Bronze "Metallic" Polylite PLA Pro.... uh...not metallic

[cloud prawn]

<@&1122587817768398938> A spool of Polylite Metallic Bronze PLA Pro arrived this morning for a steampunk project. Opened the box, and while still sealed in the vacuum bag, the spool does not look even slightly metallic no matter the light source tried. I have a lot of PM material, mostly because it's consistent and reliable. Other than the washed out orange in the ASA, have never been disappointed with a PM color or filament.

The website photos look awesome and are exactly what was wanted. This spool, unfortunately, does not look like that.

I've used copper, silver, and bronze metallics from other manufacturers in PLA, ABS, PETG so I know what to expect. This does not look at all like the Amazon or Polymaker photo (attached). There is no metallic sheen. It just looks like a medium brown on the spool. At least that's what it seems like through the clear plastic vacuum bag, which may be defracting the sheen.

Should I unseal the vacuum bag and hope for the best, maybe run a test print, or just return it now and get something else from another maker?

[peak steppe]

this sounds like you need to open a support ticket before doing anything honestly.

[cloud prawn]

Thank you. I sent an email this morning to the support email on the website. Is that the same as opening a support ticket?

I was just hoping I might get a quicker reply here because I saw that the US support person was in China this week. I've not purchased metallics from PM. At the moment, I have other options in shopping carts elsewhere, but I absolutely want to give PM a fair opportunity to respond.

[peak steppe]

yes that is the best method right now. they used to have a support ticket system in discord but migrated that function away to the site. i usually receive something back from them within 24h

[cloud prawn]

I just received a positive and gracious response from Polymaker Support via email. And, yes, they did assign a ticket number within the email .

I will open up the spool and try it out.

[violet spoke]

Metallic PLA pro is a sparkly filament, depending on the color the sparkles can be seen more or less, with lighter colors the tiny sparkles will be less visible, when printed hot and slow to have the brightest finish it looks kind of like anodized.

For many brands "metallic" is a silk filament

[cloud prawn]

I don't do PLA silk filaments. Ever.

The metallic ones I have used are conventional PLA, PETG, and ABS.

[lavish flower]

Have you done a print with it? I did the photos of that spool among most of what is on the website all under the same lighting and adjustments. Sometimes the colors can look a little different under professional lighting in hand but it is not common. Here is a cell shot of that same spool

wow the Cell photo white balance really throws it off

Same spool with cooler overhead lights

[cloud prawn]

I literally got the spool at 7:30 this morning just before I left for work. I may get a chance to print with it over the weekend but I have some other projects ahead of it.

[lavish flower]

Cool. No worries. Was just curious if you had been able to yet.

[cloud prawn]

This is the QIDI ABS Rapido Metal in Champagne color for a vase for my wife. It's not often that I make non functional decorative items like this but hopefully you can see a bit of sheen on this.

[cloud prawn]

Got home and opened it up. On the left is gorgeous Filament PM Coffee Bronze PETG. On the right is PM Bronze Metallic PLA Pro.

On the spool at least, this is very disappointing.

Light source is from two different directions

[lavish flower]

Sorry to hear it is not satisfactory to you. If they haven't aleady taken care of you just let them know that is not what you expected and they will tkae care of you.

[cloud prawn]

Thank you. I know PM will take care of me. If only they offered anything (not silk) that actually looked like a metallic bronze or copper I would be happy to buy it.

Honestly, I would not even mind that the brown is not really the right brown color....the issue is that it's simply not metallic all. It's just a matte brown color with no sheen.

[lavish flower]

Out of curiosity can you show the side of the spool?

[lavish flower]

Thank you. The spool looked like a panchroma spool on first glance. So I wondered if it was that vs an actual pla pro that was shipped.

[cloud prawn]

I just don't know if PM offers anything else that's truly metallic with a sheen, but that's not Silk. The Galaxy series is sparkly, but not the right look.

[iron gate]

Would you say it's closer to a weathered bronze?.. (pic)