Updated October 2026. Written for teachers, tech leads and board purchasing staff who have to pick a filament, budget for it and get it approved.

The short answer: PLA, bought in bulk, in the colours the kids actually want

For almost every classroom in Canada the right filament is PLA. It prints at low temperatures (190 to 210°C), needs no enclosure or heated chamber, has very little odour, and it is plant-based rather than petroleum-based. It is also the cheapest material we make, which matters when a class of 28 is printing name tags. The rest of this guide is about which PLA, how much to order, and how to get it through purchasing without a fight.

Which PLA?

We make three PLA lines, and each has a place in a school.

• EconoFil PLA, from $12.49 a roll. The classroom workhorse: 25+ colours, prints on every desktop printer we have ever seen, and the price means a failed print is not a budget event. This is what most boards order by the case. Available on a cardboard spool (lighter, recyclable) or a plastic spool for printers with an automatic material system.
• Select Matte PLA, $16.99 a roll. Our premium line. A flat finish that hides layer lines, which makes student work look finished on the display shelf, and it ships on a rigid plastic spool that drops straight into a Bambu Lab AMS. Pick it for competition entries, showcase pieces and any lab running AMS units.
• Hyper PLA, from $14.99 a roll. For high-speed printers (Bambu Lab, Creality K1, Flashforge Adventurer 5M). It holds layer strength at 200 to 300 mm/s, so a class set of parts finishes inside a period instead of overnight.

What about the others? PETG is worth one or two rolls for parts that need to survive a drop or sit outside (planter brackets, robotics mounts); it prints hotter (220 to 260°C) and strings more, so keep it for the teacher's printer. ABS and ASA need an enclosed, filtered printer and a ventilated room; we do not recommend them for student use. TPU (flexible) is fun for phone cases and bumpers, but it prints slowly and tangles easily in Bowden extruders, so treat it as an elective.

How much filament does a class go through?

Every class is different, but these numbers are close enough to budget with. They assume a 0.4 mm nozzle, 15 to 20% infill and standard PLA.

A simple starter set that works for most rooms: 4 rolls white, 4 black, 2 grey, then one each of red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. That is 16 rolls; round it up to 20 and the mix-and-match discount kicks in.

Spools: cardboard, plastic, and the AMS question

EconoFil comes on a cardboard spool by default. Cardboard is lighter, recyclable and cheaper, and it fits every ordinary spool holder. Two cases where you want plastic: a Bambu Lab AMS or AMS Lite (cardboard spools shed dust into the feeder and can slip on the rollers), and any printer whose spool holder clamps the hub. For those, choose the plastic-spool variant of EconoFil, or buy Select, which is plastic only. Everything we sell is 1.75 mm on a standard 1 kg spool.

Storing filament over a semester (and a summer)

PLA absorbs moisture slowly, but a roll left open from June to September will come back brittle and snap in the extruder. Keep open rolls in a sealed bag or bin with the desiccant packet that came in the box, and put an unopened case somewhere dry rather than in a portable or a basement. If prints start popping, stringing or looking rough in the fall, 4 to 6 hours in a filament dryer at 45 to 50°C brings a roll back. Our wet filament guide has the full symptom list.

Safety in the room

PLA is the low-odour, low-emission choice, and it is what we suggest for any space where students sit next to the printer. A few habits still matter: keep printers in a ventilated room, keep hands away from a 200°C nozzle, and for younger students choose an enclosed printer with a filter so the hot end and moving parts are behind a door. The Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro is our pick for a first classroom printer for exactly that reason: enclosed, filtered, auto-levelling and set up in about ten minutes. For a multi-colour room on a budget, the AD5X prints up to four colours in one job. Our printer buying guide compares them.

Getting it through purchasing

This is the part that usually takes longest, so here is how it works with us.

1. Send us the list. Materials, colours, quantities and the ship-to address (or addresses) through the quote form or by email to hello@filaments.ca.
2. Get a quote. We confirm stock and price, including the bulk discount, and send a quote you can attach to a requisition. Several schools can go on one quote.
3. Pay your way. Card online, or a purchase order against a vendor account. Setting one up takes one email; we accept POs from Canadian schools, boards, colleges, universities, libraries and municipalities.
4. It ships within 24 hours from our warehouse in Brampton, Ontario, tracked, with no duties and no brokerage because it never crosses a border. Free shipping across Canada on orders over $100.

Prices are the same for everyone: buy 20 or more rolls of any filament, mix and match, and $0.50 a roll comes off automatically. If a spool arrives with a manufacturing defect, tell us within 30 days and we replace it.

A quick comparison

Everything above, plus printer recommendations with per-unit pricing and a classroom FAQ, is on our 3D printing for schools and boards page. Questions about a specific printer or board process: hello@filaments.ca or 1-844-465-7684, Monday to Friday.