eSUN – ePLA Matte – Light Khaki -1kg – 1.75mm

HELPFUL TIPS FOR PRINTING WITH PLA/EPLA MATTE FILAMENT:

• PLA Printing Tips – First Layer Adhesion: When 3D Printing with PLA, or pretty much any other polymer for that matter, First-Layer-Adhesion is arguably the most important factor to get right, as it acts as the foundation for the entire print, allowing the print to be printed tall or wide (or both) without any major problems. However, this factor also happens to be one of the more difficult parts to get right for beginners, so we’re here to help you out with our three top tips for first-layer-adhesion, which can also be used on other polymers as well, and they are as follows:
  • The first step to a great first layer is to ensure that the bed,  the X-Axis and the Y-Axis on your machine are all perfectly aligned, and this can be achieved by ensuring that all four sides of your crossbars are angled at exactly 90° from the base, while simultaneously ensuring that the gantry is exactly perpendicular to both side bars too. This is relatively easy to identify with a simple right-angle tool, and dramatically improves your chances of levelling your bed perfectly, as the nozzle should now be the same Z-height at all points on or above the bed.
  • The second step is to drop the z-height down so that the nozzle is ALMOST touching the bed, with a tiny air-gap below the point that’s just barely visible. Then, take a piece of standard (2D) printer paper and slide it gently beneath the nozzle. If the paper slides through without causing any scraping or tugging, you need to drop the nozzle by the smallest amount possible on your machine, before sliding the paper and testing it again. Conversely, if the paper grips too hard, and you struggle to actually move the paper or even slide it under the nozzle initially, then the nozzle is too far down, and you want to raise the nozzle by the smallest increment possible, until you can slide the paper beneath the nozzle with some light “scratching” or grip between the nozzle and bed.
  • The third and final step is then to move the nozzle to different points on the bed, with a primary focus on the four corners and the middle of the bed. And once you’ve gotten that perfect grip on the paper in all of the points you’re checking, you will then have your bed levelled and are pretty much ready for printing!
• PLA Printing Tips – Becoming One with Your Slicer: Although it may not seem obvious at first, after starting with 3D Printing you will soon come to realize that a good print actually begins before the filament is even loaded. In fact, a good print really starts within the software that you use to slice the model, as the slicer is essentially a translator that turns a three-dimensional model into what is known as “G-Code” (No, not the Gangster-Code, the Geometric-Code), which the 3D Printer can then read as instructions on how to build the object. With this in mind, learning the in’s and out’s of whatever slicer software you’re using is fundamental, and the more you get to know the fine details in your software, the better you will be able to translate models into G-Code for awesome results. So, regardless of what Slicer you choose to use, whether it be Cura, Simplify3D or even lesser popular options like MatterControl, you need to master and become one with your slicer, so that nothing will hold you back from turning great designs into effective G-Code for your 3D Printer.
• PLA Printing Tips – Practice & Patience Leads to Perfection: Although there are certainly a lot of things you can do to help enjoy great success with 3D Printing, it’s important to realize that 3D Printing is not easy, and will require a fair amount of patience, practice and learning to get just right. So don’t be scared to experiment if you’re struggling (or if you’re not) so that you can learn even more about your particular 3D Printer, as well as 3D Printing in general, and while not every print will come out perfectly each and every time, remember that each failure is just another step towards success, and every success is another notch in your Maker’s toolbelt of experience.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR 3D PRINTING PLA/EPLA MATTE:

• This is a relatively general Guide on PLA Printing by Simplify3D, world-renowned experts in 3D modelling and Computer Aided Design. It offers so great tips for troubleshooting minor problems, while giving some good general guidelines on how to “dial in” your 3D Printer one step at a time.
• The next awesome resource we have to share is the Awesome Rigid Ink PLA Guide, which offers a mountain-load of insights into the chemical and material composition of PLA, with a slew of great tips and tricks on how to get your PLA looking good (and behaving properly) for every print.
• Because first-layer-adhesion is one of the trickiest factors to get right for beginners (and also veterans sometimes), we feel that this 3D Printer Bed Levelling Guide is a good addition to this collection of resources. It does a great job at explaining why bed levelling is important, what you can expect from a well or poorly levelled bed, as well as some tips on how to make the entire process much easier.
• Finally, this is just a great General 3D Printing Quality Guide, that is designed to help users troubleshoot various quality-related problems, while giving some great tips on what to do when certain problems arise. If you’re struggling with an issue, this is a great place to find out what is actually going wrong, as well as how you can remedy it, with good explanations of why certain remedies work to fix certain problems.

TOUGH YET FLEXIBLE

FIL X SBS

Did you know that you are in daily contact with SBS products such as the soles of your shoes or the tyres of your car? But how can SBS be used in FDM 3D printing?

SBS (Styrene-butadiene-styrene) has the unique properties of being both tough and flexible at the same time, thanks to its Polystyrene origin lending it a hard, tough consistency and the Polybutadiene giving it a bit more bounce with its rubbery properties.

This powerhouse combination offers, apart from good layer adhesion, no odour during printing and does not absorb moisture. Furthermore, it has been FDA and EU directive approved for food contact.

Fil X SBS filament is very easy to print with on a glass bed with some hairspray for better bed adhesion and best of all can be smoothed with d-limonene (also available from Fil X!) leaving you with a stunning finished product.

PLA (Polylactic Acid) is a biodegradable (under the correct conditions) thermoplastic derived from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane. It is one of the most popular bioplastics, used for many applications ranging from plastic cups to medical implants. PLA in its raw form is also FDA and EU commission regulation approved as Food Contact Safe.

• Size: 235 x 235mm
• Material: Carborundum Glass
• Manufacturer: Creality

TOUGH YET FLEXIBLE

FIL X SBS

Did you know that you are in daily contact with SBS products such as the soles of your shoes or the tyres of your car? But how can SBS be used in FDM 3D printing?

SBS (Styrene-butadiene-styrene) has the unique properties of being both tough and flexible at the same time, thanks to its Polystyrene origin lending it a hard, tough consistency and the Polybutadiene giving it a bit more bounce with its rubbery properties.

This powerhouse combination offers, apart from good layer adhesion, no odour during printing and does not absorb moisture. Furthermore, it has been FDA and EU directive approved for food contact.

Fil X SBS filament is very easy to print with on a glass bed with some hairspray for better bed adhesion and best of all can be smoothed with d-limonene (also available from Fil X!) leaving you with a stunning finished product.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR PRINTING WITH SUNLU PETG FILAMENT:

• PETG Printing Tips – First Layer Adhesion: Although it may come as second nature to try and get the squishiest squish-factor around for all kinds of filaments and polymers, PETG is a little different, and actually shouldn’t be squished too hard for the first layer. In fact, it’s good practice when printing with PETG to have your first layer print at around 125% of the defined layer height. This will give it the ability to “grab” the following layers more effectively, and because PETG layers tend to bond well to each other, this dramatically helps with the overall print quality. This is primarily due to the glass transition temperature of around 85°C for PETG, as well as how the heatbed draws heat away from the first layer due to the direct contact with the thermally conductive heatbed.
• PETG Printing Tips – Effective Bridging: With PETG Filament, one of the more difficult factors to get right is bridging between parts, as PETG tends to sag quite dramatically due to the high temperatures required for printing. However, it’s important to note that this is more so for opaque than transparent colours, as the colourants can affect the overall chemical composition of the material being printed. As such, it will take some time to dial in just right, depending on the colour and brand you’re using, but for most cases, it’s prudent to print bridges quite slowly, turn the fan on if you’ve got it off, and then define a bridge overlap of around 1mm. This will help prevent the bridging strands from curling upwards as they’re printing, while also adding some strength to the edges so the strands stick well and don’t pull themselves loose.
• PETG Printing Tips – Strength vs Aesthetics: This factor is certainly one that we love about PETG, and is also a factor that seems quite undervalued in most 3D Maker communities, but with PETG filament you can actually distinctly choose whether you want to focus more on durability and strength, or aesthetics and detail quality. In fact, choosing which you would like to focus on is as simple as defining whether the fan is turned on or off for the print, as printing PETG with the fan on tends to produce a great surface finish, while printing PETG with the fan off helps with layer bonding and lamination, lending itself well to high-strength parts instead. Of course, you could always choose the best of both worlds by printing for strength and post-processing for aesthetics, but if you’re not interested in post-processing your prints afterwards, then the above rule is quite easy to utilise for whatever application your print is being made for.
• PETG Printing Tips – Infill & Top Layers: While it’s typical for people to assume that higher levels of infill result in higher strength prints, the truth is that high infill doesn’t always equal strength, and oftentimes an object with a good internal structure is far stronger than a solid object. As such, it’s important to tailor your infill percentages according to each specific print, and then tailor the number of top layers according to the level of infill. The reason for the differing amount of top layers is because if you are printing with less than around 40% infill, the top layers can easily sink into the infill pattern, resulting in blotchy or patchy top layers. So, if your infill is set to 40% or lower, consider adding up to three extra top layers, allowing for the first one or two layers to fall into the infill spaces, with the remaining top layers producing a strong and aesthetically pleasing top surface.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR 3D PRINTING PETG:

• The following guide is an awesome amalgamation of hundreds of Makers’ hard work, all collected and summarised into a single, easy to understand, rather informal, PETG Filament Printing Guide – with the primary focus being on eSUN PETG, making it very relevant for ultra-cool customers who choose to shop at DIYElectronics.
• This is another PETG Printing Guide, created by a brand known as Rigid Ink. However, it’s important to note that they very likely used their own Rigid INK PETG Filament, so some settings and tips will likely vary from our own.
• This PETG Filament Guide from Tractus is quite unique compared to others, and does an awesome job at explaining what PETG is, how it’s used in various industries, as well as some great technical specifications to help you understand more about this unique but exciting polymer. Bear in mind, however, that their settings and specifications are somewhat specific to their range of 3D Printers, so they may exactly match our suggested settings and parameters.
• Finally, this is a handy MatterHackers PETG Post-Processing Guide, detailing some of the post-processing options you have with PETG prints, as well as tips and basic instructions on how to do each of the different processes.