I had a theoretical interest in making/3D printing for ages, but never had an opportunity to justify a purchase until now. I’m mostly interested in transparent PETG, but decided to play it safe and start with simple PLA parts.
Here;s my very first print, Everything out of the box, “Starter” PLA from Rosa 3D at 200C, the big string was caused by me needing to pause the print (I was mopping the floor of the room the printer was in and it started to make crackling noises, I decided it’s air moisture and paused until the floor got dry again.) Other than not mopping up while printing and finding a place with less dust and cat hair, does it look OK? And what would be the roadmap to transparent PETG from here?
Looks pretty good. You got it to stay on the build plate ! That’s a good start
Definitely keep the humidity low in the room… Use a filament dryer, dehumidifier or dehydrator.
. For PETG you would need to run a higher temp. Also, and this is important you will need some kind of glue for the PETG but not for sticking to the plate but as a release agent. PETG sticks very well and can ruin the plate trying to pull it off without some kind of release agent. I’ve used a glue stick but other members would give you some ideas about what else they use…
Looks a good print. PETG is good at giving stringy prints, you seem to have avoided that. Definitely get a dryer unless you live in a desert. You mention clear PETG, don’t get your hopes too high best I have achieved is translucent.
Thanks!
That was a PLA run, I’ll try PETG sometime next week, once I build up confidence with fun easy stuff and yea, I know I won’t get it completely clear, but translucent should be good enough for what I have in mind.
Thanks!
Glue stick as in PVA-based? Would liquid PVA work?
For humidity, the place is reasonably dry most of the time, I hope to get away with storing filament with lots of silica gel, if that doesn’t work, I’m going to get a dryer…
I’ve been using the elmers washable school glue stick in disappearing purple, (I believe it is a PVP), with petg and pla (depending on the 3d model) and it works like a champ on a PEI plate. I don’t use the stock V3 SE plate because I had to many over-sticking problems.
You just need to wash the glue of the PEI plate after a couple of prints or after every print if you’re not lazy like me. A little dish soap and water is perfect. You will have to also wash the glue off the bottom of your prints too. Especially if you’re lazy and don’t wash the PEI plate every print.
If you get a PEI plate remember to let it cool before trying to remove your prints. They stick the best when it’s hot but pop right off when cold.
Thanks!
Since the OP I actually did a few gluestick prints (and yes, they’re PVP here as well) was freaked out the 1st time, seeing the white spot on the plate, then realized that’s just how gluestick residue under the model looks like
I have a preferred gluestick (its from a store called Tesco). I have tried hairspray but couldn’t get that to work. Was reading the other day that one buy used hairgel, no idea the brand, Not tried that one yet but I see that it could work. I like the buildplate that came with my Qidi printer, its like the gold PEI but is super grippy, not needed glue once, just a wipe of IPA. PETG and PLA both grip well and release when cold. No matter which build plate I use and gluestick TPU is the one that sticks the most for me.
After three years of using a glass plate and purple glue sticks, I bought PEI plates from Amazon. I’ll never go back to the glass/glue setup.
Afterward, I bought a new Ender KE which came with its own PEI plate. That plate didn’t work at all as well as the $14.00 one I bought on Amazon. The newest Amazon Plate is on it right now.
All my printers have Fysetc PEI plates, even the Ender 5 plus which was glass. The V3SE original plate was too grippy and ripped itself to shreds. All machines except the Qidi.
Hello. I use a spray called 3dlac, you need a really thin dusting of it and i will never use anything else now. Never had a loose print since and they pop off sheets and glass after it cools. The last tin i had lasted around 6-7 months using it regularly.
