GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => 3D printing and files => Topic started by: scotton on January 11, 2023, 09:52:48 PM
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After burning through 4 spools of PLA, I feel like I know what I'm doing and my prototypes are good. So it's time to start printing in PETG. I've watched a bunch of videos and I'm honestly a little nervous.
While waiting for Captain Amazon to get here, I levelled the bed and created a new mesh at 70 degrees. Capt A showed up and I did an extrusion test (100mm on the nose) and ran a retraction tower at 240 degrees.
Tower printed fine, a lot of stringing until it got to 6mm retraction, which is the default setting in Cura for generic PETG. So far, with the default Cura settings it's acting just like PLA.
So I'm running my first print with 240 hot end, 70 bed, 6mm retraction at 45mm/s and 50% cooling (0% for the initial layer). I'll report back success or failure.
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PETG is awesome... make sure to turn off "part cooling" entirely and make sure there is no moving air (fan, air conditioner, etc...) in the room. Part cooling is a pitfall for PETG. I ditched PLA a few years ago and never looked backed. I mostly use the orange OVERTURE PETG you can get from amazon and it is amazing. Good luck !!!!!
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I print exclusively in petg. My settings would probably scare a few people with my ender 3 pro. Absolutely no part cooling. major no no. my initial layer is 15 mm/s. I run my bed at 90 c. and my hotend at 235 c. my main layers print at 70 mm/s, walls print at 50 mm/s and infill is 70 mm/s. my retractions are 1.5 mm @ 30 mm/s. I have dual z rods and direct drive feed on mine. I also have a custom aftermarket bed on mine its 1/4 aluminum tool plate. and I use pei metal bed surface.
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Hopefully I'm not about to jinx myself, but so far I don't know what I was worried about. Dang internet got me all nervous.
I'm currently at 50% cooling and outside of some fine stringing everything is printing great. I'll play with reducing the parts cooling if I run into something that doesn't print as well as it should.
I'm using the Sunlu PETG, $16 from Amazon. I was going to get Hatchbox but the shipping time was a few days longer. I figured if I can make the cheap stuff work, the good stuff should be even better.
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Sorry, I meant to upload the scope wheel that shows the stringing.
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PETG is awesome... make sure to turn off "part cooling" entirely and make sure there is no moving air (fan, air conditioner, etc...) in the room. Part cooling is a pitfall for PETG. I ditched PLA a few years ago and never looked backed. I mostly use the orange OVERTURE PETG you can get from amazon and it is amazing. Good luck !!!!!
Overture is very reliable, quick, and cheap. Highly recommend for someone starting out.
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a bit of stringing it common with petg. you can hit the strings with a torch or heat gun and clean them off very easily.
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strange i'm running 100% fans in Cura generic settings for Overture petg. I've made 8 ldc no stringing I have noticed.
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I only run PETG also. The only things I change from PLA are bed temp/Print temp/ retractions and no cooling.
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Side note..... I hate the new version of Cura.
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I've gone down to 25% cooling, still getting a little bit of wispy stringing but not bad enough to really try to dial out. I'll try with no cooling and see what happens.
I did have a failure that I thought was caused by me jinxing myself. Turns out I accidentally sliced a stripper upside down (please don't quote that) and the cone was facing the wrong direction.
Last night I did the ultimate adhesion test. I printed an asymmetrical cheek piece without a brim or support. No issues, printed great vertically, laid down on it's side after it cooled.
I wouldn't mind trying PETG CF, but it's pretty pricey. Instead, I'll keep experimenting with adding increasingly larger amounts of dog hair to my prints.
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I've tried a couple of prints with no cooling and I like the results. Little bit smoother surfaces, which makes me think I'm getting better layer adhesion. I'm also playing with bumping the hot end from 240 to 250. I noticed I was getting some brittleness in some small parts that are tightened with a nut and bolt, so I think a little bit higher temp should help. I'm a little nervous running 250 on a Bowden setup with Capricorn tubing and no cooling, we'll see how it goes.
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Actually, I went from 230 to 240, not 240 to 250.
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I went through the spool of Sunlu PETG with no issues. I am currently trying Overture PETG and it is absolutely chapping my @@@. Clogging issues, bed adhesion issues, blobs, you name it. I've played with the temp settings, tried different beds,, changed the speed, limited success. I've had two successful prints out of 10 or so. I just changed the nozzle and I'm trying again, but at this point I'm thinking I'll stick with the Sunlu. Maybe I'll put the Overture in the dehydrator and see if that helps.
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That is "not worthy" as the GTA likes to say. I have had the opposite results with the Overture brand. Was the spool sealed in a vac seal bag when you got it ? This is the stuff I have been using for a few years.. see pic.
I have had a few spools of the Inland brand PLA that didn't play nice but all good results with Overture PETG. If you had good luck with the other brand, I guess stick with it. When I get bad results with my printers, I do a full reset, fresh bed sheet, fresh nozzle, fresh level. I don't run test prints much anymore since I got these machines dialed in but if I get a good first few layers, I let it run. If anything, I'd try playing with nozzle height off the bed.
I wish you luck, you seem you were on a printing rampage, I hope you get back in action quick ! I switch nozzles very often. I bought 100 .6mm nozzles and swap them out after 8-10 prints. If the filament does not come straight down from the hot nozzle, I swap. When it comes out curly, it's hard to recover from. People do the "cold pull" to clean them but they are so cheap, I just swap. I can send you a fistful of .6mm brass nozzles if you ever want to give them a go.
Mitch
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.6mm? That's crazy talk!
Real talk, what advantages are you seeing with a .6mm nozzle? I assume faster print times with a little loss of fine detail? I may have to get some and try them out.
I'm an hour into a print with a new nozzle that looks good. I think last night I was trying a large print and the bed was a little high on a back corner, which gunked up the head. I'm with you on cleaning heads. At $.50 a nozzle, I just chuck the dirty ones into a drawer and make them into "Future Scott Problems".
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I tried a few prints when I first got my printers with the .4mm and decided quickly, that it wasn't for me. The .6 is perfect for more "structural" prints. I don't print anything that needs high detail like miniatures or delicate stuff. I may be wrong, but I have to assume it's faster, stronger, and easier. I have not tried slicing at .4 vs .6 to check the print times but I have to think it's a benefit to use .6mm. I did try a .8 briefly and it was just too much.
Since I got my resin printer I don't use my FDM printers much at all. I did just dust one off and brought it upstairs to run a few prints though.
These are the ones I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/Printer-Extruder-Nozzles-Makerbot-Creality/dp/B0822XNTYV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36HFBZKJ2QZEI&keywords=.6%2Bmm%2Bnozzle%2Bchenshaopeng&qid=1674251498&sprefix=6%2Bmm%2Bnozzle%2Bchenshaopeng%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1&th=1 (https://www.amazon.com/Printer-Extruder-Nozzles-Makerbot-Creality/dp/B0822XNTYV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36HFBZKJ2QZEI&keywords=.6%2Bmm%2Bnozzle%2Bchenshaopeng&qid=1674251498&sprefix=6%2Bmm%2Bnozzle%2Bchenshaopeng%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1&th=1)
They say... "Once you go .6, you never.." I forget.
Cheers.
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I was heady with success so I tried to print a small part that went spaghetti on me (bed adhesion issue). The Overture seems to prefer 80 for the bed temp instead of 70. I also lowered the Z offset a bit to get more squish. Now it's printing a similar small part with no issues. I put some .6 nozzles in my amazon cart, I'll give those a try in the future.
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months without printing anything, got back and there was a roll of petg, printed a couple lab retort stand clamps, when the filament ended and i went to change it sure enough it was clogged up to the heatsink
no heating to 280c to make it unclog, what am i to do? take my frankenstein hotend apart? no way jose, that was the only way i knew...until now, i took the nozzle off got my hand drill and drilled the petg out of the heatsink, never again petg
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Did you try solvents?
Ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), toluene, and cyclohexanone all work to dissolve PETG.
MEK should melt it away. I once dropped a soldering tool into a can of MEK. I came back 15 minutes later to see a puddle of blue plastic, and a spring at the bottom of clear MEK.
Hunter
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no, but interesting way to clean things up, there are many options:
https://kmac-plastics.net/data/chemical/petg-chemical.htm
my memory is so crappy that i forgot about the thin heatbreak could easily have damaged it's neck
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A lot of those listed are acidic. Acid eats metal. Choose wisely.
Hunter
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A lot of those listed are acidic. Acid eats metal. Choose wisely.
Hunter
I'm now trying to remove pla/petg from a hepa filter this forms a gunk that clogs the filter i think I'll need to replace
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How did you get PLA/PETG in the HEPA filter. Is this just from venting a printing enclosure?
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How did you get PLA/PETG in the HEPA filter. Is this just from venting a printing enclosure?
yeah, recirculation filter(remixed airmanagerv2 with h13 electrolux filter)
the flow was not really good to begin using a powerful blower need to test something different
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I'm interested in the fume management, venting, filtering topic. I'll start a new thread.
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I think Jeff / Privateer has a thread on an enclosure, perhaps bumping that one with filter stuff may yield results ? I have some pics I could add of the Resin fume management thing I tried.