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Review on ESUN 3D ๐Ÿ–จ๏ธ One Additive Manufacturing Products by Hunter Siemon

Revainrating 5 out of 5

My Favorite Filament

This filament has become my favorite filament for printing. I have Flashforge Creator Pro which I use daily to print various parts for photo and engineering projects. Before I found eSUN PETG, I mainly used ABS filaments. The problem I've found with ABS is that it tends to be a bit brittle and I've had a few parts that had trouble separating the layers under load. There is also the problem of distortion in large parts. When I switched to this thread I found it to be much stronger and a bit more flexible. This helped a lot when assembling the parts. Layer adhesion is amazing. I have yet to make an imprint that might not stay together. I've printed parts as large as my printer can handle (about 5-3/4 x 9 inches) and I've had no warping at all. That would be very difficult with ABS. My general print settings are: extruder temp = 230ยฐC; bed temperature = 75ยฐC; Travel speed = 150 mm/s and the platform is covered with Kapton tape. I replaced the stock extruder with a rebuild to use metal tubing instead of teflon and overall it seems to be much better and allow for higher extruder temperatures. Adhesion to the Kapton tape layer is very good. It was difficult initially to remove the printed parts (at a higher table temperature) but I found it much easier to let the table cool down before attempting this. I also removed the printer's top cover (like when printing from PLA) to allow the platform to cool down more as it prints with much better results. I found using this removal tool was perfect. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VB1U886/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1) After the print has cooled in just 5 minutes, this tool can be used to detach even the largest parts from the bed without or damaging the Kapton tape . The slight twist this thread imparts to the finished pieces is why I use it as often as I do. I usually assemble more complex parts in sections and then screw them together with threaded inserts or plunge bearings in the recesses printed on the parts. When using ABS, I have found that when inserts are placed into a part, the part sometimes splits. Since using eSUN PETG I haven't encountered this problem yet and get very snug fitting inserts. I've attached some photos of the Focus Rail slider that I designed and printed using this thread. The prints have a layer thickness of 0.30mm from the low poly model used as a prototype, therefore the surfaces are rougher than what is possible with this filament. Also included is a photo of the small mounting clips printed at a layer thickness of 0.20mm to show the resolution of fine detail printed with this PETG. I highly recommend this filament for printing mechanical parts. I have used 20-25 different threads over the past 3 years and this is by far my favorite for quality, value and ease of use.

Pros
  • 3D Printing Filament
Cons
  • Unfashionable