Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

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zemlin
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Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by zemlin » Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:19 am

I've been running a lot of eSun PETG over the last few months - mostly black.
I have a couple parts to run and nobody had the eSun in stock - so I ordered Hatchbox.
I ran Hatchbox PETG this spring and it was fine. Seemed to be about the same as eSun, but needed to run a little hotter.

The first thing I do with a new material is run a calibration cross to get my scaling and offset figured out. Often times I'll break the calibration part when I'm done with the measurements just to see how strong the part is.

The part i need to run is fairly big - .6kg of material - so I'm running the .5 nozzle, .6 width, and .3 layers - and 265C for the Hatchbox material. The Hatchbox filament printed much cleaner than eSun. Barely any stringing. I always get some little nerds on the outside of the eSun PETG parts. Not blobs - almost like bubbles, but not that either. The Hatchbox material was nearly flawless on the surface. Solid infill on the top surface was about the same between the two. FWIW, I've tried 265 on the eSun material, but it was more brittle than at 255.

When I broke the Hatchbox part, it was FAR tougher than the eSun material. I got substantial plastic deformation before it snapped, and it's less elastic than the eSun too, when flexing. For now, I'm sold. Hatchbox will be my goto PETG.

I'll also mention that I've started running PETG on Hairspray, and I'm lovin' that. Hairspray hasn't worked for ABS or ePC, but it's sweet on the PETG. I might rough up my MIC6 plate a little more to see if that helps the hairspray bond for ABS. I should also mention that my machine is in a heated enclosure - I run it at 50C for PETG. Don't know how much of a factor that is.

Hatchbox has been my standard ABS material for at least 6 months. Their black was out of stock everywhere, so I ordered eSun ABS (not ABS+) ... so I'll be interested to see how the two brands compare in the ABS ... which should happen over the weekend.

hybridprinter
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by hybridprinter » Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:30 pm

are you still noticing consistent better quality/strength results in the Hatchbox PETG over the eSun PETG? what color(s) have you tried?

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zemlin
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by zemlin » Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:54 pm

I haven't been breaking all the parts I make :-) - but build quality is still looking outstanding. I have only run black.

hybridprinter
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by hybridprinter » Tue Mar 07, 2017 12:04 am

is one black color more glossy looking than the other?

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zemlin
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by zemlin » Tue Mar 07, 2017 12:32 am

Gloss is comparable between the two. The Hatchbox is slightly lighter in color compared to the eSun, but it's very slight and I don't think it would be noticed without the two parts in close proximity. The Hatchbox PETG color matches the Hatchbox ABS black pretty closely.

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pyronaught
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by pyronaught » Fri Mar 17, 2017 3:33 am

I've been evaluating Mic6 plates with hairspray recently myself. I get super results holding down PLA, but PETG barely sticks at all. If I really squish the first PETG layer down I can manage to get a part out, but the slightest little thing will cause a peel-up on the first layer and then it's all downhill from there as the nozzle will stick to the lifted area and drag the rest of the part off the plate with ease. The only thing that allows me to complete a PETG part at all is the fact that it doesn't warp, as there isn't much hold-down force at all. The completed part lifts off without much effort, even on a hot plate. The only variable I can see between what I'm doing and the success others are having is the brand of hairspray. I use pump spray rather than aerosol, and I dump it into a squirt bottle and squirt a puddle onto the plate and spread it around with a napkin prior to heating the plate. I don't want airborne hairspray particles getting on my machine and gumming it up, so this method solves that problem. I also wipe the old hairspray off with alcohol and put a new layer on for each new part so that I know I'm starting with the same exact surface each time. With PLA the bond is better than anything else I've ever tried, I can print huge parts that span the whole plate to within 1/4" of the edge and have never had a corner lift. I just wish I could get that kind of result with the other filament types. The thing that is nice about PEI is that it seems to hold every kind of filament down equally well-- I just have problems with it pulling off the plate over time as it ages.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

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jimc
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by jimc » Sat Mar 18, 2017 12:57 am

not all hairsprays work for 3d printing. I have been printing nothing but petg for 3 years now on a mic6 plate. I have lost track of how much I have been through. well over 100kg spools. petg should lock down to the right hairspray no problem. you want garnier fructise extreme control #5. green can, black cap. take the plate off the printer and make sure you clean it with hot water to dissolve any residue. you don't need alcohol or anything special. sink, hot water, scrube side of a sponge and that's it. dry it off. spray 2 good wet coats on the plate. that should be all you need. in between prints just pull the plate off and all you need is a 1/2 second quick mist. after maybe 10-15 prints, wash off in hot water and start again. if the plate is hot with petg prints on it you will need a heavy duty scraper to get them off. let the plate cool and the parts pop right off. print with the bed at 80c. you do not need to squish the 1st layer. actually with petg you cant. it will make a mess. ist layer should print just like all the others.

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zemlin
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by zemlin » Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:47 pm

I am using the #5 Fructis recommended by JimC. The first can I got at Target, but it seems they are dropping the line.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0177 ... UTF8&psc=1

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jimc
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by jimc » Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:31 pm

I always get mine right at walmart

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pyronaught
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Re: Hatchbox PETG - Looking Good!

Post by pyronaught » Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:45 pm

I would like to find a non-aerosol hairspray that works good. The nice thing about the pump sprays is that you can empty them out into a plastic squirt bottle and then just squirt some on the plate and spread it around with a napkin without having to remove the plate each time. Spraying a plate with an aerosol can while it is sitting on the machine is not something I am interested in doing, as the mist will get all over the machine and gum it up over time. I can't find a Garnier spray rated to #5 in a non-aerosol bottle though, I only see them go as high as #4.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

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