From the course: Additive Manufacturing: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

Tips for creating transparent prints with filament

From the course: Additive Manufacturing: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

Tips for creating transparent prints with filament

- [Instructor One] If you want to create a transparent 3D print on your printer that uses filament, you might think that all you need to do is buy transparent filament. However, 3D prints have a fairly complex structure of inner and outer walls, usually with some differences for the first layer. The gaps between layers or the internal structure will be visible unless you take active steps to prevent it. - [Instructor Two] Because infill will always show through on a transparent print, your choices for real transparency are either to print completely solid or completely hollow. Not every print is possible to print hollow, so the geometry of your print may drive that choice. While printing thinner layers results in a smoother surface, thicker layers often retain more of the material's transparency. The pieces here were printed at 0.3 and 0.1 millimeter layer heights. You may also want to smooth the surface after printing. This print has been coated with a clear resin to fill in the layer lines and make it smoother. - [Instructor One] If the print has to be solid, though, that's a little more subtle. If you print with a 100% infill, Ultimaker Cura will switch over to lines infill, which is best for evenly packing material. We found that a more effective way to do this, though, is to set the top and bottom solid layer thicknesses high enough that your entire print is solid. Slicers seem to handle this better automatically compared to 100% infill. Here, thin layers should make it easier to avoid capturing bubbles of air. In order to fill the spaces of print entirely with no small air gaps inside, you may need to raise your flow multiplier by 10 to 15%. Here we can see a difference in transparency between not quite enough plastic, the right amount, and too much. A shiny print surface will produce prints with a glassy bottom surface. If your build platform is textured or you use a build surface with texture like blue tape, you'll need to orient your print accordingly or sand it after the fact. - [Instructor Two] You may need to sand or chemically smooth the surface of your print to get true transparency. The smoother surface left by printing with thin layers will be easier to smooth after printing. PETG can be very clear when printed at the higher end of its temperature range. Lower temperatures often result in more of a frosted matte finish. Some other materials may appear frosted at higher temperatures, especially if they have moisture absorption issues. - [Instructor One] Along with high temperatures, printing slowly is important when printing solid for transparency. Doing so, gives the plastic more time to flow into all the cracks and for air to escape before being trapped inside. - [Instructor Two] High temperature low speed printing is also useful for making prints stronger and more isotropic. Prints created this way often don't fail along layer lines when they break. These settings aren't optimal for overhangs, however, so you need to strike a balance with different types of prints. - [Instructor One] Finally, to maximize the clarity of solid prints without post-processing, you'll want your top surface to be as smooth as possible. Cura has an option called Ironing that uses the hot surface at the end of the nozzle to remelt the plastic and smooth it out. Creating a truly transparent 3D print with a filament printer can be tricky, but with some experimentation and patience, the results can be impressive. Some tweaking of your slicing settings and perhaps a bit of post-processing may be required if your expectations are high.

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