Hi everybody, I saw many posts of how difficult it can be to print PETG.
I am currently experiencing similar problems and am trying different settings for now more than 2 weeks with no success.
It all starts with adhesion problems at the brim especially with bigh pieces that nearly reach the end of print bed.
My setup:
X1C with High Temp Plate (Glue applied)
PolyLite PETG Black
I have tried all configurations I can think of. Slow-Fast, 230-270°, 50-90° Bed Temp
My problem is, that especially with bigger prints that reach to the edges I have serious adhesion problems or at least the lines from the brim look really wiggly. Also the infill just randomly rips of the plate.
These first 3 images show what i mean with “wobbly” at the border on the left and also a bit on the right side. I have tried many configurations but nothing helped.
The other 4 images show different tries to print a big plane. It mostly already failed at the brim. In the infill you can see different shades of black cause I were experimenting with speed and temperatures during print. It mostly seemed like hotter bed and temp helped a bit but never for the wobbly behaviour at he borders.
I hope thats not to many photos but maybe it helps and maybe also someone still has hint for me. I may get myself a different PETG after reading how sensitive some PETGs seem to be.
Also I just started a print with the Textured Plate and Adhesions seems to be way better but the wobble at the left and right border still happened.
As I understood it Bambu suggests the High Temp plate for PETG, so what am I doing wrong. Cause I have tried so many different configurations I don’t think it makes sense to post one specifig config.
For the Textured Plate I am now trying the generic profile with only changes at the retraction tab according to PolyLite specs.
Ya not looking to good you might want to try the orca slicer and manual calibrate your petg filament or have you done this already ?
Check that you bed it flat with a straight edge
Set first Layer height .24 or .28 will help with petg
Texture plate 75c should work and wash it with hot water and dish soap you want all the oils off it.
I agree with the OrcaSlier recommend. I wrote a long PSA about it you might check it out (Click the Blue Link).
It can coexist with BL Studio and they share 95% of things, but it specifically has Two or Three click Calibrations that handle most of the “this Filament doesn’t behave” issues we see here.
You ryn the tests and save them to a new Filament Profile, after that when you use that filament it’s a one click matter to be dialed in.
You can continue to use BL Studio of you wish but they’re so similar most people stay with it.
Be sure to follow the links in that post, you’ll see it’s easy even if you’re new, super easy if you’re experienced.
Cheers!
EDIT: There are also known issues with the Bed having a warp. It’s the longest thread on here! There are fixes, but try dialing in the filament first, it’s a one time thing for each filament, well worth the effort.
At first the print with the Textured Plate succeeded but even there the first layer was not perfect…
I will definitely try out the OrcaSlicer the next days. The one time filament calibration is something I am really missing in Bambu Studio. It only works perfect with their own filaments but they don’t offer all materials like PETG so this is a feature they should add. Will try that.
About print bed warp. Just checked from left to right and seems like I have a warped one with about 1mm gap in the middle. With other filaments that was never a problem cause maybe auto bed leveling compensated it but maybe this is the cause of the problem. When I come home I will try to make some photos and post them here.
I also found a post in the Warped bed thread where someone had a warped bed from front to back on the left side which also caused nearly the exact same adhesion problems so I will definetly check if mine is affected as well.
Will keep you guys updated and thanks for the advices!
So I just checked the bed warp: From left to right there seems to be a slight warp where the middle is about 0.5mm lower then the left and right edge. But nothing from front to back on the left or right edge.
For whatever reason I now cannot upload images. Always get the error “Access denied” even when it worked yesterday.
I am currently running the calibration tests from OrcaSlicer.
Another question: Are you guys printing PETG with the upper glass removed or not. In the “Filament & plate compatibility” wiki they say it is required but already found posts of people who didn’t remove it cause they said a little bit hotter chamber works better or the cooling from the fan is enough. Am not sure what to do or if this might me the cause.
You’ll like it. The Filament Profiles are easily edited with the settings from Calibration.
Not true! There are a lot of other Filament Profiles if you scroll down further, they’re labeled “Generic” and a couple “Polylite” which is from Polymaker, and a favorite brand of mine.
Most are pretty accurate, but nowhere near as accurate as making your own by calibration, since it’s tuned to that Brand, that Color, and your machine (all machines are slightly different no matter how carefully built.)
BTW- two tips for running the cals - Be sure you uncheckFlow Calibration when you send the print! You don’t want the printer trying to adjust it when printing the tests!! It gives false results. Very easy to miss.
Second - Be sure to save the settings in a new Profile. I like to include the nozzle size for reference as a .8 does not flow like a .4! OPEN IT:
Like my skilled drawing technique?
I have skills, that just ain’t one.
Don’t bother, we know. Look at this thread but don’t panic!!
(EDIT: You found it.)
BL is aware and if you open a Ticket with support they will send you a new bed. But. It may also be warped. Or almost perfect. It’s a craps shoot.
That thread has lots of info on solutions, some are pretty cheap / easy.
Mine has .93mm gap. I’ve used two different thicknesses of aluminum tape, thicker in the middle then tapered off towards the edges. Took under an hour being very meticulous. I now have a virtually flat plate and the excellent BL Auto Bed Level takes care of the rest.
You can also use glass, there’s many discussions in the thread but I know from having done that on several previous printers (for one - my Creality CR-10S bed was a disaster and no amount of pleading would get them to replace it).
I used Mirror Tile bought at Loews in the US - $9 for six tiles! If you think about it, mirrors must be very flat or you see the slightest distortion plainly. Cheap and fast. I may do that too. Since I already have a mostly flat bed I can use a couple dots of high temp silicon (RTV) adhesive on the alum tape and it will be completely reversible.
This “glass bed” fix has been used by thousands, for years it’s been the go-to solution on many printers. Hell, they even sell precut glass sizes on AliExpress it’s so common!
It happens occasionally, it’s the Forum. If you’re using Windows, just place the blinking cursor where you want it and drag the picture from a File Manager window and drop it. Easy.
Opinion and results vary. There’s a number (a couple are loooonnng) threads on PETG if you search. Here’s a jump to what many find is the best settings advice (after, of course the calibrations):
Now, honestly you can get great results with PETG on the BL printers, but there are other filaments that are a whole hell of a lot less trouble now. PETG is a great plastic. When it works, and a nightmare a lot of other times. I’ve slid away from it for most things.
Filament science has made dramatic jumps in the last few years as the 3D printing world has exploded. The $$ for R&D is now available because of huge sales and lots of competition.
PLA+ formulas from many vendors and now machines like the X1C and P1P are readily available with 300°C available some previously “exotic” materials like PC and PA (Nylon blends) other high temp plastics are available with better print and performance than PETG offers.
Sorry I went off on a tangent …
I think I start a thread on this, LOL!
I love you found the Wiki! There’s a mixture of useless and gems in there. Fortunately it tilts towards gems!
Hi @ThanksForAsking. That is a heck of a long reply
I don’t have much time right now but at least a short reply. Will write more details when the tests with OrcaSlicer progress.
While we chat the calibration prints of Orca are running. Thanks for the hint, but luckily I unchecked the Flow calibration.
Image uploading is still not working for me even with your hint. I will try it again this evening.
The one time filament calibration is something I am really missing in Bambu Studio. It only works perfect with their own filaments but they don’t offer all materials like PETG so this is a feature they should add.
I think we had a misunderstanding on that one. I knew that there are generic profiles but in my opinion only the profiles for there own filaments are perfect. The generic one are not bad but sometimes need a bit finetuning. So I would love a feature like in Orca where calibration models are included so that you can quickly create an optimised preset. Maybe in the future even RFID tags for 3rd party filaments.
I also totally agree that there are other filaments these days that seem to print easier with the X1C and are not or just a bit more expensive and even more durable. For example I printed a lot ASA the recent days which worked much easier then PETG. I will also have to try some others like Bambus PET-CF or PAHT-CF or the new PETG-CF which looks very promising for the price.
Thanks for you reply and opinions. Always nice to hear someone elses experience.
Will keep you updated how the prints are running after I calibrated the filament.
A SHORT reply he says. You’re as bloody long winded as me Pal!
Look forward to your report.
Good, easy to miss.
Very odd, but I just did it for you, then on another thread I tried and got the same “Access Denied” 3 minutes later. Must be a Forum error.
I’m pretty sure it’s on BL Studio’s requests list. BL works closely with SoftFever and the latest 1.6.0 Studio just released has some of his code in there. It’s all Open Source so they share. BL is just more … deliberate in their approach. SoftFever is a one-man-band and can respond faster.
RFID - not likely. It’s a big sales advantage to have a ‘drop in and go’ filament. The tags are heavily encrypted according to those who have tried to crack it. It was thoroughly discussed and dropped pretty early on.
Besides. Once you have a 3rd party filament profile saved you have a one click solution for the future. That’s an incredible advance from previous 3D printers where getting one dialed it involve plucking chicken feathers in a Fairy Ring at midnight to get right. Tail feathers, wing won’t do.
BTW - Most times if you use a different color from the same brand you’re good, but if your first print has any issues, run the tests on it and save a new setting for that color. Black, Yellow, and Red seem to have wild variations on some brand, fine on others. Has to do with the Polymer additives. Don’t shoot the messenger.
The BL PAHT-CF works very well.
I shifted away from PETG for most stuff, it’s too temperamental. I like ASA too.
If you’re in the US, you might look at these two:
and this for really “must survive a nuclear drop” -
Not cheap …
Haven’t tried the second, but I love, love, LOVE my PC-MAX. It just works and is so strong. Polymaker has gone from a small high end company to a reasonably price monster with dozens of colors and wide ranges of materials. Very consistent too, with the best documentation going.
Don’t know if you ever saw this from them, but it’s pretty awesome:
Pretty handy for picking a material for a project.
Yeah I know Polymaker. I am from Germany but I still can order most of their stuff over a third party here. After buying the Bambu 2 month ago I looked around a long time and decided to go all way Polymaker cause it really looked like a nice company for filament in my opinion. That’s also why I am so frustrated that the PolyLite PETG causes so many problems, cause with their ASA and PLA I was pretty happy so far.
I will definitely get myself one of this extreme durable filaments from PolyMax. The Power BI Report you sent is really useful. Thanks a lot.
I only printed PETG cause I am / was currently printing a server case for a friend and PLA was not enough temp resistant. I should have just used a different type of filament. ASA… and I would never have had these issues
When the calibrations are done I will try printing the big plane again and see how it manages the first layer. Photos are coming as soon as it works for me.
I was experiencing the same problems with PolyMaker’s PETG. I had nothing but good experiences with their PLA+ so I thought their PETG would be as easy to work with. PETG has been very hit-and-miss between the printers I’ve owned, so I was looking forward to one that was easier to work with.
Unfortunately, this filament went from PETG’s usual issue of being too sticky to not sticking well enough; I could not get the print to stick on the bed as your pictures show. Even washing the print bed with dish-washing liquid couldn’t get it to stick. I read somewhere on here to slow way down for this particular filament and that finally worked for me. 25mm/s first layer speed and a max volumetric speed of 8mm/s for the filament. Then it finally stuck.
You might have a different experience with other brand PETG: I have another roll that is not PolyMaker and it has no issues printing with default settings and speed, for example. In any case, I try to use PLA+ now for “strong” parts since PETG is such a PITA.
Yes diskdefrag pointed out another importing thing with petg they are not all the same even the color will change how they work and some are more speed sensitive than others
ThanksForAsking
I have some old 2018 rolls of eSun PC they don’t even make anymore that prints great on the Bambu Lab so when that all runs out I will switch to the PloyMax PC
Honestly I think I am done now with printing PETG. I may give the spools to a friend how has a MK3S cause I wanna know if it’s the printer or the filament. I also may run one last try with the suggestion to run the first layer with a max of 25mm/s.
Remind me - did we discuss drying? PETG is terribly prone soaking up moisture quickly. Some will be bad in just a few hours of exposure to humid conditions. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen weird things be solved by proper drying.
Well if you did orca slicer and calibrated and set you first layer speeds to 40 / 40 or less I know the bed is off in a few spots but this is real bad by chance did you check the petg roll to see if the filament is 1.75 in a few spots you might just have a bad roll maybe your buddy will let you try one of his rolls of petg to test out so you know what’s going on.
Remind me - did we discuss drying? PETG is terribly prone soaking up moisture quickly. Some will be bad in just a few hours of exposure to humid conditions. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen weird things be solved by proper drying.
About drying the spool. I have 3 spools all brand new and always in vacuum bags with moisture absorber or in the AMS where I have 3 additional absorbers installed in the front + a display where I can see the %. So moisure can not be the problem.
Did you do really accurate bed level?
No I did not do the manual leveling until now. But also there were no problems with other filaments and I also carefull watch it from the front when printing PETG. It never looked like the nozzle height changed but I might give it a try.
check the petg roll to see if the filament is 1.75
Yeah it is But would have been funny if it is not.
Will write an update the next days when I maybe tried some of the above (Manual level, Other filament brand, very slow speed first layer)
Also for me the problem with the wobble brim at the left and right edge do really not sound like bed level etc issues. This is just weird and doesn’t make sense to me.
Do you have same issues with PLA? Did you try to print this huge model with PLA?
I am sure you can resolve this issue with proper bed temp. Today I was able to make high temp PETG to stick to the bed. At anything less than 110 C, it was giving a problem and certain parts that were close to higher cooling, warped and pealed off the bed.
So, what you need to do is make sure that all these remote parts of your print have constant high temp contact with the bed.
Check with thermal camera whether your bed has even distribution of temperature.
What is the highest temp you tried? 80? Try 85 or even 90. At one point, you will reach so high temp that PETG will become softer and there is no reason for it not to stick.
