Materials

Polymers, additives, and supplier reference for the G1 pellet printer.

Supported polymers

PLA and PETG each have a note of their own. Each note covers the whole family — virgin, recycled and filled for PLA; clear, coloured, glass-fibre and flame-retardant for PETG — because in practice the grade is what changes the settings, not the polymer name.

PLA — predictable, usually printed straight from the bag, and the one to print when you need to tell a material problem from a machine problem
PETG — the easiest material on the machine once it is dried: it has the best bed adhesion, and warps about as little as PLA. Tougher and more heat-resistant, and what most production work runs on. Hygroscopic, and it sticks to the screw

Ginger Slicer also ships profiles for PP, ABS/ASA and HIPS, and the G1 is supported on them. They warp and lose bed adhesion more easily than PLA and PETG, so they are for an experienced operator — start from their material profile. The styrenics among them, ABS/ASA and HIPS, also carry materially higher exposure — see Safety and fumes.

Other thermoplastics — PA (nylon), TPU, TPE and more — have no profile because the right settings depend on the supplier and the grade, not because the G1 cannot print them: Ginger Additive has printed them. Ask the material supplier for the datasheet and build the profile from it — see Creating a material profile. Nylon also carries materially higher exposure — see Safety and fumes.

What the G1 does not print is the high-performance class that needs a chamber at 100 °C or more — PEEK, PPS and similar technical polymers.

Where to buy pellets

Ginger Additive refers customers to two suppliers for pellet stock:

Supplier	Range
Formfutura	PLA, PET(G), Frosted PETG, ASA, PP, PP GF, PA (Nylon), Matt, UV Resistant, Glass Bead pellets
Polymaker PolyCore	A pellet family built for FGF: PETG-1000 / 1013 / 1211, ASA-3000 / 3012, ABS-5012 / 5022, PC-7413, TPU-2000

Two practical notes:

Datasheets first. Grades of the same polymer differ; the two polymer pages give G1 starting points, the supplier datasheet gives the grade’s own numbers
Contact Formfutura sales for volume supply — do not guess pack sizes from the webshop

Official Ginger additives

SmoothFlow — liquid lubricant for pellets (PLA / PETG)
Liquid Masterbatch — premium liquid colorant

Starting temperatures

The zone temperatures for a material are whatever its Ginger Slicer profile sets — the slicer is what sends them to the printer, so that is the only place they are true. Every shipped profile is listed in Material profiles, with its three zones, bed and MVS.

The two polymer pages give the shape of each family and what goes wrong with it: PLA and PETG. Neither is a substitute for the datasheet of the grade in your hopper.

One thing worth knowing before you look: PETG’s Feeding Zone is deliberately lower than its other two zones: at the inlet the pellets are what carries heat away, and PETG plugs there readily if that zone runs hot. Smaller nozzles mean slower flow and want it lower still.

Material handling

Starting the dryer — procedure for a drying cycle (temperatures, times)
Material change and purge — switching colors / materials, when to purge

Troubleshooting — material-specific issues
Procedures — calibration and tuning per material