translucent filament suggestions

[qmaker 29]

Hi everyone,

I am about to do a max build size print in a translucent material. I have already printed it in a solid color PLA. I would like to have a bit of success, so thought I would ask what translucent materials people have had good results with.

I was leaning toward Colorfabb, but I am open to any brand that people have had good results with. Any photos would be helpful. Up until now my only experience with anything translucent was tglase, which was OK after I managed to figure out optimal temp settings.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and opinions,

Q

[yellowshark 153]

Whether or not they are translucent enough for your purposes I do not know but the windows are using Faberdashery Crystal Clear and the "glass" balcony walls, including the curved one laying on its own, are using Faberdashery Glacial Blue.

Yes I tried t-glase too and gave up as I did not have enough time to get the settings right

[gr5 2,069]

I haven't tried transparent filament but the experts seem to agree you want very thick single pass walls. So a 1mm nozzle will give you much better results and do something like .4mm layer height and 1mm thick shell. This will work much better than the converse (.4mm nozzle with .1mm layer height and .8mm walls.

If you only have the .4mm nozzle to work with - well sorry. But try lying to cura and tell it you have a .6mm nozzle with .6 shell and .2 layer height. or maybe .4mm nozzle with .4 shell and .3mm layer height.

[qmaker 29]

Thanks guys,

I had heard that regarding layer height and refraction. It creates a better transparency is that correct? I am using the standard nozzle so .4, but I am considering doing the new upgrade which would give me larger nozzles to work with right? There seems to be a lot of buzz right now about the upgrade, but I think I will hold off a bit until I hear some reviews from the folks that have made the change. I feel like I finally have my extruder working and am weary of going back to the original looking feeder, even though it is supposed to be better.

[AreDigg 8]

I have used both XT and nGen in their translucent form, and the trick is basically to print with the highest layer setting you are able to and still have they layers stay together. Usually around 70-80% of the nozzle size. And the bigger nozzle size the better.

You will never have glass-like translucent, there will always be refraction from the layers and as such is gives a more ice-like feel than clear glass. Also infill will of course be highly visible. And shells should really have only one layer for as low refraction as possible.

I use it more to create a unique artistic effect, rather than an object you can see through. Another cool thing is to create thin and flat objects on the glass plate, and these will usually be completely see-through.

Also if you need some strength and only semi-translucent, you can use Taulman Bridge Nylon. It is surprisingly translucent, however with a sheen of whiteness (which makes it a little bit more plasticlike than the Colorfabb, a bit like the bowden tube). And when printed very thin becomes rather flexible.

[yellowshark 153]

...and do not forget if you want it to be transparent like glass then use Taulman nylon with XTC 3D coating - see Taulman site for photos

[gr5 2,069]

You don't need to spend $400 to get a .8mm nozzle - you can just get the Olsson block part of the upgrade kit only from many sources including my store here: gr5.org/store/

I have the upgrade kit - it's quite good.

Anyway I recommend you stick with .4mm for now to get an idea of how transluscent this will be - it's definitely not transparent. I think AreDigg explains it well.

[qmaker 29]

Great advice and tips. I love this place. I had completely forgot about the infill visibility. Duh....

I might have to rethink my model a bit and do some small test prints to see what I can get. I am not going for complete transparency but I do want to avoid being able to see any geometric infill etc... Thanks for the tip about Taulman and XTC I am very excited about this and am about to run in and try it on an old model I printed in Red Tglase!!!!!

gr5 what do you feel were the greatest advantages to the upgrade kit? If I am going to do the nozzle, I will likely go ahead and do the whole upgrade kit. Feeder improvements?

[gr5 2,069]

Um. Well I summarized it here on this screen that's kind of private still for another day or two - but read the details in the description setting that goes through all the features of the upgrade kit:

http://gr5.org/store/index.php/ultimaker2-plus-upgrade-kit.html

[qmaker 29]

gr5

Is the upgrade kit past the private stage? Are the components that you offer, the same or similar to the UM upgrade kit? Specifically, is the Meduza extruder and Irobertis feeder and Laberns fan shroud all better worse comparable to the UM kits. What are the side by side advantages or disadvantages that you have found. Considering how many people are trying to get the upgrade you must be swamped selling this in a more cost effective way.

[gr5 2,069]

I haven't gotten any orders for the "upgrade kit". It's hidden. Anyway you are welcome to order one - I have only one meduza 2x kit in the store although I think I have all the parts now (maybe - have to check - stuff arrived yesterday) for 5 more kits.

Even though the page is hidden it's completely working - you can pick and choose depending on what you already have (no need to get an olsson block if you already have one). I have to do taxes but hopefully I will have time this weekend to inventory and build some kits and then if I have at least 5 I will make the private page visible from the home page.

My printer has been fine without the upgrade for years so I'm not sure how important the "plus" is. I have 4 printers but I have only done 3 prints on the "plus". I like to alternate printers depending on what I'm doing. I've done much more on the meduza 2x and it works quite well. I definitely like the 2x increase in power but it's not mandatory. I definitely like the Olsson block and larger nozzles - still haven't tried the .25mm!

And the newer teflon part in the kit is very very critical if you have a printer that has more than 500 hours printing time on it and you got your teflon part from UM before roughly january 2016 (not sure when UM switched to higher temp teflon but 3dsolex switched well before UM did).

Really there is a lot of excitement for the plus but my UM2 printers worked great before the plus.

Haven't done any tests to prove that the fan is better or worse. You need a very difficult print to notice a difference such as the fan blade in the "plus" video which needs extra cooling due to it's tall thin sections and overhangs. The "plus" fans are quieter but other than that I'm not sure there is any claim by UM that they result in better prints (correct me if I'm wrong!)