Filament tip: Extrudr MF-PETG 1.75mm
Hello everyone!
I bought my MK2 about two months ago and began experimenting with different filaments to see which one I'd settle on for best print results.
So far I've tried a variety of differnet PLA filaments, NinjaTek Armadillo (no idea what material it is, but it's strong like hell), and a few different PETG filaments. Not a fan of ABS plastic because of odors and printing problems it has.
The best results came out with PETG filaments, parts were dimensionally correct, had with very little deformation, overhangs have very little or no sag at all, in general I'm amazed how well this material performs while printing and in use.
Printer settings, I'd say are nothing too special...
I am currently printing a set of 100 parts for my project. All parts will be printed with Extrudr MF-PETG neon-orange filament at 0.20mm layer height.
Printer settings are pretty much all defaults that came with the printer, except that I have raised the print speed to 125% on the printer itself (just dialed it in with the knob).
If I made the right calculations printer now runs at around 60mm/s, expecting that the default print speed is 40mm/s. This brings print time down by roughly 20%, with no visible impact on quality.
Filament settings are a bit different here...
I assume you are used to print PETG at 230-260°C range, right?
Well that's not the case for Extrudr MF-PETG, this material prints almost like PLA, at low temp, with great bed adhesion, and little to no warping, ending with great results.
Looking at temperatures... I thought that the strenght of the material would be lower compared to ordinary PETG that prints at around 235°C, but no, even when printing at 210°C this material is pretty much the same strenght, if not stronger than most other PETG filaments I've tested.
Now to finaly end my long talk and give you the information you actually need to get this material printing.
Manufacturer: Extrudr
Filament type: MF-PETG
Diameter you can get: 1.75mm and 2.85mm
Room temp.: 22-28°C (I noticed my prints are a bit weaker in strenght at 22-23°C room temp but come out smoother, layers logically bond better at higher room temp. Definatley something to test further, maybe with an enclosure.)
Print temp.: 210°C (manufacturer suggested to print at 205°C, but I've raised it by 5°C since I'm not using an enclosure, and there is occasional breeze from doors opening where my printer is standing right now)
First layer: 215°C (gives a perfect smooth finish if you have your bed leveled perfectly. I did try at higher and lower temps... resuts are the best at 215°C for me.)
Heated bed: 80°C (I have no change for the first layer. And you could probably lower the temps by 5-10°C from my expirience, but I never bothered.)
Bed adhesion: No additives needed (Just don't clean the bed with Isopropyl alcohol or you might get too strong adhesion. Read tips bellow.)
Part cooling fan: @ 30-40% (no cooling for first layer)
Tip #1: Simply wipe the bed with a dry palm of your hand, or use a clean micro-fiber cloth, some grease from your hands helps to get the prints off the bed as this material will eat itself into PEI sheet when printing. If you are not getting good adhesion, then use a window celaner agent (Windex, Stelex, AJAX, etc.) with anti-static properties which will help when you'll be taking parts off your printbed. I don't use glue or anything like that, but some are suggesting it if you are having problems getting your parts off the printbed.
Either way, no need for extra adhesion with PETG as it loves to stick to PEI by itself.
Tip #2: You might need to tweak extrusion multiplier with this material... I had to raise mine by 2-3%. You can identify a sweet spot when first layer lines stick together nicely.
Tip #3: Don't go over 220°C on extruder or you'll just melt the plastic to the point of heavy stringing, and make everything look like cr*p. Also first layer won't bond well and you'll get a mess on your printbed before print is finished.
Tip #4: When your print completes... don't wait for printer to cool down, you'll get parts off your printbed much quicker when plastic is still warm and flexible. PETG has low shrinkage rate (only ~0.5%) so it sticks to the printbed even better when cold (at least that's my expirience).
P.S.: I am not affiliated with Extrudr in any way, nor was I asked to writhe this. I wrote this post because I noticed there is little to no info on Extrudr materials.
I will add other Extrudr filament settings when I get to test them. TPU is next in line.
Also, I'll add some pictures of my finished prints when I get some free time to do so. 🙂