Ive been using the Flash forge creator pro for a while now, but am reluctant to use dual extrusion often because I cannot find a support material that works with my favorite filament, PETG.
Does anyone know a dissolvable support material that will work with PETG?
I don’t know about PETG specifically, but in general HIPS works well as a support material for a lot of plastics, particularly ABS, and PVA works well for PLA. However, HIPS needs limonene to be dissolved, and PVA is notoriously tricky to print properly (if held for a long time at high temperature, it will crystallize in the nozzle).
I’ve done a lot of research into printing with PLA and ABS, but find very little information about people actually printing with PETG. I’ve found a handful of blog posts and I hear that PETG is very bad for bridging (thus your question). In addition to the HIPS and PVA that @karlzhao314 mentioned, you may also try using PLA as the support material and dissolving the PLA once you’re printing is complete. The PETG TG temperature high enough that I think you should be able to separate it from the PLA with the same method here. See: https://airwolf3d.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000626735-dissolving-pla 258
Could you share some more information about why PETG is your favorite filament? Do you anticipate that more people will be migrating to PETG printing? Why or why not? I’m getting ready to do some PETG vs PLA and PETG vs ABS testing. Very curious if you have any other PETG filament experiences that you can share with us.
Thanks so much.
I love PETG because it prints with little warping, prints with nearly the ease of using PLA, and the layers adhere with an unprecedented amount of strength. On top of that the best quality is (as with any PET base) it is extremely strong, and very heat resistant. Additionally, I pay about $20 per KG (about the same you would pay for PLA or ABS) and it comes in an abundance of colors. In other words, it is nearly the perfect filament.
It prints slow though. About 2000mm/min
Yes, I see many people migrating to PETG. ABS is nearly useless in my opinion. It prints too soft, warps on anything mid size and up, and it shrinks in random spots. PLA, although it prints fast, and beautifully, is not particularly strong, resists no heat and is super brittle. As 3D printers are coming further and further along more machines every day become capable of printing PETG. Engineers like me, made it first priority to discover the best in 3d printing filament for our printers, mostly because the things we print often are used as working, or structural parts. However the people who have no need for structure (the people using their printers to make statues, and “sit on the counter” models) have no reason to stray from PLA.
The biggest problem using PETG on a FFCP is that the PTFE tubes jam more often than usual. As a result I’m looking into sticking some all metal hot ends on my printer. Would really like to see if someone has gotten 2 v6’s on there.
I forgot to mention in my OP that I use simplify 3D for slicing, so I have no need for standard dissolvable support, as my generated support peels right off of the print. The types of support I use for dual extrusion are drawn in from my 3d modeling software and imported as a separate file, then I print is as if it were one piece (much like a dual color print). Using this method insures that you can print ANYTHING within the constraints of the bed size, no matter how complex and it will always come out perfect.
Hi, can you please tell me where do you buy the petg from? I just bought a roll on Amazon and I paid it about 40€, so it would be great to lower the price… Thanks a lot!
I buy it from a chain computer and electronics shop called microcenter. You can get the same filament off of amazon though. I buy inland. Its cheap and generally pretty good. esun also offers petg at a low price point, however I don’t like esun. The filament is garbage, and the spools all tangled causing failed extrusion if you don’t keep your eye on it feeding into the printer.
Hi,
It sounds like you’re running the exact same set up as me (Creator Pro, Symplify and just starting out with PETG).
So far all my attempts have failed - even a 20mm cal cube.
Would you mind sharing your PETG process file?
Sorry if I’m not supposed to ask on here, first posting on the group but have spent days struggling to get anywhere near completing one PETG print.
Thanks.
