I have been trying to print some parts using Colorfabb XT Transparent filament and

3D Printing
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I have been trying to print some parts using Colorfabb XT Transparent filament and having issues with the raft curling off of the bed after a few hours. In one case, the part came loose during the night and made a mess. A few other prints I stopped before finishing because the curling kept getting worse.

I am printing on blue painter’s tape on an aluminum heated bed. I had the bed heated to 70-75C. I have read that heating the bed is not necessary when printing PETG on blue tape, but a layer of glue stick will help adhesion. I have also read to not turn on the cooling fan for the first 1cm of the print to help adhesion.

For the record, I have successfully printed some 20mm cubes to check dimensional accuracy. These were printed on the default raft that S3D generates. It’s larger prints, say 2in x 3in that are experiencing curling.

Anyone have any suggestions for this material?

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@shauki What is your bed material and are you heating it?

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You may also try different brands of blue tape. Some have better surfaces than others.

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If turning on the heated bed is contributing to the unstick, then perhaps just try leaving it off.

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@MidnightVisions My next step is to run it without heating the bed and putting down some glue stick. I just haven’t had a chance to do it yet and wanted to reach out to the community before wasting time trying things that wouldn’t work.

It seems to me that recommendations for heating the bed for PETG are directed more at glass beds.

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@Chris_Huck Glass beds do not bend when clamped down but aluminum beds do bend, so that’s the difference between the two. ABS works better (according to some) with a heated bed, and some old timers don’t use it. Petg is relatively new and I can only recall two other people using it, and also reporting issues. Is there a specific reason to use it?

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@MidnightVisions I am going for as clear of a lens as I can get for a light for one of my projects. I am also using it for its ability to handle heat, like being left in a car in hot climates.

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It will future

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UPDATE: I was able to get this transparent filament to print successfully with a few changes:

  1. I upgraded to a Micro-Swiss all metal hot end. This was per Matterhackers’ recommendation for PETG. The teflon tube inside my original hot end was really degraded from the high temperatures needed for PETG.

  2. I turned off the heated bed for my print. This virtually eliminated curling, however, there was the tiniest bit in the corners of the raft as evidenced by the tape being pulled up a tiny bit. If I wasn’t printing on tape, this might not have happened. The part itself was not warped, just the raft.

  3. I applied a layer of glue stick to the blue tape per Matterhackers’ recommendation. This seemed to work very well.

  4. I built an enclosure for my printer. This was mostly to keep temperatures stable since my basement temperatures can vary a little throughout the year. I don’t know how much this helped, but even my latest PLA prints seem to have less warping.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I hope my changes help someone else with printing PETG.