esun petg

[Tim]

I actually run the bed 70-80. Never hotter than that. Its just not necessary.

Jim, you need to make the disclaimer that you're building on a metal plate when you say things like that. I've found the PETg filaments to have very well-defined cut-off points between sticking well and not sticking at all, both for the extruder temperature and for the bed temperature. On the glass bed, that temperature sits right below 90C for all of the filaments. I print at 90, and when it's holding that temperature, the part is stuck firmly and can be very hard to get off even with a razor blade. As it cools down, somewhere around 80 it loses adhesion completely, and often I can just pick the part right off the glass. The difference between your experience and mine may be due to the temperature that the bed can keep on the surface when the fan is blowing on it. That must be different for a metal bed vs. a glass one.

For extrusion temperatures, I've found small but significant differences between the colors. Blue prints well at 245 for me. Yellow won't stick to the glass at 245, and I have ended up cranking it to 255 to get it to put down the first layer reliably. The ruby red, I have been printing at 255 just because I haven't changed the settings since I was printing with the yellow, and I haven't experimented with how much lower I can take that without losing adhesion to the bed on the first layer.

The color of the translucent PETg filaments is just phenomenal when the printing speed is slow, but it gets dull at normal printing speeds. Infill dulls it a lot, but by giving it a high perimeter count, you can print lots of concentric perimeter rings and get the same fantastic color as you get with single-layer-thickness prints.

[Tim]

First layer cant be squished onto the bed otherwise it will collect all over the nozzle.

I'd also like to mention that I found this to be true for the blue filament and false for the red. But then after printing a couple of pieces in red, I thought to measure the filament diameter and found it a bit smaller (2.70mm) than the blue, so that might have accounted for it, or at least some of it. I need to go put that measurement back into the settings and see if it changes the behavior at all.

[jimc]

yeah perhaps the aluminum bed has something to do with it. not sure. when my plate cools completely down to room temp though my parts are still stuck. are you using glue stick? just curious if glue stick requires hotter temps to be actively sticky. not sure on that. there is a big difference in hairspray too. the aquanet works nowhere near as well as the garnier stuff.

report back what you find on the red. i have printed very little of that color. of all the brands and color of pet i have used it seems to be a pretty good constant that its very sticky when hot and any over extrusion collects on the nozzle.

[TomR]

I have the stock M2 and print esun PetG Natural and Ruby Red at 250 and bed at 100. No glue or hair spray, just bare glass. It sticks strong and when cools comes off easily.

[MGuser]

Does the M2 glass remove?

If not, how do you clean it?

[insta]

Yeah it comes out easily. Most people hold it down with 3 binder clips.

[Tim]

Are you using glue stick?

No, I"m using hairspray, my favorite being Suave Max Hold in a pump spray bottle. I like the pump bottle. It makes a nice thick layer in a relatively small area and doesn't float around in the air.

it seems to be a pretty good constant that its very sticky when hot and any over extrusion collects on the nozzle.

So far, my best solution to that is to use your settings. You can tell which nozzle I use PETg with; it's all black and gunky, while the other is still a nice shiny brass.

[jimc]

[/quote]

So far, my best solution to that is to use your settings. You can tell which nozzle I use PETg with; it's all black and gunky, while the other is still a nice shiny brass.[/quote]


haha aint that the truth. if you go into home depot. go in the tool section. they usually have a small section of welding equipment. in that section there are real small wood handle wire brushes. i grabbed a stainless steel bristle one a while back. every once in a while while the block is hot i give it and the nozzle a quick shot to clean off and built up crap. it does get shiny new or anything but does get off any buildup.

[insta]

I chuck an M6 cap-head bolt into my drill, unscrew the nozzle (V4 for the win), and spin the nozzle against some 1000 grit sandpaper for a few seconds. Always gets 'em nice and shiny (yes I have several V4s also)

[rsilvers]

I am using glue stick.

I have done dozens of hours of printing yellow and blue, and I can't think of ever having a part come unstuck, nor do my parts come off easily as the glass is starting to cool. Unlike JSC, I do not have to use a lot of glue and get the same results with a fresh ultra-thin layer or a heavy layer.

I am printing at 90C bed and 255 on my E3D nozzle. I used to print at 110C bed and that was fine too, though proved unnecessary. I am using cooling fan but my fan is way more powerful than stock. In fact, if I use it at 100%, my hot end won't go over 225C.

My impression is that this filament is not challenging to print with, providing you do what JSC says and not print over 60 mm/min and print the first layer at 50% speed.