Garden Railway Forum

Hi guys,

I know it's been asked before by me mainly but is PETG filament stronger than PLA and does it need higher heat settings on the extruder and bed. Amazon are at the moment doing a cheap roll of the stuff and I am in two minds on getting it. Is it worth getting or shall I just stick with PLA for which I am very happy with.

I've never used Petg myself but Rik did a lot of work on it some while back and I think he came to the conclusion that it is more hassle than its worth unless you have a very specific reason to use it ( correct me if I'm wrong). So, unless you want to get involved in the work discovering the appropriate settings, saving a couple of quid would be false economy IMO.

https://gardenrails.org/forum/search.ph ... mit=Search

Thanks Phillip,

On reading Rik's thread's on working with PETG, I am going to leave it. Your'e correct about saving the few pounds against all kinds of possible trouble trying to print with it. So I am going to stay with PLA, haven't tried PLA+ though, so may have a go with that and see how it is.

I am also thinking of getting a resin printer, but not being able to do the fantastic drawings you and others produce are leaving me with doubts about one. I know they produce far better results, it's just getting the correct settings right I suppose. Do you need to change things for different builds, or do you just leave well alone.

Anyway, thanks again Phillip for your reply, it as saved me a lot of messing around.

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:13 pm I am also thinking of getting a resin printer, but not being able to do the fantastic drawings you and others produce are leaving me with doubts about one. I know they produce far better results, it's just getting the correct settings right I suppose. Do you need to change things for different builds, or do you just leave well alone.

Whether filament or resin, you still need to start with an .stl, whether you draw it yourself or get one from, say, Thingiverse, or wherever.

Generally resin printers have a smaller print bed area, although I believe they have been getting bigger recently - Steve can advise more about that.

The resin slicing and the slicer is different to an FDM operation, the standard resin slicer that most people use is called Chitubox, which is a free download, similar to using Cura for FDM.
In general, you simply tell the slicer which machine you are using and it has print profiles built in, which I've found to work pretty well, although there are plenty of tweaks available if you feel so inclined.

The printing operation is much slower than a filament print. For starters, the standard slice height is 0.05mm, compared to 0.1mm - 0.2mm for filament. Also, it has to do each layer right to the very top of the model and even if the top is very small, the layer print time is the same. The plus side of that is that it doesn't matter whether you have one item on the bed or 10 items, it takes exactly the same time to print a layer.

Resin is more expensive than filament, and having printed something you then need to wash off the uncured resin, using IPA and after that you have to completely cure the resin using UV light ( the model will be soft and a bit rubbery at this stage).

As you say, resin can produce much finer detail than filament, but the size of objects is more limited, and the print time is longer ( in general), so as with a lot of things, it's 'horses for courses'. I wouldn't willingly be without my resin printer, but I still use the FDM m/c more.

Thank you Phillip, you have been very helpful again. It's great to have members who are willing to share their expertise and knowledge, it does help us all in this wonderful hobby of ours.

I think I will get a resin printer at some point, but that will be in the distant future.

Flashforge be the way do a resin printer with a decent bed size.

https://www.flashforgeshop.com/product/ ... use?cID=63

It's not cheap, £350. There is another one that has 4 times the bed and height, but that is even more expensive.

This isn't the one.

https://www.flashforgeshop.com/product/ ... ter?cID=63


This is the dearest at £2,299, it's way out of my league....

https://www.flashforgeshop.com/product/ ... ter?cID=63


The cheapest Flashforge do is still not too bad I think.


https://www.flashforgeshop.com/product/ ... use?cID=63


There are cheaper brands out there I know, but I have got used to Flashforge Filament printers and I am a bit loathe to change. Silly I know...

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:13 pm Thanks Phillip,

On reading Rik's thread's on working with PETG, I am going to leave it. Your'e correct about saving the few pounds against all kinds of possible trouble trying to print with it. So I am going to stay with PLA, haven't tried PLA+ though, so may have a go with that and see how it is.

I am also thinking of getting a resin printer, but not being able to do the fantastic drawings you and others produce are leaving me with doubts about one. I know they produce far better results, it's just getting the correct settings right I suppose. Do you need to change things for different builds, or do you just leave well alone.

Anyway, thanks again Phillip for your reply, it as saved me a lot of messing around.

I have just started using PLA+ instead of plain PLA and I'm impressed with the result.
I made the change part way through a big print project (a pedestrian bridge) because the PLA was going to run out.
The biggest noticeable change was that I was having stringing issues with the PLA but with PLA+ even though I still get stringing the severity was markedly less.
I still have to master my slicer (Creality based on Cura) to overcome the problem.
I will use PLA+ in the future as a replacement for the PLA I have, as it is expended.

GAP wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:16 pm

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:13 pm Thanks Phillip,

On reading Rik's thread's on working with PETG, I am going to leave it. Your'e correct about saving the few pounds against all kinds of possible trouble trying to print with it. So I am going to stay with PLA, haven't tried PLA+ though, so may have a go with that and see how it is.

I am also thinking of getting a resin printer, but not being able to do the fantastic drawings you and others produce are leaving me with doubts about one. I know they produce far better results, it's just getting the correct settings right I suppose. Do you need to change things for different builds, or do you just leave well alone.

Anyway, thanks again Phillip for your reply, it as saved me a lot of messing around.

I have just started using PLA+ instead of plain PLA and I'm impressed with the result.
I made the change part way through a big print project (a pedestrian bridge) because the PLA was going to run out.
The biggest noticeable change was that I was having stringing issues with the PLA but with PLA+ even though I still get stringing the severity was markedly less.
I still have to master my slicer (Creality based on Cura) to overcome the problem.
I will use PLA+ in the future as a replacement for the PLA I have, as it is expended.

Thanks Graeme,

I have just ordered some PLA+ in white. The reason for white is because I can see if I have left any filament with a primer before I put the final coat on.

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:13 pm Thanks Phillip,

On reading Rik's thread's on working with PETG, I am going to leave it. Your'e correct about saving the few pounds against all kinds of possible trouble trying to print with it. So I am going to stay with PLA, haven't tried PLA+ though, so may have a go with that and see how it is.

I am also thinking of getting a resin printer, but not being able to do the fantastic drawings you and others produce are leaving me with doubts about one. I know they produce far better results, it's just getting the correct settings right I suppose. Do you need to change things for different builds, or do you just leave well alone.

Anyway, thanks again Phillip for your reply, it as saved me a lot of messing around.

Hi FWLR,

With resin printing, its limiting factor compared to FDM is height impact on timing.

Where a resin printer really comes good, is filling the bed with lots of small detail parts, it is a magnitude faster than FDM for churning them out in that respect.

I've never really looked back after switching over. There is a lot to learn, it has a lot of variables you need to learn to dial out, and can be frustrating, but generally, once you've settled on a printer, a brand/type of resin, and have your methodology set for how to support the parts, you will find it consistent and produces good parts.

I use an Anycubic Mono SE, which is now outdated by the 4,6 and 8K printers, but still produces good loco shells, and detail, I'm loathed to replace it so long as it continues to work well. I use the same settings for all prints in terms of exposure time, slice, etc, as there is no reason to change them, once dialed in, you've got the best settings for all parts, so would only change the settings if you change an input, such as resin type, and even then, you can store a number of resin settings within Chitubox, and apply them to a ready supported model.

Thanks
Paul.

I always use PLA+ these days after trialling all different filaments.

If I could get it to print every time I would use ABS as a go to filament, but I find it very difficult to dial in and get consistent prints, unlike Trevor who seems to have nailed it.

PETG I have tried but find it very stringy, no matter what settings I tried, I am sure it's possible to dial in, but just not for me personally. I still have a brand new unused 1KG roll of the stuff which will no doubt end up in the bin.

PLA, yeah, just a not so good very version of PLA+ IMHO.