Printing with Pet-G on the A30

[Seriogal]

Forgot - I use Kapton tape on top of original Geetech glass. Otherwise PETG does not stick well.

[CallXYZ]

That looks good. PETG is a good material.
I print with 230C on the first layer and 228C for the rest.
I use about 85C on the first layer for the Heatbed and 80C for the rest.
It really depends on the filament.

Getting a good bed adhesion with PETG is really not easy.
I need to try this Kapton tape

[BobaLives]

Thank you for posting back. I have been continuing to play with the settings, but will definitely look to upgrade some parts on the A30 and slow it down more. I have only printed with PETG since I received this printer with some decent prints. I am using Hero3D PETG and AmazonBasics, the Hero3D seems to print better than the AmazonBasic. It could have been the extruder tip was dirty, or the filament had moisture. I think I am getting close to a good Cura profile for 0.4mm nozzle, I want to try a 0.6mm nozzle for larger and quicker prints. Here is T-Rex skull with Hero3D PETG and 0.4mm tip, 0.2mm layer height, 53% print speed, 240/75 temp. There is still definitely some tweaking I need to do. The camera on my phone sucks, sorry if not great quality pics. Not a whole lot of stringing, only really between the teeth and couple non-support overhang droops. It is getting close.

[CallXYZ]

That T-Rex Skull looks cool. I have printed it aswell but much smaller.
Since I also still fiddeling with the settings, I don't risk very long prints yet.
But what do you mean with "53% print speed"?
In Cura the speed is in mm/s. I print PETG with 60mm/s and for the first layer I use 10mm/s. Some people even just use 8mm/s
The problem I have is, that no matter what I do, always minor warping occurs here and there.
It also does not matter if I print on the glass bed or on Blue Tape. I still need to try Kapton Tape.
PETG is a good material but it is not that easy to work with as everybody says.
If you want really good prints, you need to test a lot.
I also believe, it is better to have the printer in a housing in order to get a stable temperature inside.
Building this should be very easy.

Regarding the A30, I think it is a great 3D printer for not so much money.
With that quite low price, it is normal, that not all components are top grade.
There is definetly a lot of room to improve. But still, the printer is capable to print quite nicely and accurate in its standard configuration.
This is very good for people who want to start. Good results encourage more than only bad ones

[BobaLives]

Thank you for replying. I will definitely keep test printing and try to fine tune the settings with PETG. I do have plans to build an enclosure out of T-Slotted extrusion bar, backer board and some tempered glass.

I just need to figure out what is causing some z-banding and stringing now that I switched to a 0.6mm nozzle tip, It was minimal with the 0.4mm tip, but way more evident with the 0.6mm. More setting adjustments...ugh.

In my initial post I meant 53mm/s for print speed, not %. I want to print faster, but I want detail and a cleaner print, so sticking with slower speeds.

If anyone has some fine tuned cura settings, or tips and tricks for printing PETG (or any filament, flex, pla/pla+, abs, nylon, etc etc) that a noob like myself can try, please post them.

[CallXYZ]

During my research for PETG, I found that most people who talk about the subject online, advice quite low print speeds for petg.
I am sure there are ways to improve speed and or quality but with the A30 standard config it is better to print the material slower.

Oh and I believe, that the A30 in standard config can only print up to 250C. I guess Nylon is out of the question unless you do a mod.

Unfortunately, the A30 really has z-banding. I had no time to look into this matter so far.
Maybe you can share your findings

[William]

Hi, For PETG consumables print range you can refer to this:https://www.simplify3d.com/support/mate ... uide/petg/
For the printing range of nylon consumables, you can refer to this:https://www.simplify3d.com/support/mate ... ide/nylon/
I hope this can help you.