Best PETG for printing

[dakk50]

I print nearly exclusively in ABS. It prints cleaner and slightly quicker than PETG and my end result is smoother IMO. You also don't have to deal with the transparency. Though I do have an enclosed printer which makes a lot of the typical hassle of ABS printing go away.
I do have some OG prints done in PLA that are sitting in my tanks that have held up with no noticeable degradation over approximately 18 months, but its hard to say whether or not that is typical.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Generally speaking ABS, PLA and PETG is safe. The only thing that will potentially be toxic would be the coloring pigment the filament uses. Just check the vendor.

When in doubt stick with PETG.


Printing with bambu lab X1

 

[ilikefish69]

There might be truth to that. Only because, certain PETG brands seem to get brittle in saltwater over time. I don't think that's across the board, but filament manufacturer add other materials to their PETG blend to make them print better. Which in turn, might make them incompatible with our tanks long term.

That can also explain water absorption across different brands. PETG is supposed to be really good at rejecting water absorption, but I've made parts with tight movable tolerances. Some filaments kept that tight tolerance while others absorb water, expand and bind after a few days in saltwater.

I'm not sure if ABS/ASA get the same treatment to improve printing experience though. It would be a good experiment to conduct. I rarely print stuff for saltwater out of it.

will you let me know secret secret plastic , the PETG stuff. i love making new plastic hot and seeing what happens and if you have a stamp of approval it is worth my $17-23 , hopefully ! any more than that i gotta do some calculating

 

[ilikefish69]

I print nearly exclusively in ABS. It prints cleaner and slightly quicker than PETG and my end result is smoother IMO. You also don't have to deal with the transparency. Though I do have an enclosed printer which makes a lot of the typical hassle of ABS printing go away.
I do have some OG prints done in PLA that are sitting in my tanks that have held up with no noticeable degradation over approximately 18 months, but its hard to say whether or not that is typical.

what would you consider the most budget friendly way to get an enclosed printer ? Buying one with , or adding it after ? I know absolutely nothing about enclosures. But i also put air pods in my ears and dont listen to music to drown out sound of printers. soooooooooooo

 

[ilikefish69]

Generally speaking ABS, PLA and PETG is safe. The only thing that will potentially be toxic would be the coloring pigment the filament uses. Just check the vendor.

When in doubt stick with PETG.


Printing with bambu lab X1

Bambu ! Tell us everything ! What you love ! What you hate (if anything) ! I know nothing !

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Bambu ! Tell us everything ! What you love ! What you hate (if anything) ! I know nothing !

Haha yea such great machine. If your willing to spend a bit its totally worth it. Coming from someone who has owned over 7 printers with modifications.

I've had mine since April of 2023. Its a work horse that's for sure. I've thrown everything at it and it just performs. Coming from a Prusa if that says anything lol. I've had only a few clogs with some abrasive filaments. I did swap out the nozzle once. I do mainly print PLA and PETG.

I'm sitting at about 3.5k hours on the machine with no component failures besides your wear and tear. Rods and belts are all fine. I'd imagine maybe another 1-2k hours belts will need replacing.

What I like:
1. Easy setup
2. Built in camera with control functions. This is so big I never realized I needed it.
3. Simplicity of their slicer software. I know its fork. But idk I like it more.
4. Full auto leveling. There is really nothing close to bambu's level. I have never stressed about an uneven bed since getting this printer. Unless its a warped bed issue. I am tossing on some glue and hitting print.
5. Did I mention its fast? For your typical parts, especially for tanks. You pump out parts quick!
6. I'm not spending my time troubleshooting a problem. I've had my fill of building, fixing and modifying 3d printers. I just want to print things now and not fix things.

What I don't like:
They don't have a bigger one!

 

[dakk50]

what would you consider the most budget friendly way to get an enclosed printer ? Buying one with , or adding it after ? I know absolutely nothing about enclosures. But i also put air pods in my ears and dont listen to music to drown out sound of printers. soooooooooooo

Purely budget friendly it is best to make your own enclosure. there are a lot of tutorials using the IKEA Lack tables and plexiglass. I have a bambu P1S and it came with an enclosure so i havent had to worry about that.

 

[ilikefish69]

Haha yea such great machine. If your willing to spend a bit its totally worth it. Coming from someone who has owned over 7 printers with modifications.

I've had mine since April of 2023. Its a work horse that's for sure. I've thrown everything at it and it just performs. Coming from a Prusa if that says anything lol. I've had only a few clogs with some abrasive filaments. I did swap out the nozzle once. I do mainly print PLA and PETG.

I'm sitting at about 3.5k hours on the machine with no component failures besides your wear and tear. Rods and belts are all fine. I'd imagine maybe another 1-2k hours belts will need replacing.

What I like:
1. Easy setup
2. Built in camera with control functions. This is so big I never realized I needed it.
3. Simplicity of their slicer software. I know its fork. But idk I like it more.
4. Full auto leveling. There is really nothing close to bambu's level. I have never stressed about an uneven bed since getting this printer. Unless its a warped bed issue. I am tossing on some glue and hitting print.
5. Did I mention its fast? For your typical parts, especially for tanks. You pump out parts quick!
6. I'm not spending my time troubleshooting a problem. I've had my fill of building, fixing and modifying 3d printers. I just want to print things now and not fix things.

What I don't like:
They don't have a bigger one!

are you supposed to replace belts?
camera sounds amazing.
slicers get updated so often and everyones still fighting to be "the best" i think at this point in time the best thing to do is to try multiple, so you understand what a "slicer" is, does. look at all of the settings . print with bad settings, then print with good settings. then do it in another slicer. then another one. then more settings. then see what others do. then go back and figure it out yourself. then tell others once you feel confident enough to not make yourself look stupid.
i am not arguing, I am 100% agreeing with you. I sit at my desk and slice , send that file to my printer from my computer, it starts. i stand up to go get what printed and go sit back down. that file is forever saved on my printer. a picture of it, how long it prints, other extremely helpful information. also , now that I have 2, printer A has on it what i want to have printer B print. I can (while it is printing) violate that printer with a USB drive, pull the file i want to print off it it, load it onto other printer, and permanently keep it there. I dont yet fully understand it, i assume it is relatively new with the Creality software, but if not its new to me and amazing. try a PEI sheet, Fugacity is my favorite brand because it sounds like a bad word aimed at some poor city.
I havent been able to print PETG any faster than about 400 mm/s , the limit for me starts to become the plastic and not the printer. if a Bambu can honestly print PETG without needing to sand, deburr, the items significantly faster than 400 mm/s , that would be the first reason i would look into switching from one to the other
the first Ender 3 V3 KE I purchased was sometime in January or February, and I went back less than a month to get the second, a third and fourth as soon as I can afford , should not be long. I shoudn't need more than 4 printers all running as essentially one well oiled machine i hope..

what i dont like:

their stupid creality print slicer doesnt have horizontal expansion that will change the print at all. while that doesnt seem like a big deal, it is enough for me to have to keep the 5.7.0 beta Cura installed to print with horizontal expansion, run two slicers, and keep me from being able to truly operate from slicer directly to printer. No word on if/when it will be fixed.