Anyone Using PET+ Filament?

[SpragClutch]

Looks like a good all around Filament. Strong, Flexible, and prints more like PLA. This is what they are advertising. Wondering if anyone can back this up with real world experience?

Thanks

[jmiloss]

This may or may not help..... I am new to 3D printing but purchased a wide range of filament to experiment with. One that I have printed with successfully and like the results of is PETG. I read the differences in the + and the G and since I am not a chemist it did not make much sense. PET of any type is not prone to humidity issues from what I have read. The parts I have printed with the PETG seem more durable than the ABS items I have made. Only issue that I have had is that it gets a bit "stringy" at times. By this I mean it sometimes continues to come out of the extruder slightly when the supports are being printed. This may be due to the high temperature it extrudes at: 250. I have tried reducing the temperature but have not played with it enough to determine how low I can go and still get a good print.

I'd recommend you try some and see what your results are. Worst case is that you end up donating a slightly used roll of filament to a local library that has a 3D printer for the kids to use.

[jimc]

absolutely! pet is now my main filament. i am down to my last roll of abs and have prob 16kg of pet here from most manufacturers. i have tried or printed with most of them out there. most on the market today are classified as petg. there are 2 that are different, taulman's tglass and madesolid's pet+. tglass is pett. im not sure what the difference is exactly but whatever it is its not much different than petg. pet+ on the other hand is very much a different animal. all of them seem to print at abs temps. pet+ 10 deg hotter. of all the pet's listed here, all of them are extremely strong. i have seen analysis results showing 5-10 times the strength of abs. i can say for myself that whatever it is its definitely superior to abs in every way. its extremely easy to print with. high temp like abs, more flexible and impact resistant than abs, very low warp like pla....probably lower. the layer bonding of petg is as good or better than nylon. parts printed in petg dont usually break along layer lines. its a solid bond. ok now some drawbacks. yes it can be a little stringy. its usually not an issue, you just need to get your retraction right and your good to go. its very sensitive to 1st layer height. this needs to be dead nuts on the money. if your gap is too tight then the nozzle will drag around the plastic and the stuff is so sticky it likes to accumulate on your nozzle in a big blob. this is a good indicator though if your settings are off. if your settings are on the money then it will print perfectly with nothing collecting on the nozzle at all. other than that, i have found no other drawbacks. i really dont know why people are still using abs. until recently however pet of all varieties have been very expensive. in the past couple months though princes have been cut in half. esun now has their petg avail. i have 6 spools here and that stuff is about $30-35 shipped to your door. reprapper has theirs as well which i have 5 spools on the way. their pricing is similar. i picked up some real cheap stuff from winbo. it was $12+shipping. even that printed flawlessly and was way higher quality than i was expecting. colorfabb xt is very nice if you dont mind paying slightly more. madesolid stuff is great as well. pricy but thats a different formulation. i cant really explain whats different about it..it just is lol. i can say they you will have better lock with the pet varietys if you have a hotend with a short and sharp hot zone like an e3d. most newer design hotends are like this and they just control stringing better. if your looking to try it out without spending a bunch of money i would suggest you get a roll of the esun stuff. its really nice. there is a vendor here on the forum intservo.com (no affiliation). he stocks it and has great pricing on it. taulman stuff i would avoid. as nice as they are with fantastic customer service, they always have extrusion issues. i have never gotten a spool of any filament from them that didnt vary so bad it would jam up my extruder. usually goes from 1.55 to 1.95mm. they have always made good on it but man, its been every roll for the past year and a half. not to mention those spools with the tiny center core really screw up the filament when it gets low. ok im getting off track here. just thought that deserved an explanation. anything else you need to know just ask.

[ssayer]

How can you not like PETG? It prints great. I do the same thing with it that I do with PLA, just 20c hotter (Extruder: 215c, unheated glass bed with 3M Painter's tape and Elmer's Purple glue stick, active cooling after the first couple layers *big difference for me on hollow parts*)...

[3DPBuser]

No heated bed for the PETG ?

[jimc]

i run at 80 on hairspray myself. since i have a heated bed i always use it on everything. never tried it without.

ssayer, what brand pet is the owl?

[ssayer]

3DPBuser: I go with either unheated/tape/gluestick or 80c/glass/gluestick. Both work equally as well. I do prefer active cooling on both after the first couple of layers.

jimc: That's Gizmo Dorks White PETG. I just had three rolls of eSUN PETG hit my door this morning (red, yellow, natural) and will be trying one of them out soon.

[jimc]

Gizmo is the only one I have not tried. Good deal on the esun. Let me know you like it and how it compares to the gizmo stuff.

[ssayer]

PETG from eSUN is definitely different stuff than the PETG from Gizmo Dorks. This is my first try with the eSUN stuff, and will be my only try with an unheated bed. I never once had an issue with warping with the Gizmo Dorks stuff...



I'll still finish the print as there are other parameters to discern from allowing it to finish. Then I'll try it with the 80c/gluestick bed.

Update: Oh well, I was going to upload a front and back for comparison, but once again I keep getting an "upload failed" message here...

[ssayer]

The eSUN PETG printed fine (no warpage) with the 80c glass bed with Elmer's purple glue stick. It did require active cooling (as does everything else) on my hollow, 6 shell, test piece. GD's PETG prints look smoother, but they only have white and transparent (and are a third costlier). I'd have no problem recommending either brand...