this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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3DPrinting

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PETG Printing advice? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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I'm pretty new to PETG, and have been really struggling with it compared to PLA. My latest print of this part is dimensionally accurate, but I need it to be air tight. It is very much not at the moment.

I have a Flashforge Adventurer 3, so the hot end and nozzle are one interchangeable unit. My higher temp nozzle is 0.6mm. My 0.3mm is only capable of 240. My last print was 0.2mm layers, with the 0.6mm nozzle at 245C. I used 15% overlap on my walls, and in order to keep my nice dimensions I had my cooling fan on.

Anybody have any advice on how to improve the seal? I'm tempted to try more overlap, with random start locations per layer. Do you think if I run it hotter I can get the layers a little thinner? Any advice would be appreciated.

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[–] DrNeurohax@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I agree. Especially on slowing down the speed.

A few other things to consider:

  • Backing off the extruder a smidge can help.
  • There's so much variation in PETG filament between brands that I would do a temp tower, just to be sure. I've had "PETG" that worked best @ 235C and 260C.
  • Play with retraction. It looks like that printer has a Bowden setup, so the range of length can vary a bit, but I've had success turning retraction off, as well as setting it to 6.5mm. It kinda depends on the geometry and filament heat retention.
  • I try to avoid getting near the printed part during travel - there's always some little hair that catches the nozzle as it flies by.

And like others said, coat it with something to fill in the tiny pores. I generally have some thin epoxy lying around for stuff like table tops. You can basically use anything as a colorant in it. It very slightly yellows with UV exposure, but the worst I've seen the decent stuff get is similar to a very slightly warm white from an incandescent bulb. A tiny touch of blue should make it weather nicely.