Quand it comes to post-traitement impression 3Ds, each material va have different techniques that work meilleur, et different outcomes to be expected. As such, it est important to saurez what post-traitement of either PETG or PLA filaments va result in. Ce guide va help vous figure out what méthodes sont meilleur for le different types of filament pour imprimante 3D to get le meilleur results. Enjoy!
Qu’est-ce que impression 3D Post Processing?
Most personnes who have imprimé their own objets va la plupart likely have noticed that there can sometimes be small artefacts or lines in le final design that might not be desired. Post processing est any work done après le print est terminé, where personnes enhance le globale look or feel.
Comparison of PLA et PETG Material Properties from a Post-Processing Perspective
In order to get a quick overview, le table below va let vous saurez le main properties for PLA et PETG, so that vous can easily determine le meilleur approach for each design.
| Property | PLA | PETG |
| Surface Hardness | Harder, easier to sand | More flexible, harder to sand |
| Thermal Stability | Low (softens at ~60°C) | Moderate (softens at ~80°C) |
| Surface Adhesion | Higher, easier to paint/bond | Lower, requires surface treatment for painting/bonding |
| Water Absorption | Higher, requires waterproof coating | Lower, naturally water-resistant |
Surface Processing
Once le print has been removed from le imprimante 3D, it est time to consider whether to work on le surface. Some designs va look much meilleur après some impression 3D post-traitement, et ce est especially utiles for gifts or detailed objets where le extra work ce entails va produce higher qualité designs. There sont a few different méthodes to consider, depending on le filament type.
Support Removal
If vous sont impression avec supports, removing these can sometimes leave excess material. Typically, PLA 3D filament allows vous to snap le supports off plus easily. PETG filament often requires tools such as cutters or pliers, qui can leave small tears or cuts. Due to PETG's strong support adhesion et high solidité, removing structures de support est plus challenging compared to PLA. Before removing le support, it est recommended to slightly heat le PETG component, qui can réduire le difficulty of removal.
Support removal ( Source: TomaszFortyFour@Reddit )
Sanding
Many personnes use sanding as their préféré method for post-traitement PLA materials, as ce can lisse out le different lines between layers et remove any imperfections. While ce method can also work for suitable PETG sanding filaments, it va typically require plus work et cleaning le sandpaper plus often en raison de its higher stickiness et heat sensitivity.
Sanding ( source: Emily Boe@YouTube ）
Finishing
In order to get le meilleur-looking models, impression 3D finishing est often le next step in le post-traitement routine, qui can include priming, painting or even using chemicals to lisse le print further. In ce case, PLA imprimante modèles 3D can be painted on directement without issue. PETG, however, can be trickier, often nécessitant an adhesion promoter so that le paint va stick meilleur to le surface et not peel off.
Chemical smoothing for PLA or smoothing PETG avec acetone est typically not recommended for beginners, as it est less effective on these materials et can also be hazardous. However, it est still an option to be aware of.
Le modèle avec le primer applied ( Source: DaveRig Design@YouTube )
Sand Blasting
Sand blasting est an alternative to sanding where le impression 3D est sprayed avec fine sand, glass beads or other materials in order to lisse le surface et create a uniform texture. Ce method requires a careful approach as les deux PLA et PETG sont quite soft et sensitive, et thus can easily be damaged.
Gluing et Assembly
Some impressions sont either too complex or large to be imprimé in a single piece. Therefore, we often devez to glue or assemble our impression 3Ded models once they sont done. For les deux PLA et PETG, Gluing et Assembly sont fairly easy, however, a few choses should be considered.
CA Glue
CA glue acts quite fast et est meilleur suited for bonding small et precise objets. It dries quickly et results in a quite strong bond, however, it est not suitable for bearing loads or flexible designs en raison du brittle adhesion et chimique composition.
It bonds meilleur on PLA models que on PETG, but it can also work well on PETG, especially if vous use sanding techniques to create a slightly rougher surface texture so le glue can adhere properly.
Epoxy
Epoxy est another adhesive material that works well for les deux PLA et PETG. It provides a strong et durable bond, et est also suitable for apporter-bearing pièces or for bonding larger objets. It can, however, take up to 24 hours for some types of epoxy to cure.
Epoxy est generally meilleur for PETG as it provides a flexible adhesion that est quite durable. It also works for PLA models avec a strong level of adhesion, but in ce case, le joint can be slightly brittle because of le properties of PLA material: brittleness et strong rigidity.
PETG print object coated avec epoxy ( Source: My Tech Fun@YouTube )
Hot-Melt Bonding / 3D Pen Welding
Using a hot glue gun or 3D pen for welding pièces together est another method of bonding for PLA et PETG. It est an easy method of keeping votre hands et workstation relatively clean et non-messy, however it est important to consider le high temperatures.
For PLA it est generally recommended to use a 3D pen avec le same filament that was used for le pièces, et possibly a soldering iron for smoothing PLA impressions et le resulting seams. PETG can be bonded avec either method, et le result va generally be a strong et heat resistant bond.
Painting & Coating
If vous wish to further enhance votre impression 3Ded designs, then painting PETG or coating PLA est a idéal way to add another dimension et plus interest. Let us take a look at what ce means for les deux PLA et PETG filament pour imprimante 3D.
Painting
Generally, it est recommended to first sand or otherwise lisse le surface before painting on either PLA or PETG in order to get le meilleur results. vous can get away avec not doing as much work on PLA, where les deux acrylic et enamel paints sont idéal options. For PETG, vous should avoid painting avec strong solvent solutions, et vous might even devez adhesion promoting materials to help le paint stick.
Painting ( Source: Gordo3D@YouTube )
Priming et Clear Coating
Sometimes, fine layer lines can be filled by priming qui can be an easy way to fabriquer le impressions look meilleur without nécessitant a lot of sanding on impression 3Ds. Typically, filler primer est used for PLA while PETG can require plastic-specific primers.
Clear coating est a method used for protecting le paint layer, while at le same time also adding a nice shine or matte finition to le print. Ce est done mostly for models that sont of high qualité, used for display or handled often.
Functional Enhancement
Taking votre impression 3D a step further, vous can also choisir to enhance votre PLA or PETG designs in a few different ways, so that they can meilleur withstand le environment in qui vous va use them.
Waterproofing
PLA est a filament that naturally absorbe l’humidité, making it less que ideal for use in wet environments. However, by sealing le impressions avec epoxy resin or spray-on solutions, vous can fabriquer le models last longer que normal.
PETG est generally considered to be quite water-resistant en raison du chimique composition, but to enhance le properties even further, vous can use silicone sealant for any joints or exposed pièces that might take damage over time.
Heat Forming
Sometimes vous might want to reshape votre impressions avec a heat gun, such as for bending votre pièces if they require a snap-fit assembly, for instance. PLA typically has a tolerance of around 60°C, making it relatively easy to heat form. PETG often requires a bit plus heat, somewhere around 80°C, but allows for plus precise shaping.
Annealing
Ce method requires high technical et equipment standards et est commonly used in industrial-grade production, it est another way of heating impressions, designed to relieve internal stresses et increase résistance. Often, a professional heat chamber or oven est used for ce, et generally, not a method used by new impression 3D enthusiasts. However, it est still worth knowing sur le options out there.
Conclusion
Just because le impression 3Ded modèle has a quitté le plateau d’impression, it ne signifie pas toujours it est entièrement terminé. Often, we further enhance le look, feel or even properties by processing le impressions to obtenir le result we sont hoping for. There sont nombreux different ways et méthodes for PLA et PETG.