Hi, I saw that the guide recommends PLA, PET-GF/CF and PC-GF/CF. Is PET-GF PETG with glass fibers, and is PET-CF the same as PETG-CF (carbon fiber)?
If I go with PLA, is Polymaker HT-PLA-GF appropriate? I was looking for a particular color of PLA filament and they offer it, but seemingly only in HT-PLA-GF.
I mostly print in PETG, and it looks like I’m going to choose between PLA, HT-PLA-GF, and PETG-CF, assuming those last two options are viable and not discouraged.
Since I’m used to regular PETG and have an all-metal hotend with a stainless steel nozzle, is PETG-CF a good choice? If I use PETG-CF, what percentage carbon fiber would I need? I saw that 3D Jake offers it in different colors but it’s 3% carbon fiber and Bambu Labs offers some too, but doesn’t say the percentage.
The goal with most of the V1 machines is rigidity, which is why “straight” PETG (which has some elasticity to it) is not as recommended as PLA or enhanced PETG variants. With the 3D printer you’re also going to need to be wary of heat creep near the bed and extruder, so higher temperature filaments are recommended for that reason.
Hopefully this helps you with your choices. I haven’t personally used and CF or GF enhanced filaments, so can’t advise on what percentage makes a difference.
Stainless steel will not hold up super well against carbon fiber filaments. It’ll last longer than a brass one but you should use a hardened steel nozzle for fiber filled filaments.
Here’s a page that can explain some material properties of filled filaments. It just has polymaker’s line but it can give you an idea of relative performance of the different classes of materials. https://fiberon.polymaker.com/material-comparison/
PET-CF and PETG-CF are very different. PETG is PET with some long named G chemical added in which makes it, among other things, more flexible. Depending on the brand and percent of carbon fiber PETG-CF can be less rigid than PLA. PET-CF is about 1.5-2x as rigid as PETG-CF.
Short answer just use PLA. Rigidity is arguably the most important property and PLA is better than almost anything short of PET-CF/PA-CF which can be more challenging to print. I built my LR4 with Siraya Tech and Fiberon PET-CF but that was largely due to the fact that I live in Arizona and my workshop can see ungodly temperatures in the summer so heat resistance was important to me.
To sum it up here are my opinions on comparing different kinds of filaments.
PLA >> PETG
PLA > PETG-CF
PET-CF > PLA but probably won’t make a noticeable difference in most circumstances.
Okay thanks! Would the Polymaker HT-PLA-CF be okay then? They have a particular color I like. Otherwise I’ll stick to straight PLA and will need to choose a different color.
Agreed. The ONLY reason to dabble in other filaments (IMO) is if your workspace/storage location temperatures are excessively hot (>40C). For that use case, PET-CF seems to be the filament of choice
Personally like my PLA parts that are not exposed to extreme temps.
For best build outcome, I would focus on maximizing dimension accuracy and maximizing layer adhesion by balancing number of walls, wall printing order, temp, flow, layer width, layer height, infill %, infill meshing with walls, etc…
