PCTG - The Isotropic 3D Printing Filament?

PCTG claims to be a better alternative to the well-known PETG and, even more importantly, brags with similar strength values regardless of the printing orientation, so perfect layer adhesion! Too good to be true? Let’s find out more!
Test samples and methods: / filament-test-16238656
Website article: www.cnckitchen.com/blog/essen...
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🎥 Related videos:
PLA vs PETG vs ASA: • The BEST 3D printing m...
DIY Universal Test Machine: • Fully OPEN SOURCE Univ...
📖 Further Links:
PETG vs PCTG - what's the difference?: www.essentium.com/blog-pctg-v...
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:52 What is PCTG?
03:02 Tuning the settings
05:30 Print Quality tests
06:27 Mechanical tests
09:51 Temperature test
10:23 Summary
#3Dprinting #toughStuff #filamentTest
DISCLAIMER: None of these tests have been performed with calibrated or verified test equipment. The results are for entertainment purposes only! Inform yourself!

[@CNCKitchen]

PETG or PCTG, what's your filament of choice? Don't forget to like & subscribe and share this video on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and other platforms!

[@minsin56]

pctg if it doesnt stick to glass as well as petg

[@joeldriver381]

I default to PETG for most things but this looks like it may be a better choice for many of my projects. Great content!!!

[@woodywiest]

Thanks for the tests, thurough as always! I would love to see how each filament stacks up against each other on the environmental/recyclability scale. Can we just throw the scraps in the recycling bin, or is this one of those burn-only blends?

[@PurchenZuPoden]

Thank you very much for this review. I stumbled the other day over the fiberlogy pctg and was very interested in the performance. I think you need to also test PEN-PET from Inkrayon. I have printed all my Voron 0 parts in PEN-PET including the bed mount and cooling fan ducts and I am very impressed with the mechanical and thermal performance. Normally I am printing only with DASFILAMENT PETG but the thermal properties of PEN-PET are really neat and it prints as good as PETG. I am in germany so if you are interested I can send you a spool (unfortunatly I have only opened spools left)

[@EgonSorensen]

Just got my first roll of PETG, however it is yet to be opened and used. So it must be PETG that's my choice, lacking PCTG availability ;ø)

[@KyleFalconer1]

You’re the Project Farm of 3D printing: a real service to the community. These tests are really valuable. It’s really great to be able to compare your tests across materials, especially because you use a consistent method from material to material.

[@802Garage]

Hahaha accurate!

[@DoubsGaming]

Gonna have to disagree, project farms testing methodology is sometimes inconsistent and unhelpful. I would argue that he is closer to Gamers Nexus in that they revise their testing methodology when tests aren't accurate or useful. Or the fact his methods are strong and consistent from the start.

[@TouchofDepth]

@@DoubsGaming how dare you talk crap on Project Farm

[@DenUil]

I, personally, would also like to see how they're properties change after long exposure to UV. Thanks for the awesome videos!

[@CNCKitchen]

Great suggestion! I bought the equipment to do that a year ago but never went through with it.

[@wturber]

@@CNCKitchen Summer is upon us in Arizona and I have some ApolloX (ASA type) filament coming so I can print a phone holder for my wife and for bike parts. I left my bike helmet with my nifty PLA (black) printed visor outside this weekend and the sun warped it significantly. So it will get remade with ApolloX as well. Maybe I'll make some parts and give them 3-4 months of Arizona sun and see what happens.

[@Rozumusicmediator2733]

their*

[@marsgizmo]

that’s a pretty interesting filament and thanks a lot for your time spent to do all the tests, they’re very valuable 🙌😌

[@MamasFunkyMonkey]

Love your videos marsgizmo simple short and entertaining

[@marsgizmo]

@@MamasFunkyMonkey thanks 😊

[@obie224]

so.... a marginal performance increase from regular petg, at double the price ? yeah, no thanks. very thankful Stefan is here to bring real data into the mix, instead of us all having to rely on the manufacturer's claims.

[@bob88099]

Exactly. This filament has all the drawbacks PETG does ( moisture sensitivity, stringing, increased difficulty in printing compared to PLA ) and nothing about it is a substantial improvement over regular PETG, ( you even have to print this stuff at 270c, but it still has a glass temp of 80c... WHAT ?? ) which can be purchased for half the price from just about anywhere that sells filament. Honestly it's just ridiculous that they think they can charge as much as they are for this - it's effectively PETG with a higher print temp, nothing more, and in some ways less.

[@oddspaghetti4287]

It's almost double in layer strength compared to regular PETG and has like eight time more impact strength, those are pretty significant upgrades.

[@adrianstachowski9422]

since it's a new material, it will go down soon

[@obie224]

@@oddspaghetti4287Uh, it's not double the layer strength, and 8 times more impact strength ? LOL. from the website article: "Next we get to impact strength which is a property many are not aware, that is kind of bad for PETG. PCTG was able to really shine here and the notched samples were able to absorb around 24 kJ/m² which puts it way above PLA and PETG and on a similar level as for example ABS. Unfortunately, the samples printed standing performed way worse and had an impact strength of only 1.5 kJ/m² on average." you sound just like whoever wrote the manufacturer's claims for this filament, technically true but actually misleading. does it have great impact strength ? sure, as long as you only print things that are flat. anything else will perform no different than petg, which is my point. it's no different than any petg in a real world application. and in many ways worse - it's so moisture sensitive that it has to be stored in a mylar bag, and it has to be printed way hotter than petg with no additional increase in glass temp. I never said it was a "bad" filament to use, but at 2-3 times the price of petg, it makes no sense to buy it.

[@obie224]

@@adrianstachowski9422 maybe the price will go down "soon". and maybe the company will go out of business in 6 months because no one is buying their overpriced filament. my point is that this filament is not much better than petg, and the price they're charging for it is ridiculous. it's modified petg, nothing more, and it doesn't perform much better than petg, with several additional drawbacks.

[@P-tricky13]

As always, putting in the hard work to the benefit of us all.

[@CNCKitchen]

You're welcome!

[@bernds6587]

PCTG or Poly blablablablablablabla glycol-modified. So it should be called P7BG, right?

[@FirstLast-vr7es]

A test that checks for degradation during repeated lateral loading would be very useful. That is, back and forth stresses like a finished part may encounter during regular use. I have had PETG crack perpendicular to the layer lines despite it having been strong enough to support the load. That constant back and forth lateral load caused it to crack.

[@timha4102]

I made some (thin) cookie cutters and regular PETG just wasn't tough enough for the job. So I ordered some PC Max as well as some PCTG from Fibrology after finding out about it here. And , WOW, this stuff is really strong - I did some testing and it really seemed almost isotropic: thin walls don't break between the layers, IF they break at all and not just deform. I think this will be my preferred material for small engineering jobs or delicate things.

[@shaneintegra]

Absolutely love your channel! As a beginner in 3D printing I have a lot to learn and you definitely provide a lot of that knowledge!

[@santiagoblandon3022]

On the last Polymaker live, they revealed that Polymax PETG is actually PCTG 🤔 interesting huh?

[@CNCKitchen]

Oh, thats interesting. That thought went through my head today as well!

[@TrueThanny]

Well, I guess that explains why I had to raise the temperature a lot to make it usable. Their recommended values are way too low.

[@josiahong5177]

I would really like to see a review for PolyMax PETG as a comparison to Essentium PCTG. Just finished watching TCT Asia from Polymaker.

[@kvandermaas8924]

Seems plausible to me. The glycol modified (PETG) means that ethylene glycol is replaced with another monomer. Ususally this monomer is cyclohexanedimethanol, which is the C in PCTG. So this means that PCTG and PETG are fairly similar. Likely the difference between them can be found in the content of cyclohexanedimethanol/ethylene glycol. Funny how you can play around with names :)

[@cowardly_wizard]

They sold one polymer as a different polymer? That's just begging for a lawsuit 🤔

[@dane1293]

I bought some PCTG recently to print a fuel cap for a vintage motorcycle. It apparently has good resistance to petroleum in addition to its desirable mechanical properties.

[@cyphre]

Yes! Been waiting to see these tests after hearing about PCTG! Glad you were able to acquire it in your region.

[@trombonebone17456343]

I've been hoping you would cover this for a few months, sweet!

[@maxlawwk]

I wanna see a clarity comparison among all clear/transparent filament available

[@craazyy22]

I think it would be intresting to see what tempature and print speed would do to clarity as well

[@Zhisaoka]

Yes! I’ve been waiting for a good review of this stuff for a while! :D thanks so much!

[@CNCKitchen]

You're welcome!

[@FloLeb72]

Thanks Stephan. I learn a lot watching your videos !

[@Snablarns]

3 years later I finally bought my first 1kg spool and am looking forward to printing a few functional parts! 😁

[@Acodalimus]

Danke Stefan für deine Tests. Das hilft schon gut bei der Auswahl des richtigen Materials

[@andrewmorgan7770]

Awesome. I’ve been wanting to try this stuff for ages but I was really hoping you’d do a video on it before I bought it

[@dunichtich100]

Hey Stefan, habe lange kein Video mehr von dir gesehen, aber freue mich zu hören dass du deinen Namen jetzt wieder richtig aussprichst 😊👍🏼

[@horner_omer_tm303]

Thanks a lot for the great amount of work you did, you're the best material reviewer

[@michaelmoxley590]

I have been waiting for this video. These results were very interesting. I was able to print PCTG with the same exact profile I used with PETG on my modified Ender 3, but changing the temperature to 255C. the filament printed great and seem to have great layer adhesion.

[@artfedderson]

Thank you Stefan for your diligent work and open sharing of it. I support very few people through Patreon just due to fiscal limitations but you certainly earn it more than anyone else. Danke, dass du so inspirierend bist!

[@HoffmanTactical]

I've been waiting for you to try this stuff!

[@randomlysatisfying6064]

Thank you so much for your professional videos! Scientificaly awesome! Keep up the great work!

[@pnwRC.]

Great video! I love learning about new materials.

[@timmturner]

Looks like if impact resistance is what your parts require this material is excellent assuming you can print them horizontal.

[@Repkord]

Excellent evaluation as always Stefan!

[@CNCKitchen]

Thanks!

[@georgefreitas3068]

Congrats. Your video is complet, you show printer quality, printer configuration and mechanic characters. Very good

[@CNCKitchen]

Thank you very much!

[@SYN_dr_0M3]

great video. PCTG seems a nice filament for more complex loaded parts. Giving some freedome in design in regard of print orientation.

[@A_Tempest]

I love your filament test videos! I know that some of your tests are printed on different printers etc, but having a spreadsheet of all your test results on different materials/ brands (and now colours!) Would be an incredibly useful addition to your website. I apologise if this is something that exists on your patreon already, it just looked like it hadn't been updated since 2019

[@geros9690]

Seems like I found this video as the first one while I was browsing through the playlists... :) Just noticed a thumbnail I couldn't remember. Guess I know now why...

[@CNCKitchen]

That's a KZbin "bug". If video are not released, yet, you are already able to find them in playlists.

[@chrischatterton2460]

The layer adhesion of this filament seems to me that it would make it a good candidate for carbon fiber infusion.

[@tavelkyosoba]

I really love your videos and have learned so much! Great video, dropping the truth bombs. Could you test glass filled PLA next?

[@thiagosannafreiresilva4366]

Great timing, I have two rolls from Fiberlogy arriving in a few days 👍. Hoping it can replace ABS for me for functional prints. Just hoping they come up with more colors soon.

[@soundmindtv2911]

Thank you, Stefan! Very good info. 👍

[@buckmillersafety]

Thanks, very helpful info.

[@circleofowls]

I use the same temperature tower, good choice! I've only used it for temperature though, I hadn't thought about doing one for fan speed though, that's a great idea.

[@avejst]

Great video as always 👍😀

[@saltysteel3996]

Been waiting on this one.

[@LeoDavidson]

Sticking with PETG since I don't need to change to an all-metal hotend to print that (with newer PETG spools, at least), and this doesn't seem to give any significant improvements for my needs.

[@khalilburno9713]

I LOVE THIS VIDEO Thank you Stephane 👍

[@CNCKitchen]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@PaulDominguez]

Another great video. The issue for PCTG is the very high temp requirements. I imagine a lot of beginners would struggle especially if the printer can't handle ABS. For outdoor uses, how PCTG handles sun and rain?

[@EK1H]

Great video I will try PCTG!

[@fishemrock]

thank you for the useful review.

[@CNCKitchen]

You're welcome!

[@zommy5re77]

would be interesting if you tested out fillamentum's new bio-PLa stuff, seems to have some unique properties

[@jasminlevesque]

+1 for NonOilen tests , can't find a valid 3rd party review of it. Helps us Stefan, you're our only hope! :D

[@sgschusswaffenlol9]

I would love to see a video about different filament splicer/ welder tools respectively filament splicing/ welding methods and how well they work.

[@mrmiz2547]

thanks for the info.

[@bruderdasisteinschwerermangel]

Man that benchy print made me jealous, that was looking super clean

[@halftonhero]

Looking forward to the Prusament PC review!

[@garagecedric]

Interesting material, though the sloppy stiffness could be an issue, petg is already a bit to soft sometimes for my use. Im really looking forward to the PC blend test, i find it very easy to print with the default settings, and have been waiting for the pc-cf. Good price for the specifications you've get, for example high temp.

[@cotj73]

I actually ended up with a small spool of this from M3D late 2019. I bought a mystery box from them, and this included. I have honestly never known what to do with it!

[@GizmoTheGreen]

My favorite filament! if anyone is curious, filalab has very afforable rolls available in EU. pretty much same price as most PLA or PETG. not affiliated, just want to spread love for this filament type. Closer to ABS, with printability much more like PLA. any printer can print it as long as nozzle can to 230 Celsius and bed 80. no warping.

[@marhar2]

Congratulations on your tm! Maybe I should register cnc broom closet! :)

[@miklschmidt]

I need to see some PBT+ (PBT + Glass fibres) testing next! Very interesting material, at least for thermal resistance and printability.

[@WS-gw5ms]

Great video thanks

[@TheShoeJr]

All of them are a mouthful, boy am I glad we have acronyms 😅

[@Dr3DPrint]

Nice filament!!! I’d like to test it here in Brasil, but I will wait many many many many many time to see this kind of material here! And I would love to get CF-PC...

[@mshepard2264]

Thank you for doing all these awsome tests. I will probably try pctg. I print mostly functional parts for prototypes. The the most important things for me is impact strength and heat resistance. I like petg but its only just good enough in the heat resistance and mediocre in the impact strength. I have been printing with priline carbon fiber petg lately. And the impact strenght seems pretty good qualitatively. I have tried other filled petg filaments but they were brittle. It might be worth doing a comparison of cf/ glass filled filaments some time.

[@severpop8699]

good one Stefan, thnaks for runnning the tests, now if you can put a benchy in yor car on the dash bard and notince what happens to it as days go by... Looking forward to see the PC tests, I got 4 reels myslef, never had the tme to test them, but it will be done by me too soon. Now changing all my prnters on my new design water cooling system, to cope with higher temps requirements better.

[@rfgame3457]

I had preproduction sample from Fiberlogy. I have printed it @H270/B110. It's amazing filament and will replace my PETG.

[@maximilianlosch7479]

Hi Stefan, Good video. I was wondering if this stuff would be a good binder for a fiber-filled material. Given that the Polymers most frequently user for such applications are on the softer, but more resilient side. The good layer-adhesion would play very well with a fiber filler, imho. What do you think?

[@SlavaChrome]

Ordered Fiberlogy PCTG two days ago. Wait to try t self =)

[@someguy2741]

It might be interesting to do a series on different colours in the same product. I have seen a huge difference in print characteristics but dont know about strength and modulus of elasticity.

[@PaulJuliusAnderson]

The general print settings tuning section was really interesting-do you have video/article/links that goes in depth on how you run tests and tune settings for new materials? Thanks!

[@WeTheWaveTV]

Thank you for your testing it really helps me understand these filaments. Have you tested any HIPS filaments??

[@MikeM8891]

I would love to see how this material performs with printer settings to make it transparent, just like you did for PETG.

[@fluiditynz]

14 years designing and 3D printing and still a happy benchie virgin. Some future species archaeologists are going to have a mystery of why so many benchies are found in rubbish tips AKA archaeological dig sites.

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

ugh i wish i found this earlier, i just bought 5 rolls of petg, and dialled it in to work almost perfectly on the x1c. I might try and find some of this.

[@DerekPetersonLives]

I wonder how PVDF would compare on these tests Thanks for all this work as always!

[@rcrdps8144]

Looking forward to your CF PC tests. I have PRILINE CF PC, and it prints at lower temps and sticks to the bed so well that I have wondered if they're blending PETG in it,...or maybe this stuff. It pulled the coating off of my glass bed in a few places. Now I use the magigoo PC glue "stick",.....and it's still pretty tough to get off. I print at the max my printer can do which is 260C/115C and I use 30% fan. Just bending and breaking some temp towers, it seems to have good layer adhesion. But I only have PLA to compare that to.

[@volodymyrdemydiuk8321]

Stefan, could you please cover/review PET as well? :-) I love it, especially for crystallisation part.

[@SWREngineering]

Extrudr has a very large PCTG selection.. and they are in Austria. Easily the best materials I have used...

[@ew0lff]

Wo findet man deine Setting-Tests? Würde mich sehr interessieren, wie du deinen Drucker auf neue Filamente einfährst...

[@PRO3DESIGN]

Hi Stefan. Thanks for another great video. Did you ever test cpe hg100 from filamentum? To me this is the best performing material when looking at layer adhesion and strength plus ease of printing and impact strength. I would love to see you test this filament in similar fashion. Stay safe, regards Roy

[@matneu27]

Fully agree, still in use. Anyway filamentum recommends also up to 270 °C printing temperature, but still prints fine below. At least the best layer adhesion of many filaments I've tried out in the past. Ideal if you play around with single wall prints.

[@JATMN]

Yay another Filament test by CNC Kitchen, been missing these! :) Interesting material.

[@kleung1]

The Fiber Three dry box looks great, but I just looked it up and was shocked by the cost!

[@AndrzejBrudniak]

I bought one spool from Fiberlogy and it is really intresting. Printing is really easy, just modified profile for Fiberlogy PETG in PrusaSlicer. It is not that stiff as PETG but is more like pure Nylon. Also, Fiberlogy has a great number of colors, with samples I have like 5, and they have 6 or 7 in total

[@ManIkWeet]

How did you set up your slicer to do basically every tuning test at once? The one I mostly can't figure out is overriding fan speeds?

[@Billybobble1]

Informative as ever Stefan, thank you. This one gets a 'like' for the last 5 seconds :'-D

[@CNCKitchen]

Thanks for that!

[@markcahalan5698]

looking forward to your prusament PC CF blend review.

[@CNCKitchen]

Coming soon!

[@williamtrevine]

I would love to see trials with Tritan!!!

[@OliFPV]

Moin 🤟💚🍀 war very gut my friend 👌

[@TachirosLament]

super useful

[@CNCKitchen]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sugatooth]

Makes me wonder how they did their internal testing to get the isotropic test results

[@Peter_Schluss-Mit-Lustig]

Probably inside a heated chamber

[@RelatedGiraffe]

Please test the strength of HIPS and CF polycarbonate! I wonder what those filaments would be like for printing drone propellers.

[@digibluh]

i wonder if a heated chamber increases the strength. it does for some other materials.

[@JoeStoffa]

I print PCTG in a heated chamber at 70C. To answer your question, I think you're right. Essentium claims this material anneals around the glass transition temp (see 2:05 at kzbin.info/www/bejne/epC8q5KXrNiqgs0). I print a series of test bars for all materials I use and then I do a ghetto 3-point bend test using a belt tension tester. Prior to PCTG the strongest z-axis strength/adhesion I tested was for polycarbonate, but PCTG beats it. In my experience, if you have to load the z-axis then PCTG > Polycarbonate > ABS/ASA.

[@Zeeflyboy]

I have some Fiberlogy PCTG on the way so this was interesting to see! Have you ever tested Ninjatek Armadillo? I've found it to be a pretty tough filament in my uses so far and it'd be interesting to see it subjected to your test rig.

[@3dtechnologies153]

how did fiberology pctg work for you?

[@pjak2000]

Abt a month ago I've bought Fiberology Clear PCTG for my FPV #3Printed wing design. I've printed it but not maidened yet. Printed with no cooling. I am really happy how it came out comparing it to previous prototypes from PETG or PLA.

[@CNCKitchen]

Very interesting! Did you have any issues with warping?

[@pjak2000]

@@CNCKitchen maybe a little bit. It behaves very similarly to PETG. Flat surfaces tend to buckle. I try to print on relatively cold bed (

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

Hey, can you make a summary video of all your findings for dos and don'ts for strong 3D prints (layer height, print temperature, material, extrusion width, infill %, outlines etc)?

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

Oooh it's a patreon thing, got it.

[@BLBlackDragon]

I could see using this for printing chunky parts, that have a lot of layer area for adhesion. Anything that I don't mind if it looks rough. A bit pricey, though. (then again, new material. Maybe once demand and production pick up, it will come down a bit)

[@aqhan]

So, how many takes to read that full name of the filament at the beginning of the video? :D

[@dtaggartofRTD]

This looks like a neat material. I may need to pick up a roll.

[@NeoAcheron]

I wonder if Fillamentum CPE HG100 is the same material, it certainly behaves the same and needs the same kinds of temperatures and fan speeds, its also ridiculously strong.

[@fiveangle]

The parts on PEI-plain, held firmly on the plane !

[@haraldhimmel5687]

If you test carbon fiber PC it would be really good to check for carbon fibers potentially getting airborne and possibly spreading on surfaces like asbestos. Last time I checked certain experiences with carbon filaments were quite divided in that regard (sometimes with picture evidence of fibers) and this could be a serious health hazard if true.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Time for CF-PCTG (enriched with Aerogel nanoparticles to help with temperature resistance).

[@bbrockert]

Was there any reply from the manufacturer as to how they tested it to have such perfect layer bonding?

[@hiphopguy0]

Time to try annealing it in plaster of Paris!