<p>Is there any way to test what kind your filament is? There are no labels on the spools and I don't know whether they are ABS or PLA.</p>

<p>I got the plastic with the printer, which is no longer sold (Solidoodle 2). Since I bought it on eBay that is probably why it has unprofessional filament. The plastic filament came with the printer which is now off sale (Solidoodle v2).</p>

<p>I set my extruder to 210&nbsp;°C and bed to 50&nbsp;°C and it printed fine (with tons of hairspray and painters tape).</p>

<p>I figured out where I got it. I got it from Solidoodle (who have gone out of business) when I bought the Solidoodle 2 right after it came out.  </p>

<p>I bought PLA and ABS so it has to be one of the two. Any other ways without having to burn and smell plastic? I just have the roll with no numbers, works or anything on it. And how to I smell without breathing in the fumes?</p>

[{'answer_id': 3729, 'author': 'Andre Hamman', 'author_id': 6375, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/6375', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p><a href="http://www.boedeker.com/burntest.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Using The Burn Test to Identify Plastic Materials</a> is one way. From the link:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>To initially determine whether a material is thermoplastic (meltable)\nor thermoset (non-meltable) type, heat a metal or glass stirring rod\nuntil it glows red or orange (to about 500°F / 260°C) and press it\nagainst the sample. If the sample softens, the material is a\nthermoplastic; if it does not, it\'s probably a thermoset.</p>\n<p>Next, hold the sample to the edge of a flame until it ignites. If no\nflame is produced quickly, hold the sample in the flame for about 10\nseconds. If the material burns, note the color of the flame, the\nnature of the smoke, the presence of soot in the air and whether,\nwhile burning, the sample drips.</p>\n<p>Next, extinguish the flame and cautiously smell the fumes. To identify\nthe odor, samples of known plastic samples for comparison can be most\nhelpful. Finally, check your observations against the known\ncharacteristics of each plastic as shown in the table below. Once you\nhave made a tentative identification, it is usually desirable to\nrepeat the flame test once or twice to confirm the results of the\noriginal identification. Remember that additives may affect results.\nFor example: flame retardants can mask the polymer material\'s normal\nflame &amp; smoke burning characteristics.</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IDFnK.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IDFnK.jpg" alt="Burn Test Characteristics Table" /></a></p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>However, remember ABS and PLA aren\'t the only types of filament.</p>\n<p>ABS and PLA have different melting points and smell different when melting. Maybe try melting little bits on a soldering iron or stove top. The smell could give it away. Just don\'t breathe in the fumes, it can be toxic, also molten plastic particles in lungs aren\'t great either. I\'d recommend contacting the supplier.</p>\n<p>No markings complicates matters. Not very professional of the supplier. Smelling without breathing in fumes, just don\'t put your face directly over the fumes, just hold it away from your face and sniff sniff the air. if the smoke curls are going into your nose you are doing it wrong.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 3734, 'author': 'Diesel', 'author_id': 5518, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/5518', 'pm_score': 4, 'selected': True, 'text': "<p>ABS dissolves in acetone, you could try clipping a small section and leave it in some acetone for a few minutes and if it begins to dissolve it's safe to assume that it's ABS, if not then you'll know that it's not.</p>\n\n<p>This won't confirm that it is PLA, only whether it's ABS or not.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 3751, 'author': 'Barafu Albino', 'author_id': 4345, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/4345', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I can identify filament type by smell of it when it is hot. Touch it with solder or smth.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>PLA emits a sweet smell resembling the burnt sugar. </li>\n<li>ABS smells of chemicals. </li>\n<li>PVC smells of chemicals too, but this smell is very acrid and makes you sneeze. PVC is toxic to burn and to print! </li>\n<li>PC has a very peculiar smell. If you bottle that smell into air freshener and call it "flower meadow" it will work. </li>\n<li>PET You know this smell. You experience it every time you unbox new gadgets. </li>\n<li>HDPE and PP smell of church. Of hot candles. They are not easy to separate, but an experienced person can do it by sound and feeling of snapping filament.</li>\n</ul>\n'}, {'answer_id': 10665, 'author': 'R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE', 'author_id': 11157, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/11157', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I know this question is old, but the existing answers are all overly general relative to the question. If someone is in OP\'s same sitution, the "prints at 210/50" data point pretty much guarantees it\'s PLA. No subjective "smell tests" or playing with fire needed.</p>\n\n<p>The comments indicated some doubt that it\'s PLA due to lack of "sweet" odor, but PLA has very little odor at all, and whether you\'d describe it as "sweet" probably varies by individual.</p>\n\n<p>Aside from "PLA" (usually blends of PLA of smallish amounts of proprietary ingredients), there\'s virtually nothing on the filament market that prints at these temperatures, especially not without adhesion and warping problems. TPU/TPE can also print at these temperatures, but you\'d usually know if that\'s what you had just from the flexibility. These properties of PLA are largely why PLA is so popular.</p>\n'}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/3728', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/6376/']