SunLu – Filament – PETG – Silver -1kg – 1.75mm

Product details

Although many people look at 3D Printing and consider it to just be for decorational purposes, the true 3D Makers amongst us will notice that there’s more to this technology, and with the right materials, it’s certainly not impossible to make high quality functional parts, and that’s what PETG Filament is all about. SunLu PETG is like a blend between ABS and PLA, but is made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (with Glycol additives), and this makes it the ideal material to use for all kinds of functional prints that need to be able to withstand real world forces. And while ABS Filament is highly regarded for its impact resistance, PETG offers a similar level of impact resistance but couples it with some good flex as well, which of course provides a boost in this regard while also giving it distinct benefits and drawbacks when compared to ABS. Furthermore, while transparent ABS is certainly not a common material to find, PETG caters well to Makers who want transparency in their prints, being transparent by nature and able to be sanded and polished for even great effect.

If you’re looking for a material that you can use to print items to withstand typical everyday forces, SunLu PETG Filament is a great option, as it can certainly take a light to moderate knock without cracking, deforming or otherwise becoming structurally unstable and unusable. This makes it ideal for items like handguards on motocross bikes, scratch plates for sleek enclosures, handles for cupboards and storage compartments, and pretty much any other applications that may be exposed to the odd bump, knock, scrape or similar type of harsh force. These characteristics, coupled with the fact that many of these spools feature a vibrant and enjoyable colour, makes it a great all-round material for pretty much anything you want to print. So, regardless of what kind of 3D Maker you are, we’re quite sure that you’ll be able to take full advantage of what SunLu PETG has to offer, and if you’re looking for a material that’s similar to ABS but easier to print – or if you just want to switch it up and test out a fresh new material with its own range of fun colours – PETG may be the ideal material for you to test out… and inevitably fall in love with.

Of course, as with any other filament brand, we encourage you to test out SunLu PETG Filament for yourself, and if you enjoy the colours, print quality and printing style of it, then take the next leap and test out other materials from the SunLu Filament Range. So far, we’ve enjoyed each and every variant that we have in stock, and we’re quite certain that you’re going to fall in love with SunLu just like we did when first sinking our teeth into their range of materials and colours.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR PRINTING WITH SUNLU PETG FILAMENT:

3D Printing with the durable and slightly flexible PETG polymer is quite a unique experience, as it offers very similar characteristics to ABS, but uses very similar printing specifications to PLA. This is why many 3D Makers argue that PETG is the perfect balance between ABS and PLA polymers, offering high strength but also being relatively easy to print with compared to some of the filaments and polymers with stricter parameters.

However, if you really want to get the most out of your PETG prints, and enjoy both durable and aesthetically awesome-looking results, we’ve collected following insights, which we feel are some of the most important factors, and which we feel are the most important factors to experiment with when “dialling in” your 3D Printer:

• 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.

Although this section of 3D Printing Tips is longer than usual, we feel that these are all equally important for 3D Makers who really want to get maximum strength or detail quality from this fantastic polymer. However, this list isn’t at all exhaustive, and we encourage you to go out and find even more great insights, and be brave in your experimentation. You may even reveal a completely new secret that nobody knew about, and because 3D Printing is still a relatively new hobby for most people, your findings could certainly earn you some internet points if shared with the right communities.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR 3D PRINTING PETG:

If you’re still eager to learn more about the intricacies of 3D Printing with PETG, we’ve taken the time to collect together some of our favourite resources, guides, tutorials and discussions, and we feel that each of these offer some unique insights that can help you achieve great success with this slightly tricky but very awesome 3D Filament. Just remember, however, that each of the following resources will have their own unique take on printing PETG, and may have used different brands or colours in their tests. As such, they may understandably differ from our tips, which we created using eSUN PETG Filament, but can still offer great assistance if you’re running into troubles, or are just looking for further information over and above what we’ve provided. As such, we hope that you enjoy these as much as we do, and can gather some good tips to help you get your 3D Printer dialled in and printing strong, beautiful or otherwise impressive PETG prints:

• 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.