PP and specialty materials

The G1 can print any thermoplastic by definition — the pellet format means you can source industrial injection-molding grades directly. This note covers materials beyond the standard PLA/PETG family.

Note

Practical advice: always start with PLA or PETG to learn the machine. Specialty materials have higher warping, need more calibration, and may require specific bed setups.

Polypropylene (PP)

Characteristics

• Milky/translucent appearance — not ideal for optical or aesthetic objects
• Very low warping tendency for small, round parts; high warping for large flat geometry
• Extremely cheap locally (injection molding grade)
• Does not need drying before printing
• Poor bed adhesion — PP does not stick well to most surfaces

When to use PP

• Technical parts: prosthetics, functional components, small round parts with thin walls
• Parts that need chemical resistance or food contact compliance

When NOT to use PP

• Large aesthetic objects (furniture, lamps) — warping is severe on flat geometry
• Parts where translucency is a problem

PP with glass fiber (PP GF)

Adding glass fiber to PP improves dimensional stability significantly. Injection-molding grade PP GF is widely available and affordable. Treat it like PETG GF for print settings. Requires SmoothFlow or similar lubricant.

A blend of approximately 60% recycled PP + 40% glass fiber has been tested and produced excellent results: surface quality is high and warping is nearly eliminated compared to raw PP. A controlled warp test showed the fiber-reinforced compound warped almost not at all where raw PP warped severely.

Note

Confirmed by a customer engineering team who mixed and tested the compound with master’s students. Exact fiber percentage may vary by supplier — treat 40% as a starting point.

PP with foaming agent

Adding a foaming agent to PP reduces density and can improve surface finish. Ginger has experimented with this — contact Ginger support for current recommendations.

Print settings (starting point)

Parameter	Value
Feeding zone	200–210°C
Melting zone	210–220°C
Nozzle zone	215–225°C
Bed temperature	80–100°C
Bed surface	PP sheet or adhesion promoter

Bed adhesion for PP

PP famously refuses to stick to standard surfaces. Confirmed options (in order of reliability):

1. Wood panel + contact adhesive — glue or staple a plywood or MDF panel to the heated bed; apply a thin layer of contact adhesive or wood glue on the surface. PP bonds well to the adhesive, releases cleanly on cooling. Practical and low-cost for most setups.
2. Thick rigid PP sheet (~3 cm) — a thick PP plate clamped to the bed acts as a self-adhesive surface (PP bonds chemically to PP). Stable for repeated prints.
3. Thin PP sheet under vacuum clamp — a thin PP sheet held flat by a vacuum fixture. Best for production use; requires vacuum clamping hardware.
4. Scotch tape layer — temporary workaround for single one-off prints only; consistency is poor.

Note

PP makes zero adhesion to glass. Do not attempt to print PP directly on the glass bed without a PP-compatible surface treatment or sheet.

Nylon (PA6, PA12, PA11)

Characteristics

• Highly hygroscopic — absorbs moisture faster than any other common thermoplastic
• Must be dried before printing and kept dry during printing (ideally in a sealed hopper)
• High warping potential — needs heated chamber or enclosure
• Good mechanical properties: flexible, tough, abrasion resistant

Drying nylon

• 80–90°C for 8–12 hours minimum
• Even a few hours of exposure to air after drying can re-saturate the pellets
• If you can’t print immediately after drying: keep pellets in a sealed container with desiccant

Print settings (starting point)

Parameter	Value
Feeding zone	240–250°C
Melting zone	250–260°C
Nozzle zone	255–265°C
Bed temperature	80–90°C

ABS / ASA

• High warping — requires enclosure or printed chamber
• ABS emits styrene during printing — must be ventilated — see Safety and fumes
• ASA is a UV-stable alternative to ABS with similar print settings
• Not actively tested by Ginger; no official profile available — use community profiles as a starting point

Recycled PET (rPET)

• Plain PET becomes very liquid when melted and tends to crystallize — difficult to handle, especially with large nozzles where slow flow amplifies the crystallization problem
• PETG (PET + glycol additive) is the printable version — the glycol modifier specifically prevents the crystallization issues of plain PET
• rPET from crushed bottles: possible but not recommended — price ends up higher than buying PETG, bed adhesion is poor, and the crystallization behavior with large nozzles makes consistent results difficult
• If using rPET with additives (as in some filament-compatible pellets): treat like standard PETG

Carbon fiber filled (CF)

• PETG 7% CF, PLA CF, PA CF are all printable on the G1
• CF changes the extrusion behavior: re-calibrate Rotation Volume when switching to CF grade
• Do not mix CF and non-CF versions of the same material mid-print — can cause over/under extrusion
• CF is abrasive: monitor nozzle wear if printing large volumes

TPU (flexible / elastomeric)

TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) is a flexible, rubber-like material that the G1 handles well.

When to use TPU

• Anti-vibration parts, brackets, flexible covers
• Parts that need to flex or absorb impact
• Complex shapes that would warp in PP/PE

TPU advantages over PP for flexible parts

For flat, box-shaped anti-vibration geometry: TPU is much better than PP or PE. PP/PE warps severely on flat walls; TPU has very low warping and behaves more like a stiff rubber.

TPU + composite blends

TPU + ground tire rubber (polverino pneus): a specialty blend for anti-vibration applications, using shredded recycled tire powder as filler. Prints similarly to standard TPU but with a denser, rubbery feel.

Print settings (starting point)

Parameter	Value
Feeding zone	200–210°C
Melting zone	215–225°C
Nozzle zone	220–230°C
Bed temperature	30–40°C
Cooling	0%

Note

TPU does not need drying — it is not hygroscopic.

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Choosing a material: quick guide

Use case	Recommended material
Aesthetic objects, lamps, furniture	PETG clear or PETG GF 10%
Outdoor structural parts	PETG GF 20%
Eco/recycled concept	rPLA (white) or Wood composite
Low-cost, easy print	PLA virgin
Technical / functional parts	PP or Nylon
Fire-rated applications	PETG V0
Hot country, no distortion	PETG (higher Tg than PLA)

Note

PLA distorts at ~55–60°C. In hot climates (India, Middle East, equatorial) shipped parts can deform in transit. Use PETG (Tg ~80°C) for anything exposed to heat.

Material sourcing notes

• SK Chemicals PETG (brand: SkyGreen SF200) — recommended industrial PETG source for Asia/India
• Azure Film — ships pre-dried PLA and PETG; good option if no dryer available
• Formfutura — PETG, PLA, GF grades. Contact Formfutura sales for B2B pricing.
• Injection molding grade materials are typically cheaper than “3D printing” grades but require calibration

Related notes

• PETG clear — standard PETG reference
• PETG GF glass fiber — glass fiber PETG
• rPLA recycled — recycled PLA
• Dryer best practices — drying protocols for hygroscopic materials
• Rotation Volume calibration — re-calibrate when switching material grade
• Safety and fumes — ventilation for ABS/ASA and other high-emission materials