TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)  

RE:

I found that trying to print PETG after PLA causes adhesion issues on the build plate due to sugar deposits from the PLA, you have to wash the build plate using hot water and washing up liquid, sugar does not dissolve in alcohol. If you wash it, dry as much as you can then heat on the printer at full bed heating for at least 15 minutes to ensure all water is evaporated, this is mainly for textured build plates.

Use a textured build plate.

I've been trying the speed profile with PETG and can confirm, it is just not as good as the structural profile, it's just a bit too fast for generic PETG, maybe there is a generic PETG that works out of the box, but it looks like I will be dialling in filaments for best results. Try printing with Archimedean infill and see if it stays put.

I knew I was likely to get issues with PETG as it was printing with a fairly matt surface, which is usually indicative of going to cold or too fast or too much cooling after all PETG is fairly glossy by nature. You ever seen a pop bottle that's not glossy?.

Do a small test print which checks for strength of layer adhesion (This is where you try to break it apart), stringing and detail. You can get really good detail, but layer adhesion will be really poor or you can get strength, but detail will be lost, ultimately PETG needs to melt into the previous layer for strength, the more it melts the stronger the join, but of course at the expense of detail.

Dry your filaments!, ideally print directly from a filament dryer, you will have NO stringing full stop. Fan speed is again one of those where it depends on what you are trying to achieve, looks or strength, dry filaments also are less prone to zit production.

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

I’ve recently started using Elegoo Rapid PETG and it works great on the HF Speed profile.  Absolutely no warping and great adhesion.  Costs about $12USD/kg in bundles of four (with free shipping to Texas on Amazon).

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

Posted by: @chocki

I found that trying to print PETG after PLA causes adhesion issues on the build plate due to sugar deposits from the PLA, you have to wash the build plate using hot water and washing up liquid, sugar does not dissolve in alcohol. If you wash it, dry as much as you can then heat on the printer at full bed heating for at least 15 minutes to ensure all water is evaporated, this is mainly for textured build plates.

Water and dish soap are not solvent for PLA and it's remains on build plate. They must be washed off. It's easier under tap, but not necessary. It's enough to clean any build plate with IPA. Just not smudge everything in the middle, but wipe it in one way, e.g. from back to front. It's bit more foolproof with 90% IPA (recommended by Prusa), because those 10% of water evaporates slower and it's easy to clean bed properly. But if you use wet enough paper towel or cloth, 99% IPA works fine as well.

I'm using almost exclusively 99% IPA on all Prusa plates (smooth, satin and textured) for years and I never had any significant adhesion issues. (My MK3S smooth sheet have seen water only a few times when I was cleaning glue stick off it after printing PC.) I mostly print PLA and I have never noticed any adhesion issues when switched to PETG or other materials. And I'm using always the same side of Satin sheet on Core One.

When I learned about these PLA sugar residues, I was considering using one side of the sheet for PLA and other side for the rest of materials. But I don't have any issues with PETG (Prusament and Aurapol). And I would eventually forget to flip it and mix it anyway. But if anyone has these issues, try to use one side exclusively for PETG. Maybe it will help.

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

Posted by: @cryptomilk

[...] change the value Extrusion Multiplier.

I've first tried 0.99 and then 0.98.
It 0.98 didn't work well, so I used 0.985 next and then fine turned it to 0.986. I print Prusament PETG with this value just fine now.

I struggle with the conclusion that the Extrusion Multiplier needs to be tweaked to an accuracy of a few 1/1000. That implies that the filament cross section has to be accurate to that same level as well, right?

Prusament PETG is specified to a bit more than ± 1% in diameter, i.e. ± 2% in cross section; other brands are probably worse. If you need 10 times better accuracy to tweak the extrusion rate and ensure proper extrusion, I think something else is wrong. Well, I hope something else is wrong (and can be fixed) -- otherwise this sounds like a nightmare of dialing in the correct multiplier for each and every spool of filament you use?

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

I was wondering about this filament, thank you for sharing! It's definitely easier to get and cheaper here in the US via Amazon. Are you using the stock Core One print head? Also, did you have to or choose dry it before printing with it? If so, what dryer are you using? I'm brand new to 3D printing and would appreciate  your insight.

Posted by: @largriff

I’ve recently started using Elegoo Rapid PETG and it works great on the HF Speed profile.  Absolutely no warping and great adhesion.  Costs about $12USD/kg in bundles of four (with free shipping to Texas on Amazon).

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

Welcome to 3D printing!  It’s still more art than science but the science there is, is pretty amazing.  I hope you enjoy it!

I have a MK4S which has essentially the same Nextruder as the Core One.  I print mostly PETG or PLA.  Besides the Elegoo PETG, Sunlu PLA seems to be the best deal at the moment, for me.

Here in West Texas it’s pretty dry so I don’t have to go overboard with drying, but I do feed from a dryer and keep the spools in freezer bags between prints.  There are a ton of dryers out there, just get what fits your style & budget.

Posted by: @db-5

I was wondering about this filament, thank you for sharing! It's definitely easier to get and cheaper here in the US via Amazon. Are you using the stock Core One print head? Also, did you have to or choose dry it before printing with it? If so, what dryer are you using? I'm brand new to 3D printing and would appreciate  your insight.

Posted by: @largriff

I’ve recently started using Elegoo Rapid PETG and it works great on the HF Speed profile.  Absolutely no warping and great adhesion.  Costs about $12USD/kg in bundles of four (with free shipping to Texas on Amazon).

 

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

I live on an island in the Baltic Sea, 6m above seal level, humidity below 50% only happens if the sea is iced over in February. I have picked up a creality pi2 from amazon and so far it seems to do the job, I add a silica gel container in the spool center and leave it in the dryer with the spool, it comes down to 13-15% fairly quickly and stays below 25% if left turned of overnight. I print prusament petg without any issues directly from a running dryer without any issues, no blobs minimal stringing if any. Standard Prusa profiles unmodified.

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

Thank you for sharing your experience and insights LarGriff! It is very humid here in Central Florida so it sounds like a good dryer and storage process will be a practice for me to adopt to insure good consistent results. 

Posted by: @largriff

Welcome to 3D printing!  It’s still more art than science but the science there is, is pretty amazing.  I hope you enjoy it!

I have a MK4S which has essentially the same Nextruder as the Core One.  I print mostly PETG or PLA.  Besides the Elegoo PETG, Sunlu PLA seems to be the best deal at the moment, for me.

Here in West Texas it’s pretty dry so I don’t have to go overboard with drying, but I do feed from a dryer and keep the spools in freezer bags between prints.  There are a ton of dryers out there, just get what fits your style & budget.

Posted by: @db-5

I was wondering about this filament, thank you for sharing! It's definitely easier to get and cheaper here in the US via Amazon. Are you using the stock Core One print head? Also, did you have to or choose dry it before printing with it? If so, what dryer are you using? I'm brand new to 3D printing and would appreciate  your insight.

Posted by: @largriff

I’ve recently started using Elegoo Rapid PETG and it works great on the HF Speed profile.  Absolutely no warping and great adhesion.  Costs about $12USD/kg in bundles of four (with free shipping to Texas on Amazon).

 

 

RE: TIPS: Printing PETG (especially Prusament)

Posted by: @largriff

Welcome to 3D printing!  It’s still more art than science but the science there is, is pretty amazing.  I hope you enjoy it!

I have a MK4S which has essentially the same Nextruder as the Core One.  I print mostly PETG or PLA.  Besides the Elegoo PETG, Sunlu PLA seems to be the best deal at the moment, for me.

Here in West Texas it’s pretty dry so I don’t have to go overboard with drying, but I do feed from a dryer and keep the spools in freezer bags between prints.  There are a ton of dryers out there, just get what fits your style & budget.

I was just in West Texas and southern New Mexico last week on vacation and can confirm it is dry there, lol.  Here in coastal Southern California the outside RH averages around 80% most of the year and since it is rarely very hot or very cold to require much AC or heat the indoor RH isn't much better.  I bought a heated dryer with my MK3 but didn't use it a lot because it required too much pre-planning to dry the filament many hours before I wanted to print something.  About six months ago in preparation for getting the Core One and printing more hygroscopic filaments I bought a 5 gallon bucket with a well sealed lid to store my filament with desiccant after pre-drying it in the filament dryer.  That's been a game changer... no more oozing or stringing.  It's worked well with the Core One and I've had no problems with the nozzle cleaning step.  For the more hygroscopic filaments I print directly from the dryer and since the filament is already dry it doesn't require any pre-planning.