PETG - I’m loving the ease of printing, but are you guys seeing a tendency for it to ‘booger things up’? (See photos for examples.)
Will Acetone and/or MEK clean the hot end?
Yeah, it has a tendency to stick to the hotend. Especially on parts with overhangs where it catches if things curl up.
Slow down. It doesn’t solve it, but it helps.
BTW, acetone won’t work. The only chemicals that work, you don’t want to use. Seriously.
I have found heating it up an brushing it with nylon works. I used scraps of nylon filament. It sticks to the nylon, and nylon has a hotter melting temp.
Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that a slight underextrusion helps. 95% or so keeps a lot of the boogers away.
Figures, it seemed like such a great filament, otherwise. I guess they all have some kind of Achilles heel.
@Mike_Miller It is a great filament, the ability to print large objects without warping plus super layer adhesion makes it great. All the other stuff is not so important.
If the filament cools too much due to a long exit hole, it can curl up and may clog. Raising the temperature can hide this problem. But a short (~0.5mm) exit hole after the melt chamber is essential to get best results.
Experiment with temperatures below the melting point of the plastic, but above the glass temperature of the plastic, then just peel it off with metal tweezers. I used 140°C to clean my hotend after a failed PLA print.
Yeah, I find all types of PET and Co-polyester have a tendency to stick to the nozzle. XT-CF20 is particularly bad.
As @Rien_Stouten says, the only chemicals that work properly you don’t want anything to do with. I have permanently damaged my right index fingertip because dichloromethane with Co-polyester in solution dissolved right through the gloves I was wearing. It’s not worth it.
Use a brush, a cheap toothbrush (nylon bristles) works great and will cost pennies. They will eventually melt up a bit, but are cheap enough to be disposable. We use a soft brass bristled brush to clean nozzles, and it works very well indeed.