It's July. It's cold. And honestly, that's kind of perfect if you're into 3D printing.
There's something about a grey Auckland winter that's really good for output - you're not going anywhere, the heater's on, and your printer just keeps going. If you've been meaning to get a few projects done, or you've been holding off buying filament, now's a decent time to stock up.
We've had a lot of people asking about Pixel Hyper PLA+ lately, so figured it was worth a proper write-up.
What's the Hyper PLA+?
Pixel is our own brand - we develop it specifically for how people actually print, not for a spec sheet. The Hyper PLA+ is the higher-speed version - it'll push up to 500mm/s on machines that can handle it, but it also just prints well at normal speeds on anything from a Bambu A1 mini to an older Ender 3. No fiddling with profiles, no dramas with adhesion on a clean plate.
It's $23.49 a refill kg (or $25 with the reusable spool if you need one), which is genuinely not much for filament that behaves this consistently. We've got the CryoFrost white and Singularity black in stock here in Auckland - no waiting around for it to arrive from overseas.
What Are People Actually Printing With It?
Mostly the stuff you'd expect - organiser trays, phone stands, cable clips, costume props, replacement brackets for things that broke. But we've also had customers running it through prototyping runs and small-batch production bits. It's a solid all-rounder that doesn't need babysitting.
If you're doing anything that needs a bit more toughness, or you're printing parts that see some heat, the Hyper PETG sits at $23 a kg too. It's a bit more flexible than PLA, handles higher temps better, and the BSOD Blue colour looks excellent on anything mechanical.
The Refill Thing
If you haven't tried a refill roll yet, it's worth picking one up. You buy the spool once, then refills are slightly cheaper and a bit less plastic waste each time. The core fits most standard setups, so it's pretty painless to switch over.
Why Pixel?
A while back, Tim (who started MindKits back in 2008) got a bit fed up with the gap between "cheap filament that doesn't print well" and "expensive filament where you're paying for the brand name." So we made our own. The whole point was to get consistent, reliable filament into people's machines without the premium markup.
Every batch is tested, it's stocked in Auckland so shipping's quick, and if something's ever off you've got a local team to sort it out - not a contact form on an overseas website.
Browse the full Pixel range below - there's a good selection of types and colours to dig through, and the refill bundles are particularly good value if you get through a lot.
Browse Pixel Filament