From the 43 filament products in our database, each read from the maker’s data sheet or product page and checked on 20 September 2026.
A material name on a spool tells you less than you think. For several common materials, two reputable makers publish ranges that do not overlap at all, so the profile that worked for one brand sits entirely outside what the next brand recommends. The worst cases are carbon-fiber nylon bed temperature, PVA nozzle temperature and ABS heat resistance.
This is why our temperature table shows the brand row first and a generic range second, and why we never average. An average of two ranges that do not meet is a setting nobody recommends.
Carbon-fiber nylon: bed ranges 30 degrees apart
Three makers, two camps on bed temperature for carbon-fiber nylon.
| Product | Nozzle | Bed | Drying | Max speed | Density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu PAHT-CF | 260 to 290 °C | 80 to 100 °C | 80 °C, 8 to 12 h | 100 mm/s | 1.06 g/cm³ |
| Bambu PA6-CF | 260 to 290 °C | 80 to 100 °C | 80 °C, 8 to 12 h | 100 mm/s | 1.09 g/cm³ |
| Polymaker PolyMide PA6-CF | 280 to 300 °C | 25 to 50 °C | 100 °C, 8 h | 60 mm/s | not stated |
| ColorFabb PA-CF Low Warp | 260 to 280 °C | 40 to 50 °C | not stated | 40 mm/s | 1.40 g/cm³ |
Bambu’s lowest bed figure is 30 °C above Polymaker’s and ColorFabb’s highest. ColorFabb goes further and says a cold bed is viable for low-infill prints. These are different formulations sold under one shelf label: a high-temperature nylon, a PA6, and a proprietary low-warp blend. The name “PA-CF” covers all three.
The nozzle ranges barely meet either. Polymaker and ColorFabb share exactly one temperature, 280 °C. A printer with a 290 °C hotend limit covers Bambu fully and only the lower half of Polymaker’s range.
Two of these data sheets (Bambu PAHT-CF and Polymaker PA6-CF) were read from distributor-hosted copies of the maker’s PDF, which we flag in the database.
PVA: three nozzle ranges, two of which never meet
| Product | Nozzle | Drying |
|---|---|---|
| eSUN PVA | 180 to 230 °C | 45 °C, more than 10 h |
| Polymaker PolyDissolve S1 | 215 to 225 °C | 80 °C, 12 h |
| Bambu PVA printing guide | 240 to 250 °C | 70 °C, 4 to 6 h on the heatbed |
Bambu’s guide starts 10 °C above where eSUN’s range ends and 15 °C above Polymaker’s. Run eSUN’s PVA at Bambu’s temperature and you are 10 to 20 °C past anything eSUN publishes. The drying figures disagree just as much, with a 35 °C spread between the coolest and the hottest.
Polymaker also publishes a flow ceiling for S1 of 8 mm³/s. With a 0.2 mm layer and a 0.42 mm line that is 8 / (0.2 x 0.42) = 95 mm/s, so support interfaces in PVA will be slow whatever the rest of the print does. You can check other combinations in the volumetric flow calculator.
ABS: “heat resistant” spans 30 degrees
Heat deflection temperature only compares at the same test load, so here are the makers that state it, at 0.45 MPa:
- Bambu ABS data sheet: 87 °C (84 °C at 1.8 MPa)
- Polymaker PolyLite ABS data sheet: 100 °C (98 °C at 1.8 MPa)
- Polymaker ABS Max product page: 118.1 °C (113.1 °C at 1.8 MPa)
That is 31 °C between two products both sold as ABS. eSUN’s ABS+ page lists 73 °C and the Sunlu filament parameter sheet we found lists 75 °C, but neither states a load, so they cannot be ranked against the others. If you chose ABS for an under-hood or near-heater part, the grade matters more than the material name. Our temperature table keeps the load next to every HDT figure for this reason.
ABS nozzle ranges split too. Hatchbox’s ABS page publishes 210 to 240 °C. Overture’s ABS listing publishes 245 to 265 °C and Sunlu 250 to 260 °C. There is no temperature that sits inside both Hatchbox’s range and Overture’s.
Smaller gaps that still bite
ASA bed temperature: Overture’s ASA listing says 70 to 95 °C, the Prusament ASA data sheet says 105 to 115 °C. No overlap, and Prusament’s minimum is beyond a 100 °C bed.
PLA bed temperature: the Bambu PLA Basic data sheet says 35 to 45 °C, Sunlu’s PLA listing says 50 to 65 °C. No overlap. The Prusament PLA data sheet at 40 to 60 °C bridges the two.
Nylon: eSUN’s ePA page wants a 70 to 90 °C bed and drying at 70 °C for more than 12 hours. Overture’s Easy Nylon listing wants a 50 °C bed and drying at 95 °C for 7 hours. Both are PA6/PA66 copolymer blends by their makers’ descriptions.
PLA density, inside one brand: Polymaker’s PolyLite PLA data sheet gives 1.17 g/cm³ and its PolyTerra PLA data sheet gives 1.31 g/cm³.
Worked example: switching PLA within Polymaker
Density looks like trivia until you work out spool length. For 1.75 mm filament, a meter weighs 2.405 g multiplied by the density.
- PolyLite PLA at 1.17: 2.81 g per meter, so 1 kg is about 355 m.
- PolyTerra PLA at 1.31: 3.15 g per meter, so 1 kg is about 317 m.
Same maker, same “PLA”, same kilogram, and 38 m less filament on the denser one, which is 11 percent. A slicer profile left on the wrong density will misstate the weight of every print by 11 to 12 percent, and with it your material cost. If you weigh spools to see what is left, the wrong density gives you the wrong remaining length too. The filament length and weight calculator takes density as an input for exactly this reason.
The same arithmetic on carbon-fiber nylon is starker: Bambu PAHT-CF at 1.06 gives about 392 m per kilogram and ColorFabb PA-CF Low Warp at 1.40 gives about 297 m.
What to do when you switch brands
Treat a new brand as a new material. Start from that maker’s own figures, not from your old profile and not from a generic range. In practice that means four checks before the first print:
- Nozzle and bed from the new spool’s label or data sheet. If the new range does not overlap your old setting, move to the middle of the new range, not the edge nearest your old number.
- Drying temperature, before you put it in the dryer on the old setting. A PVA whose maker says 45 °C should not go in at the 80 °C another maker’s PVA calls for. Prusa’s filament drying guide warns that exceeding the stated temperature softens filament until it sticks together on the spool.
- Density in the slicer’s filament profile, so weights and costs come out right.
- Your printer’s limits. A 100 °C bed rules out Prusament ASA’s range and a 290 °C hotend rules out the top half of Polymaker’s PA6-CF range.
None of this means one maker is right and another wrong. They are describing different formulations, and each tested its own. We have not tested any of them. What the data does show is that “PETG settings” or “nylon settings” is the wrong unit of advice. The brand is the unit.
The per-brand rows are in the temperature table and the drying chart, each with its source link and the date we read it.
