MakerGear Forum

I just started the learning curve on some 3D Solutech Clear PETG. I know I will never get a truly transparent print, even with 100% infil, but my first attempt is very frosted internally from the default Simplify3D "fast honeycomb" infil pattern. I'm trying a rectilinear pattern now, and it doesn't look much better.

One thing I noticed is that the perimeters look pretty good. They aren't exactly clear, but they aren't nearly as frosted as the infil material. I can increase the number of perimeter passes to take advantage of that. I will check in a preview, but I'm not sure what happens if I pick (for example) 6 perimeter passes, but there is a thin section of the model that is only 8 passes wide. Hopefully it is smart enough to dance around that...

One other thing I've learned is that if you've run red filament on your last job, no matter how clean you think you've got it, the first print comes out slightly pink... I used a foot or more of eSun's cleaning filament, but I guess that wasn't enough.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hotter, slower, fatter layers. That's really all you can do.

Increasing the number of perimeter passes seems to help a lot. I've also got the infil set to run linearly, parallel to the perimeter in the most critical part of the model. I may have to tweak the dimensions a bit. The thickness in that region doesn't work out close to a clean multiple of the extrusion width, and it wan'ts to leave a small gap in the middle. That dimension isn't crucial, so I can adjust it to get a better fit.

I've already max'd out the recommended temperature at 220C, which seems awfully low for PETG. I may try kicking that up a bit further. I'm printing fairly slowly, but I can try dropping that as well.

Thanks!

What's it going to hurt if you do a test print at half the speed you're at now, and 260C? You may fail a single print, whooptie do.

I've adjusted the model dimensions, and will try going hot & slow on the next iteration. It's probably good enough at the moment, but I'd like to dial it in a bit more for more critical applications in the future. It takes only about an hour to spit out a test.

I really should learn how to print with multiple processes so I can step a few options overnight...

Using a larger nozzle will help too.

This job isn't critical enough to warrant buying a bigger nozzle, but If I can get semi-decent results with the stock one, I'll be that much better off if/when I need to get fancy.

I think I've run out of tweaks to the model. Now I'm just going to be experimenting with higher temperatures & slower print speeds.