Piocreat G5 Ultra: The new G5 with major upgrades

Last year we took a look at the Piocreat G5, which was, in our opinion, the first attempt at bringing pellet printing to the desktop.

Shenzhen-based company Piocreat3D have now unveiled their latest iteration of the series, dubbed the Piocreat G5 Ultra.

Let's take a look at how the company has seriously improved their pellet printing capabilities with their new desktop pellet machine.

G5 Ultra

Granular printing, or Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF), has long been a staple in industrial printing due to its affordability. However, its accessibility to hobbyists and prosumers has been limited by the high cost of granular extrusion systems. The original G5 made pellet printing accessible, and the new G5 Ultra makes it a whole lot better.

The G5 Ultra still maintains a similar build volume to the first (500 x 500x400mm), but doubles the speed, specifically the print speed and material deposition speed.

While the first G5 was capable of printing at 100mm/s, the new G5 Ultra produces molten plastic at a high speed of 260mm/s. In terms of material throughput, the G5 Ultra is capable of depositing an impressive 1kg per hour.

Feeding and extrusion

The new generation extruder (with segmented thermal zones) can accommodate nozzle diameters ranging from 0.4 mm to 3 mm, and the machine can print pellets/granules with a diameter of 2-5 mm. Particles are fed into the extruder from a 3-liter hopper, ensuring a ready supply of raw material for its enormous deposition speed. It heats up to a temperature of 400 °C, allowing the printing of a wide range of materials.

What if your printer runs out of material during a job? Piocreat has thought about this possibility and developed a new material level sensor. The sensor detects when the material is running low, and sounds a warning alarm, notifying users to refill the hopper. The printer remembers the progress of the interrupted print job and resumes exactly where it left off, once the pellets are refilled.

Another update to the G5 Ultra is the firmware. While the original G5 was based on Marlin, the G5 Ultra comes with Klipper, enabling a ton of new features, including the ability to send files and monitor prints over WiFi.

Of course, in addition to the new features, the G5 Ultra retains several features of the original machine, including dual Z-axis leads with double tie rods, all mounted on its sturdy metal frame, to provide greater stability while printing.

Pellets - the raw material of the future

So, we've seen how the G5 Ultra is a serious upgrade to the original machine.

Let's just give a quick reminder of why pellets really are the future, and why we should all be moving away from filament as quickly as possible.

• Cost - First of all, the price of pellets is much cheaper than the price of filaments. Filaments come from pellets after all and require processing to reach filament status. Filaments are more expensive to store and transport, and all of these extra processes add up and ultimately hit the customer's wallet. Pellets are cheaper. That's a fact.
  
• Environment - Pellets require less energy to produce, are easier to transport in bulk (meaning lower transport emissions), and do not come in wasted plastic reels. Additionally, there are many recycled pellets on the market, and if you have the means to shred your own plastic, you can also recycle your waste into raw material.
  
  
• Variety of Materials – With the ability to heat up to 400°C, the G5 Ultra Pellet 3D printer excels at processing a wide range of thermoplastics and composites. This flexibility allows you to experiment with various pellets, including PA-CF, PA-GF, PC-CF, PLA, rPLA, PETG-GF, ABS, PS, GPPS, PP-GF, and more.

Piocreat recommends the use of original materials to achieve optimal material properties, ensuring better performance of printed components with superior quality.

So, to sum up, the Piocreat 3D Ultra G5 allows for cheaper printing, is more environmentally friendly and thanks to its huge build volume and flow rate, allows you to print massive objects very quickly. What's not to like?

And if the G5 Ultra isn't big enough for your pellet printing needs, then don't forget to check out the Piocreat G12, with its industrial print volume (1200 x 1000 x 1000 mm).