Printing with PETG

Over the last week I've been trying to print new parts to upgrade my old Anet A8 to an AM8 frame. I ordered some eSun opaque black PETG filament from Amazon and started printing parts, however I wasn't getting very good results as I did with the translucent PETG. I tried several things, such as printing thicker layers, different temps, slower speeds, but still no luck. I was getting a lot of stringing and it looked like the print head was dragging through the previous layer, making the finish look very rough. Not to mention the hot end was covered with PETG.


The next attempt finished, but was out of spec and had lots of pitting and a rough surface.


Tonight I did a little more research and came across the article below, which happened to have have all the Simplify3d settings, tab by tab. I tried them and viola! I'm getting good prints with this stuff, no stringing, no scraping of the hot end, just smooth plastic going down.


Here is the article, hope it helps one of you.

https://www.xyzfabs.com/forums/topic/63/print-settings-for-petg-esun-solid-black-filament/

Checked on my print this morning and the time estimate was way off, said it was a 12 hour print started at 6:30 last night, was 14 hours in and looked like another 3 - 4 hours to go. However, the print looked great in comparison to the first set.


Just a little fine stringing, almost cobweb like, between the parts, but this was to be expected. I've pulled off extra material from the nozzle before a print job and the little fine string will pull about 3 to 4 feet before breaking off with PETG.

Thanks for the link, Darren. I printed some translucent white PETG last year using recommended settings and it was pretty good. Sounds like different colors require more tweaking.

Bill Arnold said:

Thanks for the link, Darren. I printed some translucent white PETG last year using recommended settings and it was pretty good. Sounds like different colors require more tweaking.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the blue translucent I have did seem to flow much nicer, I was running it about 15C lower too.

Wow those latest parts look amazing. You sure got this stuff nailed.
Thanks for the link and info. I banked it for later.


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Huge improvement. I've had huge issues with petg int he past I kind of gave up on it since pla was so easy. I'm going to be giving it a shot soon on my AM8 upgrade parts!

Thanks for blazing the trail!