PETG sits between PLA and engineering-grade materials on the difficulty scale. Tougher, more heat-resistant, and still printable without an enclosure. This guide covers print settings, the honest comparison with PLA, stringing fixes, and when PETG actually makes sense for your print.
PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol) is a modified form of the plastic used in water bottles. The glycol modification makes it easier to print than standard PET and gives it better impact resistance than PLA. It prints without an enclosure and doesn’t require the extreme bed temperatures that ABS does.
Nozzle temperature is higher than PLA at 230-250°C, and it needs a warm bed at 70-85°C. It takes a bit more dialling in than PLA, mostly because of stringing, but once your settings are right it’s a reliable and capable material.
Most guides frame this as PETG being the upgrade from PLA. It’s more accurate to say they’re different tools for different jobs.
PLA wins when you need: easy printing, maximum rigidity for structural prints, the finest surface detail, or a good base for painting. PLA is also the better choice if the print lives in an air-conditioned space and never sees stress.
PETG wins when you need: better impact resistance, higher heat tolerance (up to around 80°C vs PLA’s 55-60°C), flexibility under stress rather than brittleness, resistance to moisture and most mild chemicals, or a print that lives in a hot car, workshop, or outdoor environment.
For most OreKo models, PLA is correct. For functional parts that see heat or repeated stress, PETG is the better call. The right answer depends on where the print lives.
Nozzle: 230-250°C. Start at 235°C and adjust from there. Most brands run well at 240°C.
Bed: 70-85°C. PETG adheres aggressively to bare glass and glass with PEI sheets. Use a release agent like a thin layer of glue stick or hairspray, or the print may pull the PEI texture off when it releases. A PEI sheet with PETG needs a slightly higher bed temp and a careful release after cooling.
First layer: slow it down to 20-25mm/s. PETG wants to stick and a slow first layer prevents the nozzle dragging strands across the surface on subsequent moves.
Retraction: 1-2mm for direct drive, 4-6mm for Bowden. Less than you might expect. Over-retraction makes PETG string worse, not better.
Speed: 40-60mm/s is a safe starting point. Faster speeds increase stringing and can cause layer separation. Dial it in before going faster.
Layer height: 0.12-0.20mm for functional parts. PETG doesn’t show layer lines as prominently as standard PLA, so 0.20mm is often fine for parts where aesthetics matter less than strength.
Stringing is the main reason people get frustrated with PETG. Fine hairs stretching between features look bad and take time to clean up. Here’s what actually works.
Raise your temperature slightly. Counter-intuitive, but better melt means cleaner travel. If stringing at 235°C, try 240°C.
Enable combing in your slicer. Combing keeps the nozzle travelling over already-printed areas rather than open air. This single setting eliminates most stringing on complex models.
Increase travel speed. The faster the nozzle moves between features, the less time it has to leak. Most slicers have a separate travel speed setting. Get it up to 150-200mm/s.
Lower retraction distance, not just speed. Less retraction than you think is needed. 1-2mm on direct drive. Going further causes the molten PETG to create a gap that refills inconsistently and strings on the next move.
Dry your filament. Wet PETG strings dramatically worse than dry PETG. If you’re getting far more stringing than expected, 4-6 hours in a food dehydrator or filament dryer at 65°C before printing often solves it.
PETG-CF adds chopped carbon fibre to PETG’s base. The result is stiffer and lighter than standard PETG, with better dimensional accuracy and a distinctive matte, textured surface finish that looks right on technical pieces.
It requires a hardened steel nozzle. CF particles will wear a brass nozzle down within a few hours of printing. Print at 240-260°C, slightly slower than standard PETG at 30-50mm/s. Bed at 70-85°C.
Not a beginner material, but if you’ve got PETG dialled in and need something stiffer with better dimensional stability, PETG-CF is the next step without moving into full engineering filaments.
Most OreKo models are designed for PLA. But there are cases where PETG is the better call.
Deck boxes in hot climates: A car interior in South Florida can hit 60°C+. PLA will distort. PETG handles that heat without any change in shape. Same settings as above, 0.20mm layer height is fine for the walls.
Lollipop Chainsaw Chain Links: The chain link pins flex slightly during assembly. PLA can crack at the stress point on repeated flex. PETG holds the flex and springs back. Print at 0.20mm, 240°C nozzle, 75°C bed.
For anything that will sit in air conditioning or never sees real stress: PLA is simpler and the result looks just as good.
We test with eSUN PETG when we need results that transfer reliably to documented settings. It runs consistently at the settings we publish: 240°C nozzle, 75°C bed, 0.20mm layer height for functional parts. No batch-to-batch surprises.
eSUN PETG is available through the eSUN Official Store.
Disclosure: the eSUN link above is an affiliate link. If you purchase through it, we earn a small commission at no cost to you. We only recommend products we use ourselves.
Every OreKo model page lists the filament used during testing and the settings that produced it. Start with PLA and switch to PETG if the environment demands it.