(I added Part 1 as I expect that there is a lot to tell about filaments)
Up to now (2 days into printing) I have been printing with the PLA filaments that came with the printer, and all is fine.
But there are a lot of other filaments out there, all with their own advantages and disadvantages.
With PLA and the default settings in the slicer software I haven't encountered any issue that were non user related. So very happy with all the results.
But PLA, although it feels prety tough, is most likely not going to be tough enough for some of the future projects I already started looking into some other types of filament.
PETG is stronger, and can withstand some chemical producst, so could be more advisable for a lot of the parts I'm going to print in future. But, PETG apears to be a lot more difficult to print as it requires a higher temperature, but also becomes more fluid and could cause all kinds of issue with things like stringing and clogging the nozzle. Further more, once dried it seems that it sticks like hell on the build plate and I already saw some broken build plates online. So going to need to be carefull with this.
I was thinking about having different build plates for different materials. In my opinion, most problems people encounter with non sticking builds are caused by the fact that they require cleaning stuff from the previous print more thoroughly, as the changed material. So why not use a build plate for each type of filament you use.
PETG has the tendency to stick realy hard to the build plate, hence a sticking glue is required. That sounds a bit strange, but the sticking glue can also be used as a releasing agent. WIth sticking glue applied, the PETG will stick to the glue rather then directly to the plate. And at the time of removing the project from the plate, it is the glue that releases from the plate and might just leave a little residue on the printed object. That can then be easily removed. This sounds better then having your build plate destroyed ....
So now looking into ordering some new plates and PETG.