Makergeeks PETG issues...HELP!

[PeterT]

I’ll try to keep the story short…

Been having issues with this material. Was using standard PETG config in S3D but with higher temps per the instructions on the spool. No luck. Spoke to Makergeeks. (very responsive). Told me the formulation of their PETG is the same as t-glase, so use that. Tried t-glase settings in S3D. No luck. Moved to Cura (I have used Cura extensively prior to S3D). Loaded up both of the Lulzbot configs for t-glase in Cura. No luck (see pics).

Further, I went ahead and did a round of atomic pulls to ensure my nozzle was clear (I had been pushing clean extrusions, but wanted to be certain).

Symptoms are consistent; I get to the forward deck on Benchy, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less, and the filament grinds out in the extruder. I have tried other models with similar results. I did manage to get a 40mm cube out of it, but that seems to have been dumb luck.

I am at a complete loss and would appreciate ANY help at this point. I think I pissed away a quarter of my spool with nothing but recycling fodder.

[Sebastian]

Maybe your idler tension isn’t set high enough? 270° is quite high for PETG, is your hot end fan working properly? Could be heat creep.

Edit: Please post your retraction settings. Could also be related to this - your benchy is failing when the retraction count gets higher…

[PeterT]

I doubt it heat creep. See image.

May be Idler, but I have tried various tension, to the point that I snapped the arm

Hot end fan is definitely spinning freely.

Retraction is 10mm/s for 1mm. Minimum Travel 1.5mm. Minimal travel before retracting .02mm. Combing “all”.

The high temp is due to the feedback from Makergeeks. They say the PETG formulation is the same as t-glase, and the spool is marked as 260c, and that’s what I’m printing at, not 270. (And yes, I thought that was high too.)

[kcchen_00]

My first thought was heat creep also… but seeing your image, now I’m wondering if its too much cooling on the heater block.

Try a piece of tape to over the lower half of the box fan. This will keep the heater block and nozzle hot to keep the filament moving…

[PeterT]

Ooh. That’s a good one. OK, well, I have to revert to ABS and print a project for work, but that will be my next test. Thanks!

[PeterT]

Well, tried various degrees of reducing the extruder cooling fan with no effect

What kills me is the guys at makergeeks insist the the PETG formula is the same as t-glase, and to just use the standard profile in Cura. I’ve been trying that as well as S3D profiles, and nothing seems to create a finished print.

I think I have $33 worth of useless filament at this point (besides the countless hours of sitting in front of the computer and printer )

[Sebastian]

Try to print one quite slow, everything else to default. What’s the maximum speed used in the default profile?
Maybe start printing at 40mm/s at max. 0.25mm layer height.

[CheeseJam]

While I have had some problems with their PLA, their PET has worked just fine for me with normal t-glase settings on my Lulzbot Mini. You really have to fine tune PET profiles so it is extruding just the right amount.

[PeterT]

Try to print one quite slow, everything else to default. What’s the maximum speed used in the default profile?
Maybe start printing at 40mm/s at max. 0.25mm layer height.

The default in Cura is 20mm/s with a layer height of .3, no fan. (This is the t-glase “Strength” profile)

I’ve upped the flow rate to 105% to see if that helps. Currently printing, but haven’t reached the general fail point yet. Stay tuned…

EDIT: Nope. Same failure

[Sebastian]

20mm/s is awsome slow… Thats realy strange! Last thing I would check is if the hobbed bolt is clean.
Are you sure that the nozzle temperature stays constant during the hole print?

I’m running out of ideas…

[kmanley57]

250 Degrees and 50 MM/sec is what I printed some last week at without any issues. But then I never really have issues, just learning opportunities!

[PeterT]

20mm/s is awsome slow… Thats realy strange! Last thing I would check is if the hobbed bolt is clean.
Are you sure that the nozzle temperature stays constant during the hole print?

I’m running out of ideas…

Right?!?! Tell me about it.

Hobbed bolt clean as a whistle. Cleaned it between each run. Temp is rock steady.

For the life of me, I just don’t understand why it would strip the filament no matter what adjustments I try; temp, retraction length, retract. speed, overall speed, idler tension… man, I am stumped. I’m going to ask Taulman for a sample of their t-glaze and see if I still have issues. If it prints, then I have to say that it is a problem with the filament.

[ttabbal]

Out of curiosity, I decided to try printing Benchy. I’ve never tried it before, and I’m satisfied with the first print. I opened a fresh roll of Makergeeks PETG. The color sticker on the side says “HD Dark Blue”. I didn’t do any cleanup on the print. There are some areas that could be improved, but that’s mostly down to slicer settings. I also attached the FFF file exported from S3D. I had to ZIP it, as FFF files aren’t allowed for some reason.

There are a couple things to note if you want to try the FFF file. I’m on a Mini, so the start gcode script has the wipe and auto-leveling stuff in it. There is also a Z-Offset to accommodate my Zebra plate. I’m a tiny bit close, and there is a little over-extrusion, but I can read the letters on the bottom of the print.

The FFF is what I’ve come up with over a fair bit of PETG printing with eSun and Makergeeks. I didn’t modify it for this test as I was curious to see how it did with a hard print like Benchy. The only change I made was to measure the filament width in a few places and use that in S3D. I hope the info is helpful to someone.

TT-PET-0.2-Zebra.fff.zip (3.49 KB)

[PeterT]

Wow, just saw this. I’ll try it out today and report back. Thanks!!!

[EDIT]

OK, applied these settings, and all I can say is, wow. I can’t believe that I went from 100% fail, and no clue how to improve it, to this…