Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with his head stuck inside a PC or tinkering with a server operating system. Besides computing, his interests include spending hours in long RPGs, yelling at his friends in co-op games, and practicing guitar.
Whether you’re planning to print cool-looking models, cosplay props, or just regular ol’ replacement parts for your household accessories, you’ll want to be careful with your filament of choice – and that’s a lesson I learned only after leaving a PLA model in direct sunlight and finding its deformed remains the next day. Since then, I’ve tinkered with different filaments over the course of my 3D printing journey, and after realizing their perks and quirks, I’ve developed a preference for certain materials.
For example, I always keep a TPU roll for wearable components and projects that require high-elasticity models. Then there’s PETG, which I’ve used for the majority of my 3D prints after I began printing practical accessories instead of aesthetically-pleasing models.
PETG is durable enough for most functional prints in my house
It’s better than PLA for printing everyday items
One of the best aspects of PETG, aside from its affordable nature, is that it’s durable enough for utility prints that I don’t want to replace every few months. For one, PETG has rock-solid impact resistance, and since it flexes under heavy load instead of shattering, it’s safe enough for hooks, clips, and mounting brackets that get exposed to mechanical stress. It also has better heat tolerance than regular PLA, making it perfect for my DIY accessories designed for outdoor use or the insides of my PCs.
Better yet, PETG models are fairly resistant to water, oils, and common chemicals, so I can use them for garage tools, garden equipment, and even bathroom accessories without worrying about the prints becoming unusable in a few days.
I typically use PETG for most of my home lab prints
Heck, it's the sole reason I was able to organize cable chaos in my tinkering cave
Switching to the practical side of my 3D printing escapades, my home lab is where I spend the majority of my time working on DIY projects, and I used PETG for pretty much every model in my tech cave. Take my cable organization setup, for example. Since PETG can handle mechanical stress, it’s what I used when creating cable clips that route cables by latching along the sides of my desk, and the same applies to my under-desk trays. I’ve also printed PETG mounting brackets for cheap network switches and WAPs, and they’ve held up perfectly well for months.
Likewise, PETG is reliable enough to withstand the heat within my gaming PC and servers, which is why I used it to design snap-on cable clips. In fact, I even created a custom PSU shroud for one of my old PC cases to hide some of the cable clutter. PETG drive caddies work just as well for my NAS rigs and DIY storage servers, and I’m already planning to put together a custom DAS that uses PETG for the chassis and typical physical components.
But it’s just as useful for custom accessories and replacement parts
I even use it for home organization frameworks and gardening tools
Besides my home lab, PETG has been a reliable companion for the rest of my household accessories. Although I’m too wary of using any kind of PETG rolls (including the safe variants) for food containers, it’s great for jar organizers and bag-sealing accessories. Since PETG is fairly resistant to moisture after I turn the filament into tangible models, I’ve also used it to create toothpaste squeezers, detergent racks, and phone mounts for my bathroom. On the gardening front, it works well for hose splitters, pot trays, and plant labels.
I also use PETG extensively when creating knobs, latch components, retention pins, and other replacement parts. Heck, it’s pretty effective for creating replacement components for tech devices, like the MIPI latch on my Raspberry Pi 5 and custom hoses for my vacuum cleaner.
That said, PETG has a handful of quirks
So far, I’ve only discussed PETG’s utility in my household 3D prints, but this robust filament isn’t without its problems. And I’m not just talking about the glossy finish on PETG prints, either. Although my PETG prints aren’t very vulnerable to water, the filament itself is a different story. Since it’s hygroscopic, a semi-used roll can absorb quite a bit of moisture if I leave the spool hanging on my 3D printer. Of course, it’s not really a problem when I have print queues for massive models that can drain an entire spool worth of filament.
But since most of my everyday objects (and I’ll discuss this in a bit) take up anywhere between 10g to 75g, I have to be extremely careful when handling freshly-opened spools or risk dealing with excessive stringing. In fact, the humidity in my backwater town is so high that I ended up getting a filament dryer and several desiccant packets just to preserve my newly-opened spools.