Some have suggested that filament costs are asymptotically approaching a baseline cost - others that costs are linearly decreasing. Does anyone know where to find the trending costs on a single class of filament over the past decade or more?
Part of the reason we are asking is to get enough longitudinal data to begin projecting costs for printing objects in the future. You might think of it like the "Moore's Law" of filament costs.
I'm not clear as to the intent of your question, but I would like to provide some insight. Typically, the biggest differentiating factor between a mediocre data scientist, and a good one, is based on the hypothesis they put forth. Therefore, understanding where the cost of filament is derived from is much more important than analyzing the market price equilibrium over a period of time (Even if done with consideration to various filament types).
Here are some basic costs:
Without going into detail of every preceding point, I was able to break down costs to a theoretical $10/kg for ABS, if starting with virgin pellets, and shipping flat rate USPS within the US.
The point that I am trying to make is, fundamentals over technical analysis in this case.
You could have a look though the various price trackers for Amazon (like ccc and thetractor), for some basic trends. Most of them does not seem to have sufficient data to give any valuable insight, but that could change.
In general, I would refer to the yearly and monthly trend reports found on 3D Hubs. They usually include the average filament order costs per filament type from the previous 30 days, although they do not display it as a continuous graph at this time.
