My Prusa MK4 is now clearly better!

[@CNCKitchen]

Which clear cover would you make yourself? FDM, resin or CNC? Oh, and check out our CNC Kitchen products at cnckitchen.store/ or at our resellers www.cnckitchen.com/reseller

[@cda32]

Did you say AluminUm? German passport revoked!

[@leopoldogastel]

I would go for resin. Best results, easy and cheap. Also there is poor documentation for cnc.

[@esurfrider7687]

As I’m still learning fusion 360, I don’t know all the best tool path strategies for different parts, I typically only use parallel cuts for my projects because all the other options take to long to calculate for my slow computer, i would go with resin because it’s easier and still quite effective. I am currently testing siraya tech blu clear v2 resin. It looks good, I do t really care if it yellows, I just got the bottle today so still need to dial it in, however I have personally tried nova3D ultra clear and it sucks! It’s a total pain to work with, I just could not get the exposure times to work for me and there were issues but I was a novice at sla when I was experimenting with it so maybe I just didn’t know enough about finding correct exposure settings, but it was still pretty cloudy even when I did get it to print, but yeah maybe less yellowish.

[@sierraecho884]

Cure the resin in an oxygen inhibitor, then spray paint it with clear PU varnish.

[@mrsvcd]

I would go for the FDM since it is the cheapest, it only costs a spool of clear petg after all and gets the information across. Resin doesn't look good enough for how messy it is and a CNC of the quality needed is probably another mk4 or two. CNC looks the best but for me not enough to be worth it.

[@robertgcode965]

For PETG and acrylic you can use a heat gun to slightly melt the surface to make is clearer.

[@TeaObvious]

i also had the instant reflex: just torch the acrylic - fire sometimes is the answer :D

[@proaudiorestore8926]

Came here to say the same thing. Instant clear

[@gamende14th]

You all beat me to it. Fire for the win! That is usually my go to.

[@PresidentElectLeRoy]

I had not considered fire. Why not? We use it to get air out of resins.

[@phil2082]

Just not on polycarbonate.

[@topek34]

On acrylic you can easily use flame, just don't overwork it. It's called flame polishing, gives pretty good results

[@ruuman]

you can't beat it, I get a lot of acrylic guards and parts made, the guys only ever flame polish, the results are perfect.

[@BRUXXUS]

I was really expecting him to flame polish the part. Few quick passes with a torch and it would have been crystal clear.

[@experimental_av]

Came to say this, thought it was commonly known.

[@LimpiezasMyG]

I didnt know and I thank you for this comment. Ill try it!

[@ravenmooore]

at home, what kind of flame can i use?

[@pbft.j]

For a tip on clear resin, I've seen that adding a couple drops of blue resin to your clear will really help counteract any yellowing. Common practice with detergent and white clothes. Also one of the earliest known "life hacks" that people have used for hundreds of years of white clothes, to add blue dye.

[@truantray]

Old lady hair trick

[@aleksandrbmelnikov]

Once used to hide yellow teeth.

[@flushroyal970]

So to make white ton more cold you just added little bit blue, clever...

[@CNCKitchen]

Good one! I'll try that.

[@dyshin123]

@@CNCKitchen if your resin can withstand heat, heat it for 30-60 mins at 50-60 degree celsius, according to some resin manufacturer.

[@mewil1]

FDM printed is clear enough to show the gears and layers give it vibe that fits well with 3D printer

[@Pablo_Arnold]

I think it would be a cool option to even offer with the kit from Prusa. It's something they could manufacture easily at their print farm

[@zachrywd]

I felt a great disturbance in the 3D printing community, as if millions of Mk4 warranties suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

[@CNCKitchen]

May the Mk4th be with you.

[@pbd3D]

That Nova3D Clear Resin really is as good as they say, I have done a lot of Prints with it and its just awesome, how clear it is and stays. No yellowing, even when baking for 20 minutes in UV light

[@CNCKitchen]

Nice one! I might actually buy a bottle.

[@ziggystardog]

While I too like the CNC aesthetic, I’d probably work out-of-the-box and try casting clear acrylic in a FDM mold.

[@MachineManGabb]

Resin mold, acrylic cast

[@conorstewart2214]

Youw would still end up with any layer lines or inperfections in the cast part so you would have to smooth the mold a lot before you use it.

[@castform57]

Make the mold in ABS or similar, and then do a light acetone vapor bath to fuse the layer lines. I've done this once for a cap screw on a boat's engine. Printed the screw in ABS, smoothed with acetone, made a silicone mold of it and cast some tough resin to make the replacement part.

[@ziggystardog]

@@castform57 yeah that’s the idea. PVB smooths with alcohol if you don’t want to mess with ABS. The problem with printing or machining a part directly is you’re stuck with the limitations of the material.

[@rcmaniac25]

HA! I did the same thing for my MK4 and XL about 2 weeks ago. It was one of the first things I did because I wanted to see the gears. I did the FDM method (using your older video) though it's not as transparent. But the good news is I can always reprint them. Glad to see someone else do this.

[@CNCKitchen]

Great to hear. I actually already did the first clear cover only a couple of days after I got the MK4. I dig the silk screen on the lid, but seeing the gears is even nicer.

[@rcmaniac25]

@@CNCKitchen I like the Silk screen too, so I did a MMU print to re-add it. BTW, what oil did you use? As I want to do that to try and get things clearer

[@TheGrimmindustries]

Good video! I'm sure a lot of people have considered this topic. In my experience there are clear resins that don't yellow. The Anycubic clear is a good example, as long as the vat is completely cleans of the tints from a previous resin it'll stay nice and clear, adding a little blue resin tint can also help keep some resins from noticeably yellowing. After the sanding of a clear resin part coating it with a clear gloss spray paint will make it transparent too.

[@MaximilianonMars]

Very good tips, thank you !

[@jimurrata6785]

Any of those 'ceramic' coatings that come with headlamp polish kits work well with a rylic and polycarbonate too.

[@jeremiahembs5343]

Another option you should use when 3d printing clear filament is ironing and increase top layers to an imaginary number like 50,000 so every layer is treated as a top layer. I'd also recommend a clear lithium grease for the planetary gear. It looks dry which is good for the video but not good for the gear. I love the cnc machine. I'd like to learn more about it like price and how it could be modified for rigidity and to cut other materials at higher precision.

[@ShadowVipers]

The price I think is over 5k per machine, I saw it when it hit kickstarter.

[@jeremiahembs5343]

Thank you friend @@ShadowVipers

[@jens5906]

Currently working on a project where we have a lot of trouble because lithium grease is attacking the plastic (swelling it and making it brittle, most likely due to the base formulation not the lithium salt itself). So you might want to check material compatibility first! :)

[@jeremiahembs5343]

@@jens5906 Good tip. Thanks!

[@TheMidnightSmith]

Try using some 2k clear gloss spray paint on those parts. It really makes transparent resin prints stay clear and not yellow. Also cure the resin in a glass jar full of water to prevent yellowing.

[@peterdocter4659]

"...and play with yourself" was meant to b; and play with it yourself. You gotta love what gets lost in translation sometimes. Nice vid, love how clear and clean you make them and honest results with fixes.

[@bretf5371]

I just watched this and had to stop the video when I started laughing so hard. Speaking another language some things are definitely lost in translation.

[@EKUL34]

Another option could be to use some cut glass and FDM print a frame for it to screw or slide into

[@Smokinjoewhite]

I think the FDM print suits the reprap stylings of the Prusa really well, but aesthetically I think the CNC part looks so clean and professional. Printing on clean glass with a nice even spray of hairspray also makes it so the bottom layer is extremely transparent.

[@rux_ton]

I feel like I would prefer the FDM still because.. the appeal to me is knowing its supposed to be clear, but its just a little bit opaque. Of course my favorite translucent tech is usually the purple. I don't quite know how that works, especially when it comes to printing but man I would love to learn more about the COLORED transparent 3d printing stuff. But if you want the clearest-- the acrylic one absolutely SMASHES

[@JezzaW123]

While I liked the acrylic piece standalone, I think the resin component looked best on the MK4 as it made the surface behind look almost gold!

[@essensse]

I love the look of the FDM. Something about seeing those lines make it honest to the materials and making process. The fact that the lines obscure the view a little bit works in favor of seeing the black gasket that hides portion of the gears inside

[@antonsemenyura5337]

Resin turned the best one in this vid! so many useful comments, love the community behind

[@erikringwalters]

I prefer the FDM PETG print because it fits with the rest of the printed parts. Great Video!

[@ShasOAunLa]

to get a really clear machined part, tooling, speeds and feeds are beyond critical. Best for that is a really sharp endmill, like the acrylic line from datron, or even their diamond line. I use a cvd two flute for that but depending on the features of the part, especially lead in and out are difficult to get clear. for facing i like their 2 flute polished cornerradii facemills, such a nice finish. Greetings from the zellerfeld r&d machining guru :D

[@Pertruabo]

This, even when everything is dialed in theres still chatter, heat etc etc. Its such a pain in the ass. Also hello fellow 40k fan

[@Taklop]

Not sure if you already have a video on something like this, but I'd love more depth on how you used Fusion to create the model based on the STL! Would definitely come in handy for many things!

[@DreadDeimos]

Hitting acrylic with a torch (briefly) or a heat gun (a bit longer) will also smooth out the surface, to a significant degree. You can also use acetone to smooth it out.

[@technicallyreal]

Against the usual advice, I print flat functional parts using resin without angling them and adding supports. This actually works great for me 90% or more of the time. I wish people would just try it before resorting to angling the prints.

[@jeremiahembs5343]

That works fine if you don't have any overhangs or use a slope for them but your base can be a little wide if your bottom layer exposure time isn't tuned

[@MPTurtleman]

It also can greatly reduce print time.

[@tinkot]

You can do a very light clearcoat on the acrylic part, i do it all the time. it might also work on the printed parts

[@SirFridge]

With clear resin. I harden them for a very short time, 5 minutes or so. Then just leave it laying around anders the yellowness will fade. When the yellow is gone I put a clear varnish on it. It'll block uv light and prevent it from becoming more yellow

[@spageteemetbol5296]

fusion 360 has a convert to mesh option under the mesh tab. under the mesh tab there is the option to generate face groups(this lets the conversion find fillets,holes, curves etc) then when you go covert to mesh make sure to use base feature and prismatic.

[@CNCKitchen]

Good idea, yet that's not something that's available in the normal "hobby" license. Should actually work quite reliably on that simple part.

[@crowguy506]

And next week part 2: Injection molding, glass etching and blowing.

[@michaels3003]

Nice.

[@ClaudiodelaRosa]

Hi Stephan. This is the first time I feel I have something to advice to you. Your videos are fantastic and I’ve been following them for years. Recently I started my way on Resin 3D printing after years of using FDM. I used SirayaTech blue clear V2 that also yellowish. They recommend bathing for 20 minutes on a 60 degrees Celsius water bath and then expose to sunlight for 30 mins. I haven’t have the time to do so, but leaving the piece to sunlight for some days do clears it a lot. I’ll let you know the results once I follow the manufacturers advice. Thanks a lot for the effort in providing tech oriented videos to the community for such a long time. Very well appreciated !.

[@vaclavubl1812]

I have MK4 to, and its amazing, we are waiting for mmu3 for mk4

[@juaqui_nn]

I have printed large pieces with PMMA like resin, from the esun brand, it works perfectly. A true translucent piece after polishing or processing

[@gabrielbrunoparreira5670]

For SLA printing it is possible to print directly on the plate with no supports. The final part has a much cleaner and clear finish. The disadvantage is that it is definitely harder to pull the part out. I also suspect that it causes more wear to the build plate. It might also require some different settings than what you used to for printing normally, but if you really want a clear part it definitely works.

[@MaximilianonMars]

Flex plates are available for resin printing, which I think eliminates the difficulty of removing parts flat on the buildplate, and the accidental damaging of parts. I installed an off-brand one copying wham bam's design, but haven't actually used it yet

[@gabrielbrunoparreira5670]

@@MaximilianonMars that's good to know. I no longer need to these prints but it definitely would be nice if I knew that then 😅. I wonder if the flexible plate has some negative effect on the precision of the parts though. I have never seen them before so I don't really know how flexible they are haha.

[@acspider10]

Resin looked great!

[@ltl10der24]

I work as a print finisher at an SLA Resin printing company and we use accura clearview for any clear parts. Then sand to 800 grit and polish for glass clarity

[@rudyrebeliant1541]

In my work, we used to use oil cooling for polycarbonates milling to get more transparent finish, i don't know how it works with acrylic but u can try

[@DisgruntledPigumon]

Resin FTW. I was surprised how much better it looked than the others. I’m also surprised you didn’t mention the easiest fix. A quick spray of clear coat paint. It fills in all the roughness and dries clean and tough.

[@noteda6361]

With a flex plate you can easily print such parts with resin directly flat on the build plate, you don't have to use supports. I've printed bigger ones before without any issues and the surface quality of the bottom is basically polished already

[@wladbig]

Resin one can be coated with a thin layer of resin (or mix with IPA) for complete transparency instead of sanding and polishing

[@sanches2]

That's what i do

[@MisterGlassy]

I think you could get rid of the cloudiness with a butane torch or heat gun. I think the torch would be best because the hot point is highly focused. This means that you could move quickly over the surface and heat only the outside of the part. The heat gun will likely see more part deformation. This is the same method that's used to make ice sculptures clear. By briefly melting the outside of the part the surface remelts and forms crystal structures that are highly transparent.

[@ilikenothingtoo]

You can flame polish acrylic with a torch.

[@unharmonix]

Hey Stefan the trick to getting machined acrylic to look nice is to very quickly blast it with a blue flame. It instantly becomes perfect.

[@iTeerRex]

Why didn’t you try vapor smoothing? Maybe cover the places that has to be accurate.

[@L3X369]

I love the CNC aesthetic, but considering it's price, I would go with the resin printed.

[@CNCKitchen]

Honestly, now taking a look at the resin part a second time, it turned out almost better than the CNCd one 😬

[@charmio]

I have a small printing company and when I print parts like this with resin, I just print them directly on the build plate. Far less sanding needed that way. They're usually easy enough to just pry/knock off but heating the build plate does the trick if they stick. Better yet, you can get magnetic spring steel sheets that stick to the platform and make printing large flat bottom surfaces directly on the plate easy as pie. Just flex the sheet and everything detaches perfectly.

[@trischas.2809]

I would go for the CNC one due to its monolithic material strength - and flame polishability.

[@Grzabekus]

I will give you a tip. In order to totaly remove any marks left by the cnc machine on acrylic you only need to apply heat with a small pocket blow torch. But remember not to use any alcohol on it later as it will explode (im serious). Effect looks like a perfect acrylic cast. Totally worth trying. Remember not to apply to much heat, just a touch of the flame does the job.

[@Phsteddie]

I’m the CNC cover. Look up vapor polishing of acrylic to get a clearer part. I’m my day we used to use MEK. Very unhealthy! Now there is an MEK substitute or you can use acetone. Another GREAT and informative video. Thank you!

[@taham6757]

yeeee new video love u brothra

[@gabogtmsl]

What i do with clear uv resin is to put a drop or two of blue or green pigment traslucent. It helps camuflage the yellowish and gives you a glass like look.

[@seanami8701]

For the resin if you spray paint it with clear coat it evens out things and will help with the yellowing too.

[@aleksandrbmelnikov]

Clearest would be epoxy casting. You can always use your CNC version to help create casting mold.

[@Foodgeek]

I kinda like the FDM part, just because it's on an FDM printer, but objectively, the CNC version looks best. I'll try and print it on my MK3S+ with the 0.15 Revo 5 nozzle and see if I can get an even better-looking one :)

[@gpt10]

Bigger nozzles actually produce clearer parts

[@Foodgeek]

@@gpt10 Alright, I'll give the 0.8 a spin after this one finishes 😁

[@Foodgeek]

@UCvbIIAd57VHpYZ-%F0%9F%98%82Aw0zpXkA So I tried to use the 0.8 nozzle, and it was a bit clearer, but not enough. I guess I am ordering some clear resin 🤣

[@BurninGems]

Ahh... you tricked me into watching a carvara comercial! Thank you. I love it!

[@rodeoengineer]

So jealous you got the cavera! Thanks for the informational videos!

[@bru_haha]

This is the first video from CNC Kitchen that I’ve watched that has actual CNC content LOL

[@Mettleh3d]

Smooth glass bed works very well for smooth face with your clear petg/pla printing method!

[@CJScratch]

CNC for sure is best but im impressed with the resin final finish along with the FDM

[@xj770HUN]

I glad you went back to the iconic "guten tag" welcome! :D

[@nathan22211]

you can get Acrylic 3d printer filament, called PMMA. Use that same technique as before with PETG, and then smooth it with acetone, though if you want to do better, you could flame polish it after the acetone evaporates. I find PMMA sticks to anything and doesn't warp despite needing a 100C bed. But it soaks up quite a bit of water so you do need to dry it

[@davidorbell5803]

the cnc is always going to be the best

[@shenqiangshou]

The Carvera looks pretty awesome.

[@Pongant]

There's the neon transparent PLA of Redline. It was the best clear filament I saw until now. Hate do to advertisement, but I had a bit of a quest for transparent filaments a year ago.

[@felipeh5510]

if you "burn" the acrylic part in the kitchen or with a lighter you can obtain a complete clear part. i work with acrylic and thats the way that i use when i sand the acrylic. is the perfect "polish" method because is not abrasive and "melt" the first layer of the acrylic

[@mitjaklutzny9532]

I produced some cover glasses out of clear resin - coating them with clear coat paint does prevent the yellowing from happening. I had pretty good results using siraya tech blu clear resin.

[@MSP_TechLab]

Fusion360 allows to transform mesh to body. Then you can stich polygons to form one plane. Unfortunately it doesn't work well with rounds and holes. But it is much easier to work with such representation than just mesh.

[@sanches2]

I was about to wtite the same, but then i figured out that for this simple geometry it ain't worth it:)

[@truegret7778]

I can attest the Voxel PLA is a really good, reliable, repeatable filament. And a great value.

[@CNCKitchen]

Great to hear that!

[@MTGOFerret]

Common trick to make the resin print clear and prevent yellowing is to use UV protective 2k clear coat. 1-2 coats of that and it should be good to go.

[@boryaparker195]

You can "lick" machined surfaces with a fire, to make em clear. And also you can try to boil the resin printed part to get rid of yellowness.

[@mazhiveevihzam1829]

stefan use a torch fastly on the acrylic and it gets a true transparant view

[@ericmadsen8324]

You can also use acetone on the acrylic to polish it.

[@audi0syst3m62]

Wow that resin one looks stunning, i think i would still prefer the Acrylic one yet. maybe ironing could help the FDM one but i it could remain cloudy... all of them looking good.

[@janmarcinowski]

Never thought I would get clickbaited by CNCKitchen. Long time fan. 😂

[@davydatwood3158]

You asked off the top "which method is easiest?" and my answer to that is "the one that uses the machine you already own." :) I was actually printing dome lenses out of transparent red PETG on my X1C recently. Settings much the same as yours there, except I closed everything up and turned off the aux fan so the internal temp got up over 40C. The result was almost perfectly transparent! Actually, it ended up too transparent, since the lens is supposed to be a diffuser, so I had to try again with 75% infill.

[@themaninthesuitcase]

If I was making one I would use resin, but instead of oil I’d use a clear gloss. This gave me glass clear results. If I had one I would go CNC though, and see if I could flame polish it.

[@deakcutwinkle]

Resin is the clear winner.

[@TheDarkPreacher65]

I was going to leave a comment saying to add a few drops of blue tint to the clear resin to prevent yellowing, but I see that many other resin users have beat me to the punch. When it comes to removing the micro abrasions from the CNC tooling on the acrylic, you can, as others have said, heat treat it a little, or "flame polish" it.

[@notbabyrodney7040]

Heat it up with a torch and spray a couple coats of automotive clear coat in a warm environment or heat up the can. You can also cast it in clear resin from making a mold out of the CNCed part. I would do that one.

[@sublimationman]

The acrylic piece can be flame polished, a torch with light passes over the milky surface will make the micro bits sticking up melt and go flat leaving a glass clear surface and it's permanent.

[@levin_levsmo]

Do you also make a video about the Orca Slicer? 👍

[@MisterDeets]

I just placed an order with Voxel PLA today.

[@samuelboutin4305]

Clear resin -> Monocure Resin pro clear !!! The best of the best !

[@lawells3]

Your video inspired me to do something similar. Use the FDM print with some minor sanding, and then make a negative cast to allow for a clear resin pour.

[@CNCKitchen]

Silicone form or directly into the FDM negative?

[@lawells3]

@@CNCKitchen Silicone, it adds a step, but I think it may be a cleaner look.

[@thorgraum1462]

that small CNC looks really nice!

[@thorgraum1462]

visually on the printer i prefer the resin part, but as a CNC operator/programmer i have to say that nothing beats a nice machined part as long as its machinable

[@HamidSBaig]

You can try heat-gun or flame torch on Acrylic Part to remove the milky look of Acrylic

[@ingGS]

Hey Stefan, Fusion 360 allows you to covert a mesh (STL) to a solid/body CAD file. You do not need to reverse-engineer the drawing.

[@justinhair7268]

This is supper cool! Though one potential problem I see with using oil is that dust would probably collect on the part.

[@YouGenom]

Mayermakes resin becomes clearer over time! I saw it at Maker Faire by the maker himself. Great stuff for engineering too.

[@Sam-ng3fb]

I am sure the machined part can be painted with a clear coat spray instead of dipping it in oil. Same is usually done on car headlights after their restoration.

[@Renrondog]

To Flame polish the acrylic part use a Mapp gas torch, Propane would work too. But Mapp gas is hotter and you just wave the flame over the part. Start out with the flame about 6 inches away and move the torch back and forth across the acrylic edge you want polished. Practice on scrap first of course, you'll know when it's perfect. (just before it bubbles LOL) Excellent build and I enjoy your videos although way above my level of expertise.

[@Marv3D]

It's actually possible to countersink holes from the other side with a reverse countersink.

[@truantray]

I have made water clear resin prints without yellowing. I use elegoo clear tough resin and do not exceed 1 minute final cure. Sand with 600 grit water paper, then 2 coats of clear enamel. Looks like glass and much stronger than FDM. Works great for cosplay jewels

[@armorhide406]

CNC part is the clearest but it's impressive how close you can get with FDM

[@davidthompson9359]

Thanks for the great video and I like both the CNC and Resin part. I have a CNC, but I'm new to this game and will take time to be able to make one, but it will be a nice challenge for a small part.

[@goiiia3774]

Suggest Prusa print transparent covers as an option.

[@xero110]

Just a tip, but Polycarbonate gets a nice clear finish with Acetone. If you can do a fume Acetone application, it will turn out optically clear with enough effort of the base part.

[@chanchanarthur8068]

Idk about you, but I think resin is the ... Clear winner here

[@garypeterson1920]

You could send out one of the machined acrylic covers and have it vapor polished. It would be clear as glass when done properly.

[@gregoryj.bednar3947]

After your CNC job is complete with the acrylic, if you want to get a glass like appearance, use a flame polisher which emits an oxyhydrogen flame.

[@MonsterPartsRc]

For clear resin… ESUN makes a clear resin that doesn’t yellow it’s called PMMA-like resin… and it’s pretty amazing

[@medyk3D]

Resin one looks the best. I also need to check those ultra clear ones though.