Hey folks,
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’m printing PETG (https://kingroon.com/collections/petg-filament?) on my Neptune 3 Plus. It’s sort of like it starts (almost) ok, sticks to the plate just fine, then a few layers up it seems to almost have inconsistent extrusion (or maybe even trouble pulling the filament?) leading to holes, etc. till the model just falls apart. See linked photos for about where I give up each time.
I’m printing with Cura and 240C printing, 90C on the build plate. 45mm/s (I’ve gone down from 60mm/s). Retraction on, no z-hop. 60% fan, though I’ve tried it with 20% and 100% fan as well.
The filament is in a dryer at 55C. Funny enough I printed basically perfectly (without drying, straight out of the bag) with default settings the first time I printed. The second time and on, have had this problem… and have had it in the dryer.
Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: In case its useful, I’m printing this piece: https://file.io/D9jxYq4KOrL7 which is a small remix of a piece from https://www.printables.com/model/130507-bolt-action-pen-for-pilot-g2-cartridges
It could be a case of too much cooling, while simultaneously being too much heat.
If you’re blowing so much air that the filament instantly solidifies when it leaves the nozzle, it’s not going to bond with anything else. It’s also interesting that the first layers are fine (when the part cooling fan is typically not running), but problems start when the part cooling fan turns on.
Have you tried without part cooling at all? Another thing is that your part cooling might be cooling down the tip of the nozzle, causing tiny partial clogs, which are cleared every so often by friction.
Weird as heck but without any cooling it printed fully just fine. Thanks for the advice!
FWIW the default PETG profile on my printer doesn’t even run the part cooling fan at all except during bridges. PETG has a very narrow window of suitable temperatures typically between 240 and 260° C, and if you’re printing with your nozzle at 240 you’re already scraping the lower end of that range. And unlike PLA, especially the modern blends we have now that are full of additives to make the stuff easier to print, there is no leeway. PETG will essentially solidify instantly once it falls below that critical temperature point. Not only underextruding severely (or not extruding at all) but likely also failing to bond to the layer underneath with whatever does manage to make it out of the nozzle.
On my machine you can hear it when this happens, a least. The extruder gears click like mad whenever there’s a failure to extrude at any significant volume.