ESUN PETG

[JFettig]

I just got my 4th spool of ESUN PETG - they finally added black and white. My 4th is a spool of black. I have clear(one 90% gone and one started) and yellow(ugly ugly yellow) and now black.

Overall I like the stuff. All 3 of my first spools came in right at 1.75mm, the black spool came in at 1.8mm and has a really weird texture on the filament.

I've been printing it on PEI at ~70-75 degrees - I find it sticks too well at that temp, any lower and I've had it not stick on multiple occasions. I will try PVA glue on glass soon. Nozzle temps at 250-265C depending on the color(clear likes higher temps) and speeds(higher speed, higher temp). Clear is interesting - its foggy if printed too cool at high speeds, but if you slow way down it prints nice and clear.

Layer bonding is very good, I have yet to have any layers come apart whereas ABS I've had issues with some filament.

Shrinkage is nearly non-existant. It holds size very well, internal and external features print well. I once printed a 12mm square boss and a 12mm square hole, the parts slid right together quite tight, the layers making a zipping sound as they went together.

It can be stringy. I haven't had much luck with bridging - or if the infill is sparse, the first couple layers don't go down very well.

It likes to collect on the nozzle, turn black and brown then drop onto the part.

Today I printed my first part with support and it broke away quite nicely. I expected it to stick too well. I used 1 full .2mm layer of distance between the part and the support.

Clear(natural) looks good, I like it.
Yellow - ugly color, I used it to print some mechanical stuff and jigs where it doesn't matter.
Black - way too shiny and way black, its hard to look at your part and see what you've made. Its especially hard to see imperfections.

Here are some pictures:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/EsrKAbc.jpg[/img]
Shows clear(members of the 3d printer frame), yellow(elbows) and black - hard to see on the black melamine. I also included a Taulman 910 part to see how it looks different than natural nylon.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/E3Ues75.jpg[/img]
Left PETG, right ABS. The PETG part is stronger, the ABS part had tabs break off(there are snap-fit tabs on the back side). You can see how shiny and dark the plastic is. The picture doesn't do justice.

The spool:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7hl0peS.jpg[/img]

[JFettig]

Quick update - I printed a second part, this time onto glue all/water mixture applied to glass at 75C, it stuck pretty well. The first layer was a little odd but it stayed down nicely.

[nitewatchman]

I have just gotten several rolls of the PETG this week and my first attempts left a little to be desired. Even though I am using an E3Dv6 nozzle, I haven't edited the firmware to raise the max hotend temperature. I have tried at various temps up to 240C and the higher temps look better but still not good enough.

Guess I will have to figure out how to edit the firmware to raise the max temp and keep plugging at it.

Your prints look like you have found the sweet spot or you are at least in the same zip code. .

gary

[JFettig]

I've had plenty of failed prints too. Temperature seems color dependent - I'm printing at 240C with black right now and its working well.

Clear needs more temp than both black and yellow.

[teoman]

Any chance it is printable with the stock hotend?

[JFettig]

Sure, at the right speeds.

[mvansomeren]

I've been using Alchement white PETG for some time now. It prints well at 235* with a bed temp of 95* on glue stick. I have not had any failed prints. My only complaint is that it tends to ooze from the hotend. It's fine when its printing but just before the print starts, it oozes quite a bit.

The prints are strong and there is no shrinking or warping.