but I have to say, I'm disappointed!

Since it's a "made in the US" product I really want to like it, but it came flecked with grime. I've attached some photos to this email. The grime isn't excessive, but it's enough to make its way into the hotend and discolor the print. It's especially disheartening because one of the very first things on your About page is boasting about uniform color: "Tired of inconsistent colors? – Coex uses the most accurate color blending and mixing methods to ensure consistent color and filament quality."

I really want to give the benefit of the doubt, so was this an isolated incident? What happened here?

[KAS]

Nah, just a bottle of wine and Jimustanguitar's quote of what I quoted at the top of the page next to a spool of perfect blue filament.

I cant picture what in the process would cause it.

[BenTheRighteous]

Well I got a response already! Not sure if Chris from Coex was working late or if it's the east vs. west time difference, but looks like we're going to take another whack at this. Fingers crossed the new spool is a good one!

Also I want to point out that I ordered 2 other spools from these guys (both PLA - the dirty Magenta is ABS) and those were pretty clean. Haven't printed with them yet but I took a really close look and didn't find any grime spots, so I'm really hoping this is an isolated issue.

Ben-

We will get you a new spool out tomorrow AM. This must have been some carbons in the filament. Can you tell me if you can rub the “grime” off the surface or if it is embedded.

I really apologize we have shipped 1000s of spool and had 2 returns so it is unusual but we will get it fixed for you

Chris
Coex3D

[Neptune]

Ben, on the picture posting issue...I too had issues, found out that file "size does matter". Get you photos down under a meg and I know that works and if you didn't know where to upload the photos the tab down in the lower left corner for "Upload Attachments" is where you upload your pictures.

Good Luck & I want to see this grimy stuff!

[BenTheRighteous]

Looks like you were right Neptune, I resized the images and they uploaded fine this time around.

I heard back from Chris again and he thinks some kind of tape or grease found its way onto an idler bearing where it didn't belong, and is sending out a replacement spool today.

[jdurand]

I run every spool through a sponge now. I just poke a hole through a fresh piece for every reel. I get an amazing amount of ...err... stuff off brand new spools fresh out of the vacuum bag.