Printing Different Color Text: Resurrecting Old Thread For Improvements

[RinehartGroupLLC 0]

I have a couple of quick questions and wanted to bring back up an older post to see if anything has changed in the last 7 years to make the process easier. Attached is a picture posted by gr5 back in 2017 and a link to the thread. This is the best example I could find on the internet that is attached to a person. I would need my lettering a bit smaller, but this is as close to perfect as I have come across. I have messaged gr5, but just wanted to put it out there again to see if anything has changed over the last 7 years to make this process easier: specific printers, specific slicers, specific slicer settings,  etc. Any information is greatly appreciated!

 

1. In the thread gr5 is using an Ultimaker 2 in order to do this and swapping out the filaments after the first print. I am assuming you should completely print the letters in red first and then print the white shell around them? Do you have to doing anything special with your lettering in your cad program? Like "beveling"? I see that as a possible solution but it would be difficult to redo for everything I have. Each printer I have tried this on, makes the nozzle run into the already printed letters.

 

2. Are you using Ultimaker Cura to slice? If so, do you mind filling me in on your specific Cura settings? Are you "grouping" or "merging" the prints together? I am currently exporting the two models from my cad program (tinkercad) I am exporting them from the exact positions they need to be and then merging them in cura. I am struggling with my 3d printer running into the letters I have printed, as it is printing the shell around it.

 

3. Is there a 3D printer you would highly recommend for a job like this?  Or any other slicing program/specific settings you would recommend for this? Would Prusa make this easier for me? 

 

Seriously would welcome ANY input😃

 

 

 

 

 

[gr5 2,176]

So I went back and looked at this.  The red letters are exactly 0.1mm thick.  It's just a single layer.  And cura was set to have initial layer height 0.1.

 

I'd print 3 clips at a time where each red text was different.  After the red layer is printed and the first print "finished" I would clean things up with an exacto if there were strings.  Sometimes even pulling off the red skirt.  OFTEN I would deem the initial red print a failure and start over - losing maybe 2 minutes as the first print is about 2 minutes.

 

Then I'd print the same gcode file on top which had 3 white clips spaced exactly 40mm apart to line up with the red letters.  It was a separate print and always had a flat bottom.  The white clips were sliced with a 0.3mm bottom layer.

 

The most important things to understand:

1) red letters 0.1mm thick - some colors fade a bit since this is so thin so try different filaments

2) White print bottom layer 0.3mm thick in cura.

3) White model does not have anything subtracted.  That's why in this picture below the white diagonal lines are continuous.  THIS IS EASY TO MISS.  LOOK AGAIN.  Click on the image.  Which layer of the white print is it printing?  How do you know?  Really - how do you know this is the bottom layer?  How do you know that I didn't subtract the red text from it?

 

The other details are easy to figure out e.g. maybe keep the skirts away from each other.  Make sure retraction is enabled on the bottom layer (not default I think).  Don't let the bed cool much between first and second print.  Purge the filament well.  Possibly check "use thin walls" for red print.  Use Arial or other sans serif font if letters are quite thin.  I think I used a Gothic font for the larger letters.  Maybe play with line thickness for the letters.  A 0.4 nozzle can do 0.3 line width just fine it that helps the letters look better.