E3d showed off this amazing print at MWRRF this year using their new-ish Scaffold dissolvable support material. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:512210 (credit to Emmett for the awesome file) I think they mentioned it being “impossible” to print any other way (on fdm printers), and that seemed like a challenge. I tried 4 other times with abs that ultimately failed because of the edges curling up and hitting the hotend. I was finally able to print it on my first try using esun PETG, with the support material from Simplify3d. It took 26hrs 15min to print, another 15min for support removal (mainly because of the raft), and another 15min to remove the stringing (used a wire brush and a heat gun). Other than the stringing, it came out pretty well. I haven’t printed with PETG on this printer very much, so the retraction needs to be tuned a bit, and maybe lower the temp by 5 degrees. The only other thing I would change is to remove the raft and increase the size of the ball. Even though the ball was printed inside, the tolerances are far too much, so it falls out pretty easily.
Looks really nice! PETG is extremely stringy. It’s hard to get the retraction set perfectly.
Now I want to try. I’ve been able to tune most of the stringing out of PETG on the i4.