This week I found myself an overly joyous owner of a new Maker Select V2. Based on Monoprice’s descriptors I also ordered a spool of their PETG in black. I’ve been using Cura with the Prusa i3 profile as suggested by setup guide (though I’m eyeing Simplify3D).
I had pretty good success out the gate with the included length of PLA, and after a few basic prints switched to the Monoprice branded PETG. The stuff has been nothing but problematic from that point. I’m getting a few boogers, my infill lines are pretty terrible (sometimes outright missing holes of material), and there is some warping occurring after about 50% completion. I’m throwing out an estimate success rate of about 20% or less.
I’ve been trying different Extruder Temps ranging from 220 - 250 (spool says 230-250 range) and have had best success with 245C. Bed Temps I’ve varied between 60 & 75C, with 72 holding down the skirt better and minimal warp I had read that PETG likes slower speeds, but I’m still rather unsure about the speed settings in Cura. Either way they are currently set to 15 mm/s Print Speed & 25 mm/s Travel Speed (higher would dislodge the base layers). Flow Rate is at 93% more or less on a complete guess, though I found increasing the Flow Mul on the machine seemed to work better. I’ve got Retraction Dist at 5mm with 25mm/s Retraction Speed (lot less strings and boogers I’ve noticed, but I’ve been lightly adjusting these to find that sweet spot). Fan has been at 100%, have only had one instance where the print separated a layer from poor adhesion. I’m just using the standard bed with no additives, at first adhesion to build plate was a nightmare but after one or two rounds it’ll adhere nicely up until a point and then the print breaks off.
So if anybody has any tips for printing this stuff, particularly with this model of printer, I’d greatly appreciate it. From reading around it seems like every spool of PETG is going to be a bit different? Even so some ball park figures for the settings would be a lifesaver. I’ve ordered a spool of Hatchbox PLA which will be here next week so I can practicce without as much hassle, but I’m more or less refusing to give up on this PETG (anything to keep me tinkering over the weekend).
As I side note I contacted Monoprice to see if they had any suggestions, to which I was given the runaround by their tech support and told that modifying the machine would void warranty? Right on their site not only does it promise tech support for the printer, but also lists PET as a usable material for this model. Needless to say I’m not exactly pleased with this outcome, and will likely shift my purchasing else where. Ironically I figured it a benefit to go with them because of having an office in the States.
Other than that I’m having an absolute blast with 3D printing, regret not getting into the game sooner.
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