Material Printing Guide

Overview:

Materials printed on Gigabot and Terabot involve necessary preparatory steps to ensure the material properly extrudes, adheres to the bed, and maintains shape during printing. Here you can find a downloadable PDF that contains these necessary steps - Material Printing Guide - that are as follows:

Preparation Requirements:

Before printing, you need to prep the Gigabot or Terabot so that its configuration is compatible with the material it will be printing. The bed surface preparation is only dependent on what material will come in contact with it. For example, if you are printing a PLA part but have a PETG raft, then you will need to follow the steps for preparing the bed for PETG. Below are common materials and their associated requirements.

    PLA

• Enclosure off (remove at least 2 enclosure hood panels)

• Bed can have glue stick, Magigoo, or a clean surface

• Can be used as main part material or support material with PETG as the second extruder's material

• Filament should be removed from the secondary extruder when printing with a closed enclosure

    PETG

• Glue stick on bed

• Can be main part material or support material with PLA as the second extruder's material

• Can be printed in the same part with TPU

• Enclosure optional

    ABS

• Very clean surface. Clean glue stick off bed with wet rag (water) and then isopropyl alcohol

• For large parts: Very clean surface as above, then apply Magigoo Original which increases bed adhesion

• Enclosure on

• Can be main part material or support material with HIPS in dual extrusion

    PVA

• Dry Filament (new filament is pre-dried). Keep in a dry box if possible.

• Apply glue stick on bed

• Enclosure off (remove at least 2 enclosure hood panels)

• Recommend Polymaker S1 as the filament

• Should be removed from the secondary extruder when printing with a closed enclosure

    Nylon

• Dry Filament (new filament is pre-dried) and keep in a drybox if possible

• Apply glue stick on bed

• Enclosure optional

• Support material: PVA

  • Note: do not soak part in water, remove support mechanically

    Polycarbonate (PC)

• Apply glue stick on bed

• Enclosure on

• Uses itself as support material

    TPU

• Apply glue stick on bed
• Enclosure open
• Avoid support or use PLA as support
• PETG or other TPU can be used as the same part

If you have any questions about this process or any specific materials, please email [e-mail] and a re:3D print ninja will assist you!