As the first entry in the Filaween 2 series of tests, let’s check out how well Verbatim PET does when it comes to printability, mechanical strength and print quality!
As the first entry to Filaween 2.0, we’ve got Verbatim PET. Produced by the Mitsubishi daughter company, it’s an officially food-safe rated polyester or co-polyester filament selling at a premium 66€ per 1kg of material. It’s a naturally clear PET, which means with the right print settings, you can create almost crystal clear prints. I tried with this replacement lampshade, and as usual, even if you don’t manage to get perfectly clear parts, it still glistens a lot and heavily refracts light shining onto it. Verbatim provides only sparse information on how to print it, part cooling fan settings and bed adhesive recommendations are missing, which is a big issue for polyester filaments, as printing directly on glass or PEI will tear a chunk out of your bed, so as usual, I used Magigoo as a separation layer. The recommended print temperature is 210 to 240°C, which is a huge range and, in fact, the lower temperature led to a badly blocked hotend in a few occasions. 225° printed well, but 240° showed much increased stringing and some signs of filament cooking in the thinner parts of the 3DBenchy.
Overall, polyesters are not a hard material to print, but the lack of useful information on Verbatim’s side leaves it with 3 and a half stars for ease of use.
Print quality itself is actually really good, even if it’s hard to show on camera for a clear material. Aside from some stringing, all test prints came out perfectly. 5 stars. Not quite of the flaming variety, though.
Now, mechanical properties are somewhat inconclusive. Verbatim PET is strong material on its own, but does not provide great layer adhesion as printed and is quite brittle, fracturing extremely easily in the impact test and even showing multi-fractures in the bed tests. Temperature stability is good, and the 3DBenchy dowsed in a cup of boiling water holds up its shape well, and has some resistance to being deformed. Overall, the low layer adhesion and impact resistance leave it with 3 stars for mechanical properties and a half one for the good temperature resistance.
All things considered, the Verbatim PET clocks in at a solid 4 stars, but the material would really profit from some more detailed printing instructions and a good drop in retail price.