Transparent FDM 3D Prints are Clearly Stronger!

[@CNCKitchen]

What applications do you see for transparent FDM 3D prints? Are you just looking for clarity or are you excited about the strength?

[@TGG141]

I’d say if you are doing a model of a house or something with a window, you could use it for that

[@NurettinSevdik]

Making lenses for lasers, some lighting system etc.

[@honroy1950]

this would be sick for a beetleweight combat robot

[@jaychimera372]

annealing the transparent 3d prints ? maybe it helps with the clarity ? if 100% infill was used also maybe try upping the flow rate to compensate the tiny air bubbles?

[@joemulkerins5250]

Machine safety guards is my main application anyway.

[@Spartacusse]

I guess this just confirms what we already knew, for better layer adhesion, print slow, print hot and avoid gaps, the clear filament is just better in showing how good of a job you did on those settings.

[@haraldhimmel5687]

Agreed. I made similar experiences printing vases in PC. I guess with a heated chamber faster speeds yield comparable results to said 15 mm/s.

[@1SmokedTurkey1]

@@haraldhimmel5687how fast are you printing?

[@ipodtouchiscoollol]

I wonder if the lack of contaminants such as pigments in clear filaments also contribute to stronger bonds between layers

[@defan123321]

@@ipodtouchiscoollol Здравствуй. Я видел сравнение характеристик пластика с пигментами и без. Пластик без пигментов на тех видео обладал лучшими свойствами и прочностью.

[@ipodtouchiscoollol]

@@defan123321 me no speak ruski me no understand

[@shirothehero0609]

(side note on the yellowing: using a UV blocking overcoat helps significantly with the yellowing.) This is really excellent for making 'optics'. While you're not going to get a perfect TIR lens, this will get you 90% there for prototyping and diy flashlights and fiber optic and light pipes for light transmission for indicator LEDs or models, etc. Rad stuff.

[@fischdl73]

Which one do you recommend? I've used krylon transparent uv resistant and it's been in the Florida sun for a year with only a little yellowing.

[@tachywubdub2469]

I was personally wondering how foggy something like glasses would turn out (to the human eye) with these

[@shirothehero0609]

@@tachywubdub2469 ya know, I don't know if foggy would be the issue as much as the distortion from surface irregularities. BUT - if you put enough elbow grease into it and if the interior is fully bonded, you can get an almost perfect lens.

[@tobins6800]

I wonder if polishing, applying uv protection, then further polishing, refilling imperfections with uv protectant, and further polishing. Rinse lather repeat.

[@MiGujack3]

This is yellowed car headlights all over again.

[@legofreak5769]

I'm kind of wondering if you could vary extrusion width extremely finely to create holographic effects within the glassy print

[@kaihorstmann2783]

No way. This would require modulation in the range of the wave length of visible light, i.e. fractions of micrometers.

[@GamMngitSssEmoTionaL5953]

@@kaihorstmann2783 It's wouldn't be impossible but it would be very very expensive to do and would probably need a one of one state of the art 3D printer to the nano scale ✌️

[@gonun69]

@@kaihorstmann2783 I think he meant deliberately creating small voids to create a 3D "holographic" structure in a clear part. Like those plastic cubes they sometimes sell at fairs with 3D "images" inside.

[@Juiceboxer0]

could be done. You'd have to have tiny voids or bubbles in the model

[@legofreak5769]

@@gonun69 those little plastic cubes are exactly what i was imagining

[@andreasthaler7068]

My best transparent prints are done with a 0.8 Nozzle and 0.4 mm layerheight. In my opinion: thicker layers -> higher transparency. But we have to try more. ;)

[@Thomas0]

I had my best results with a .4 nozzle going down to .05 layer height.

[@roxasparks]

I use .6

[@rileyneufeld7001]

That's likely due to there being less inter-bonding layer gaps since each layer is taller so it can't refract light as much.

[@SHIFTHOLDER1]

Same here, using PC filament. There also seems to be an effect where bubbles are mostly present at the start of each line, then disappearing along it, regardless of nozzle size. Maybe it is possible to start each line slowly and then speed up. I do wonder why this happens though. I believe that air gets into the nozzle after each line ends, especially when stringing or drooping during the travel. No idea how to test this theory though, since this would require a transparent nozzle....

[@ALex-qc4lf]

The issue with thick layers is mostly that you get a bigger rounded edge on the Extrusion which leaves much more space for potential bubbles. With thin layers the holes underneath the rounded end of the Extrusion are much smaller leaving less air gaps. Thicker extrusions help a lot to and thicker layers do too to a degree if you can remelt the previous Extrusion on time.

[@BRUXXUS]

I saw a wild test print on Thingiverse a few years ago to a challenge print a solid cube with a sphere hole in the center. The image made it look totally transparent. I followed the instructions, although they suggested a lot of sanding and polishing, which I did, it came out pretty much transparent! Big thing I learned here was to align all the infill lines. Can’t wait to try it!

[@marcfruchtman9473]

This was a super helpful video. First of all, the fact that those bubbles are so visible and due to poor drying really helps to reinforce that drying the filament matters... I didn't really consider drying my PETG in the past because I conflated "water proof" with not retaining much water. Now I see that PETG can be both water proof and also retain moisture... and the proof is in the bubbles. (Thanks for showing that). The fact that the parameters that improve transparency also improve the strength of the print is also really amazing. Thank you again!

[@gonun69]

This looks really interesting. I recently switched to a 0.6mm nozzle and printed some parts with a blue-transparent PETG filament. I was surprised that they looked much more transparent than parts I've printed with almost the same settings on a 0.4 mm nozzle. I guess that makes sense as the extrusion width is greater, leading to fewer boundaries. With the new Arachne slicer engine, bigger nozzles could be very interesting to achieve more transparent prints. A while back I read from someone that he achieved more transparent parts by ironing every layer, although that sounds like it would take forever. But it might be worth it for just the top layers.

[@dgkimpton]

This matches my experience too - wider extrusions + thicker layers + higher temps + more perimeter/infill overlap seemed to help with clarity. I usually print at 20 or 30mm/s so not a lot to say there. I think the key is as Stefan hinted - as few transition boundaries as possible and making them as solid/complete as possible where they do occur.

[@UNSCPILOT]

You might be going the right direction with this, at least to speed it up, with a wide nozzle and good heading you could probably maintain the results with better speed or get better results for low detail parts at similar speeds, course bigger nozzles will struggle with finer detail as a cost

[@r2d2fish38]

0.6mm nozzle with 0.2mm layer height has extremely good properties. The layer lines are still there but feel more like a texture than full bumps in the part

[@jonatanboy]

Even with a 0.4 nozzle i’m certain that the effect of the light refracting is much less apparent in pigmented transparent filaments. Printed some transparent yellow recently, went a bit hot, took it slow, and i Can almost read through it in like a size 15’ish font

[@MrPodushka]

How does stringing and oozing look on that nozzle?

[@8azk3ibsi]

We use a lot of these same parameters to make prosthetic sockets as strong and clear as possible. The main difference is that we use large nozzles to go with our big parts. I usually go for layer heights up to 1.0mm as opposed to something like 0.6mm not necessarily for speed (added benefit though!) but because it creates less light refraction opportunities and we can see through the sockets pretty well, especially when looking at them straight on through the layers.

[@jayphone1]

Again one of the "Stefan and the Quest for the Holy Grail" Videos which I like most. 🙏 Thanks. I once used this method with transparent PP filament which also gave excellent transparent results and almost isotropic properties. I smoothed the part by "shock heating" (how I called it) the surface with a heat gun on 500°C . This quickly melted just the surface to a liquid state but kept the part integrity. By some kind of surface tension this totally smoothed out the layer lines and the part looked injection molded afterwards. Hope this helps in future endeavors. It might also help with vertical impact strength because besides molecular orientation the surface roughness also might have it's "impact" on those results.

[@jayphone1]

@@JayDee-b5u Thanks. 🤗

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

My jaw hit the floor after like 15 seconds when the vertical test sample necked and the rest of the video did not disappoint - awesome stuff! I've been playing with mirrors instead of lenses because I figured this was impossible!

[@AlphaPhoenixChannel]

Also for my mirror samples, I've been printing them almost vertical so that I minimize the effect of layer steps after smoothing. what do you think about printing your lenses vertically? (other than taking forever, I'm curious about the accuracy of the final shape)

[@dtibor5903]

I started 3d printing 1 year ago, and I quickly realised that transparent PETG is much more stronger than opaque ones. Now I have a lot of slightly colored transparent PETG filaments from Devildesign, and i'm really happy with the results for functional parts. Still it is not strong as ABS, it is way more brittle, but much convenient for printing in an apartment. I print with absolutely normal settings at 50-80mm/s on ender 3v2 w volcano, just the extrusion multiplier is raised with 5-10%. Usually I don't care to be perfectly tranparent.

[@thegribbs]

I don't hear about many people using the stuff, but Devil Design has the nicest PETG I've worked with. Very consistent, and flows nicely. I print it no slower than 150mm/s, pushing past 200mm/s when I need something done quickly. Nice colours too.

[@dtibor5903]

@@thegribbs especially the galaxy colours looks quite good, great for toys!

[@spedi6721]

Testing bigger nozzles might be interesting. Especially CHT nozzles.

[@thedamnone]

I'm guessing CHT would be worse for transparency, because of the split path. PETG beats into a foam, like egg whites, so you don't want to disturb it with fast retractions, high E-acceleration or split nozzles.

[@Balorng]

@@thedamnone it does not - flow stays laminar. Cnc kitchen already tested that.

[@spedi6721]

@@thedamnone as you said.... You are guessing. We will know it for sure if someone will test it. I do have a 1.4mm CHT and clear PETG at home, but I'm not feeling confident doing the test and everything correct

[@ilikewaffles3689]

@@spedi6721 already tested my guy

[@ArgueForSport]

Stefan, thank you so much for this as well as big thanks to Rygar1432. 0.6mm nozzle makes things even better! I'm doing a project at work. We need to make a scale model of a 35 foot long rotating drum. We want it to be as clear as possible to understand the dynamics of what's going on with the non-Newtonian fluid inside when it is rotated. While waiting for the transparent Overture PETG to arrive, I spent a day dialing in 3D Solutech transparent yellow, to understand the factors. I made a cylindrical test part to do rapid iterations.. approx 17mm in OD, with a 1.1mm wall, and 25 mm 3 rings were printed at a time for each temp, each with 3 different extrusion width values. The Overture PETG performed quite well with a 0.4mm nozzle. It gave good clarity when looking at the text on a BIC pen placed against the inner surface. Thinking about the diffraction between layers, the 0.4 nozzle was swapped out for a 0.6mm nozzle. The 0.6 nozzle enabled the parts to be printed with a single wall, rather than 3. The parts were SIGNIFICANTLY more water-clear. As an added bonus, this dramatically cut down print time from roughly 35 minutes per part to 10 minutes per part! Note: Pressure Advance, Temp, Extrusion Width and Extrusion (flow) multipliers were all very different for the 0.6 nozzle using the same Overture PETG than they were for the 0.4mm. Both were Diamondback nozzles, so the difference was only orifice size.

[@joemulkerins5250]

What excellent timing for me with this video. I need to make safety guards for abrasive polishers in a medical device company i am work for. I have the designs made and PETG and 3d printing will be acceptable. However i was about to abandon the idea it was not transparent enough for the operators. I am now going back to the drawing board! 😁 And Wow, the layer adhesion there is something i have never seen but only with pp. Thanks very much Stefan. From Ireland.

[@Incendium87]

I wonder if strength or even internal clarity could be even further increased by combining this with the technique that I think you explored awhile ago of packing the printed part in salt and reheating it.

[@CNCKitchen]

It probably would and PETG was a very good candidate for that.

[@BFManticore]

I have tried it, spending about two weeks working on it and I ended up with nicely transparent prints with accurate dimensions to get rid of bubbles for salt remelting. Turns out that once I got layer adhesion that good, there was no need for salt remelting. Feel free to test it of course, but the improvement in terms of strength will be likely unnoticeable and for me not worth the extra work and time of a salt melt, which has a decent failure rate depending on the object's shape.

[@mengeletalon8151]

I would personally love an update/ followup to this printing technique. How has it improved in a year?

[@mocmaniac1571]

Honestly I can't wrap my head around the quality of your videos. This is outstanding ! The amount of research, trial and error to find the best settings is amazing. Greetings from Belgium

[@lezyne1234]

I recently noticed when printing with transparent PLA, that layer adhesion was much better than coloured PLA. When i printed parts in different colors and I almost couldn't remove supports of the transparent ones, when the coloured ones just broke off easily.

[@dtibor5903]

If you want the strongest materials, always avoid black, they are the worst, natural color is the strongest. Slightly colored tranparent ones are good too

[@SianaGearz]

@@dtibor5903 Black can be plenty strong, since relatively little pigment is needed to absorb a lot of light, but also sometimes you get repigmented regrind and other shit, it can be difficult to trust. White has a scary amount of pigment, since the pigment is transparent. Highly opaque light colours can have that same issue. The absolute worst is silk PLA, that's got little rubbery bits of filler to make it behave this way, and just doesn't bond well at all.

[@dtaggartofRTD]

pigments can have a huge effect on the properties of a material. Back when I was into knot tying, I came across some research that found pigments in the nylon fibers of the rope could affect tensile strength by as much as 30%. If adhesion and tensile strength are a priority, unpigmented is generally the way to go.

[@CNCKitchen]

Should investigate that at some point!

[@rkatz69]

@@SianaGearz it really depends on the manufacturer tbh as to how much the pigment will impact the strength

[@flymypg]

OMG. My first 3D printer was the crowdfunded 101Hero, a tiny delta with a quality speed of only 11 mm/s, up to 14 mm/s for "quick" drafts and some vase-mode prints. I never got rid of it for sentimental reasons, and now it has a NEW USE: I'm going to make it my GLASS PRINTER! WOO!

[@stevenclark2188]

I wonder if slicer modding to interlace fill paths every other layer (with a slight reduction in layer height?) could also help make prints more monolithic like this by directly filling voids in the previous layer.

[@piranha1337]

Yeah, or what's with layer ironing for each layer?

[@finlaygreenaway193]

Would take ages though

[@robcauson4595]

Weirdly enough, I wondered the same thing last night. I've been asked to make a model of a part of a homing missile's guidance system and it needs a translucent window, and I was idly wondering about ways to print that rather than doing the easy thing and just using acrylic or whatever.

[@stevenclark2188]

@@finlaygreenaway193 It might come with slightly faster speeds as it would require less smooshing. It's still the same amount of plastic so who knows? Maybe it just averages out the same.

[@CNCKitchen]

Very good point, though that might require half width extrusions at the start of every other layer. Maybe just varying extrusion with on every other layer might be something that's very easy to implement.

[@ArtLieberman]

Thanks! Your research with transparent printing is Super Helpful!

[@LambdaDriven]

There's a really cool parallax effect you can get by printing a couple layers of PETG flat with perpendicular infill. I used it to create holiday tree ornaments that play with light in some really interesting ways. Printed hot and slow with esun translucent green PETG

[@jessehavok4181]

I was on a quest to print clear parts 2 years ago and discovered that it's a very good way to calibrate your settings as well since it's a sure fire way to see if your layers are properly bonding as they should be.

[@joscha9201]

There is this experiment where you can see internal stresses in acrylic glass over polarized light while bending or other stress. I wonder if that is also possible with the clear prints it should be quite interesting if it works because of the inhomogenity

[@CNCKitchen]

Good point!

[@Gararrad08]

SWIM is used to printing receivers at 0.1mm 100% infill already, so hearing someone else share the pain of the price of quality is kinda comforting.

[@dn275]

For me the transparency is a secondary feature, the more interesting outcome here is the layer bonding. A few thoughts that I have: Would printing in an enclosure allow for faster print speed? Because the printed part temperature is higher it needs less time to heat up enough to bond with freshly extruded material. To improve bridging, cooling could be enabled only during bridge features. A comparison of extrusion width would be interesting. I think this would have a huge impact. Parts would finish faster and could have even better bonding. Great videos as always! I really enjoy these investigations.

[@CNCKitchen]

Printing in an enclosure might help a bit but will cause on the other hand cooling problems with the PETG again.

[@beauslim]

I use transparent and coloured/translucent PETG regularly. Fresh from the store, and even if it comes in a foil bag, it typically needs 8-12 hours in my food dehydrator at 60-65C before that haziness is completely gone.

[@FilamentStories]

This was so much fun to watch! Thanks for the detailed research into the specific functionalities of FDM printed parts.

[@CNCKitchen]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@someguy2741]

I did the same sort of experiment 3 years ago. I wanted to make diffused LED covers and then replacement lenses for cars. I was using red clear and red LEDs. It looked really good. I ended up adding more extrusion and increased temperature until the parts swelled too much. I was using transparent PLA and even tried with a 0.25mn nozzle. 0.6 nozzles were not available at the time. My thought was that although there would be more interfaces but each interface is a smaller gap to fill in the 3rd dimension.

[@Flashbang_Photo]

The replacement lens part caught my attention. Did you succeed?

[@tronique5736]

You could try printing a dyed version of the material with the same settings and use strength testing to compare. If the presence of dye changes the behavior then you can see a clear difference in the strength and failure behavior. Another idea is to use a sensitive light detector to measure the light transmission of less transparent samples. Shine a bright light (of well know brightness) through a thin sample and measure the light intensity on the other side. Higher measurement on the sensor means higher clarity, and thus stronger parts!

[@nidavis]

I just had good luck with clear PETG, using constant line widths and offsetting each other layer by 1/2 a line width on each side parallel to the infill. This sets each layer in the groove from the prior layer and seems to help clarity and adhesion, and gets around that patent preventing this process.

[@maximthemagnificent]

A related topic I've been interested in is 3D printed diffusers for LED light strips that are customized for the actual strips so can perhaps do a better job evening out the light than off-the-shelf uniform diffusers.

I find that unlikely, but it's still very useful having custom diffusers!

[@jellyfish1433]

I can’t wait to see what is in store for the future of 3D printing! Of of the fun parts about 3D printing is all the engineers from different fields that use them and can find flaws and fixes as they work with them on projects. When you have a ton of engineers in a hobby, things seem to progress pretty steadily. With the changes to 3D printing in just the last 5 years, it makes me excited to see what is to come in 10-15 years down the road! Who knows, 3D printing with metal might actually become obtainable for hobby makers without using metal impregnated plastics

[@Freysn]

Very interesting! As a skateboarder I noticed that the wheels which are colored wear off faster than the uncolored ones. I assume that the color particles weaken the material.

[@macswanton9622]

We count on your work as the highest standard for reliable and accurate data for linking home and business. The global community thanks you

[@cho4d]

6:36 pro english tip - where you were stressing the end part fifTEEN and fifTY (because they sound similar) we would normally do the same for fifteen but then instead stress the FIF part of fifty. idk if this is a real rule but it sounds better this way to my ear anyway.

[@CNCKitchen]

👌 appreciated

[@chrisholmquist7725]

Just recently got into 3D printing and I've been consuming a lot of your videos lately! One thought... after all these years of tests, it would be great to see a video that summarizes all of the most successful techniques and methods to improve "strength" for a given filament. Finally, it would be great to see what this Übermethode produces in terms of measurable results. Thanks for all your hard work!

[@rileyneufeld7001]

Printing like this and then salt remelting it with ultra fine salt would make some glass clear prints! You would have to sand and polish the outer surface however.

[@BFManticore]

So glad you finally did a video on this... I can attest to just how well this works. I have been using settings similar to this after working towards transparent prints just like this video, and I haven't had a print break along a layer line in 2 years (or around the time the salt melt got popular - my progress towards these settings was to fill up the melt cavity more fully). Even with heavy usage items like fencing sword grips, small protrusions printed along the z axis will break across all the layers, with cracking instead of layer splitting. Admittedly, my prints are a bit slower, but the true bonding between layers allows me to use them in higher-stress scenarios where injection-molded durability is expected. It also makes design notably easier when you don't have to constantly think about which way the part will be printed and which axes will be weak.

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

Now I'm curious as to whether _lenses_ can be made this way. I'd imagine clear polycarbonate would be insanely hard to print, but I bet it would be incredibly good if one could get it printed completely solid and in roughly a lens shape that could then be polished and vapor smoothed. This would definitely be a place where a dedicated drybox would be ideal in addition to the filament dryer.

[@paulstrealer5414]

PC is pretty handy to print with. It wants an enclosure, and to print a little hotter than a stock ender 3 can print (metal hotend is enough). I get good results with an unheated enclosure, 270c nozzle, 80c bed (covered in kapton tape).

[@jimurrata6785]

I was seeing fresnel lenses as soon as I saw the thumbnail. It's an interesting thing to consider.

[@CNCKitchen]

If you get PC to properly print it's also a great contestant! But dry it! Bed adhesion can be tackled with Magigoo PC or similar.

[@shirothehero0609]

You absolutely can make a lens like this. The surface and voids are the biggest problem for home lens creation, imo. using a wet sand method coupled with a UV inhibitor clear coat in a couple layers can do AMAZING things. Enough elbow grease post processing and you can create excellent TIR like lenses or at least a lens close enough to a cast or molded in lens to work well for prototyping and small production where true optical clarity isnt a necessity.

[@BTom16]

This channel is the best 3d printing information on the Internet. Thank you.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I have recently been printing clear crystals that I light up with an LED RGB puck, I found that differing temperatures and layer heights helped with clearer parts although they seemed to light up better with a frosting effect acheived with higher temps in PLA.

[@amarissimus29]

I bought several kilograms of HT a few years ago specifically for this purpose. Mostly making small windows and light pipes for LEDs. Never quite got to the transparency I was going for, even with minimal layers. I'll check out some of these tweaks; it looks like I've got more room to improve than I thought. Well done, as usual. Thanks.

[@muchtall]

I'm curious if the impact performance could be improved through either annealing or salt re-melting.

[@CNCKitchen]

Unfortunately I didn't test that last time. Will include these specimens in the next test series.

[@AdamFlanders]

Craft resin casting offers an indirect method for perfectly clear items. I print my object, smooth the surface with sanding, cast a negative mold in silicone, then pour in craft resin. Inexpensive and very easy for simple models. Provides better clarity even than resin printers.

[@cesarplaton8284]

Can you make a video baking these pieces in salt to see how clear they get? You will probably have to polish them after baking but I think the result would be spectacular.

[@wayne6318]

Thanks Stefan, I can see this being used for "dust shrouds" on a CNC Router, where you can see the cutting bit. Well Done

[@NemecJiri]

When I did your max flow tests on my printers, I noticed that on CHT nozzles there is no underextrusion at all for a long time, while on a regular V6 nozzle from very low flow there is already a slight underextrusion and this can cause worse transparency and strength. I would also be quite interested to know what effect changing the hotend to hight-flow or ultra-high flow would have on the print speed. Maybe then it would be possible to maintain reasonable speeds.

[@Balorng]

A CHT volcano would likely allow you to print wide lines, high layers AND pretty fast, too... ok, maybe not latter. I suspect that there is "ironing" effect from nozzle conducting heat into the part, ensuring that plastic is fully melted as it is deposited, AND previous layer also melts and fully fuses with one you are printing. For best "ironing" effect you want a very large outer diameter "flat" on the nozzle with normal-sized hole. This way you'll be able to print "almost isotropic" parts considerably faster, at the cost of print melting if you print high details at slow speed.

[@CNCKitchen]

Good point! Might be worth investigating.

[@ivyr336]

Should try making a MK4 gearbox cover using this method 😊

[@roscocsa]

I keep wondering if there is a way to use a low powered laser to re-melt a previous layer just before, or as the nozzle lays down the current layer.

[@BrazenRain]

FDM printer with an SLS laser

[@cesarplaton8284]

I share your thoughts about the Laser but that will only influence the adhesion between layers and the printing speed. The problem in optics is the empty spaces and the only thing that solves it is the baking, but first the impression has to be as good as the one achieved in this video. Great job by the way!!!!

[@roscocsa]

@@BrazenRain Exactly. Tricky though with how many different directions a print head moves.

[@Sigmatechnica]

At one point i was considering investigating 3d printing polymer scintillation material for radiation detection, the thinking being easy custom shaped detectors may be valuable for scientists and researchers. Never took the idea anywhere, but it would absolutely work with that level of transparency. Keep it up, you are really are about the top 3d printing channel for makers.

[@BRUXXUS]

Oooh! I love this idea! With a dual material printer, I bet you could even do multi-cell/pixel detectors. Although, might be way too small for those kinds of measurements.

[@Sigmatechnica]

@@BRUXXUS Yeah i think the main problem would be plastic scintilators just aren't very good, unless you are looking to detect fast neutrons. maybe one could make a neutron camera with 3d printed pixels and a nice big beryllium concave mirror to focus an image :D

[@buidawill]

Could the extra static load performance in the XY samples come from the alignment of all infill in the direction of the load? Would the same gains be seen if all infill was oriented perpendicular to the loading direction?

[@jessicav2031]

Excellent point! I would certainly be concerned about this. There are now two weak axes, not one, even if "weak" is not as bad as usual.

[@CNCKitchen]

The infill in the test section was oriented along the loading axis for both samples (I used 6 perimeters), so there shouldn't be a huge difference.

[@rileyneufeld7001]

Having your layers perpendicular is always going to hurt strength and performance. But that's the beauty of 3d printing, aligning your infill and Z direction make parts essentially as strong as injection molded ones.

[@VV-om8vv]

This was very useful thank you very much. I just “graduated” from PLA to PETG and I think translucent is a really cool benefit of the material.

[@Gejuch2233]

I wonder if you came across my projects, that I think are extremely good in terms of transparency, if not even the best, especially the cube, that I've designed. I was researching and testing this topic over half a year

[@retromodernart4426]

Thank you very much, you just got me to subscribe after I looked at your channel.

[@Gejuch2233]

@@retromodernart4426 Thanks, though I'm not sure when I will upload the next video

[@retromodernart4426]

@@Gejuch2233 No problem, what you already did is great!

[@CNCKitchen]

Great work! Can you share more information on your process?

[@Gejuch2233]

@@CNCKitchen I'm glad You liked it. It was over a two years ago, but as I described on Thingiverse page, to achieve this kind of transparency are needed some quirks, and tips. First of all to be clear, that is not how it came exactly from the printer, but I've polished all sides(but from bottom, and mostly from top, are close to the end product). Layer lines should be really small and I was recommending 0.03mm. Flow rate was above 100%, more like 102%, but as You said in your video it depends. Infill type was actually Rectilinear, and infill overlap was around 6%. I did use for all parts, clear PETG, that was beforehand dried pretty long. Temperature was at lowest as manufacture said, and sometimes below that, usually around 210C. Bed temperature was 80/90C. No cooling, but with diamond model, I did use some minimal cooling because of overhangs. And last but not least printing speed was around 24mm/s. In this printing technic retraction is turned off, and pretty much it can print mostly simple objects, at least on the surface, due to need for sanding and polishing. Also printing times were horrible. For example for printing 15x15x15mm cube, it took around 8h to print. And also printing parameters, especially flow rate mostly depended on model. Bed levelling was also crucial, and must be on spot, otherwise print will not succeeded. First I was trying to test it myself, but when I did show results to company that produced that filament, I get some kind of verbal agreement, that I will do more testing and send them(I've also tried their unique filament "Lucent PLA"). But due to time, and that this technik is not reliable enough I've stopped. Summarizing. Lower layer height, printing cooler, flow up to 102%, no retraction, infill overlap around 6%, Rectilinear infill pattern, and mostly ideal calibration of print bed. Then only hours of sanding and polishing, and voilà. So it's only valuable for prearticular cases. Type of printing, that You showed is much more user friendly, and can be used for cases where my method doesn't have sense, though I'm not sure how strong parts are from my side, I didn't really w as think of that back then, but I assume they are close to truly solid. If something is unclear just ask, I will be happy to answer, though I'm not sure if there is anything else to say :) Kindest regards

[@ThatJay283]

thanks! i've printed with a 0.8mm nozzle with a layer height of 0.2mm, and i got really great results

[@abrahamahmed9445]

It would be interesting to see if annealing these parts has an impact on transparency. I'd also be interested to see if there is a relationship between layer adhesion and loss of coherence during annealing.

[@animatorgeek]

Thank you for making this video! I've been experimenting with transparent prints lately and I also appreciate its value for both strength and impermeability.

[@SinanAkkoyun]

clean video

[@briannewman6216]

An excellent review of transparent filaments. For many applications the color of the part is irrelevant. If color is important the part can be easily painted. A process which also can be used to reduce the effect of the layer lines.

[@braver1234]

Just use a resin printer if you need transparent parts!

[@braver1234]

Great work! I'd really like you to try and print optics with this setup

[@joemulkerins5250]

Resin is too brittle, especially for my application. It would shatter and explode all over my employees faces if I tried. So there you go.

[@StephenByersJ]

Wow. Watching those samples yield is pretty incredible!

[@doctorpropain8902]

What I found most fascinating about this is that an exploration that started out for aesthetic reasons (pretty see-through parts) ended up having mechanical implications as well.

[@jonwebb9261]

This was very impressive and surprising! What incredible layer adhesion. I'd love to achieve anything near that on a normal PETG print!

[@dwkaolawdjwdkaoakl1570]

amazing work as usual! i print many parts in clear PETG. no application specific just because it looks cool. awesome how you even got more transparent!

[@isthattrue1083]

All I use now is Overture Filament. They were the first I went with and have not been disappointed. I don't even have to dry it out. Just open the package and start printing.

[@MrHeHim]

I've noticed on smaller parts close together on the build plate can use a small amount of cooling without any difference in clarity. This also stops the PETG (in my case) from warping from excessive heat Keep in mind, anything on a bed slinger (especially without an enclosure) in being cooled both passively and actively when the bed moves back and forth. Edit; I'm printing on an enclosed printer with the top off and doors closed

[@AndyLundell]

I did this many years ago with a Monoprice Mini printing clear PLA. I used 100% infill, and 105% flowrate. Then I spent an insane amount of time wet-sanding with increasing grit sandpaper until I got to sandpapers that are normally used to polish glass. It worked amazingly well. Clear as glass, and the cool thing is you can leave a void in the print, and since you can't sand the inside, the void looks like an opaque object encased in glass. However, I never did it again because spending all day sanding to make a single part isn't for me. Maybe if you used a series of buffing wheels instead of a series of hand sandpapers you could speed it up a bit, but it would still be labor-intensive to make it look like glass, which was what I wanted.

[@BertNielson]

I got mine even clearer by oversizing a tiny amount and sanding and polishing the outside. Lots of extra work, but having a lovely clear print was so nice.

[@ronnetgrazer362]

Flame polish? PVB + isopropanol vapor smooth?

[@BertNielson]

@@ronnetgrazer362 polishing compound for plastics. Hand polished.

[@ronnetgrazer362]

@@BertNielson Life's too short :) A light sand blasting, and into the vapor chamber! Neither of which I own, by the way.

[@isorobot]

I’ve printed transparent PP tubes for model rockets for quite some time, I use them as examples demonstrating the strength of 3DP parts. They are incredibly strong for a single wall thickness with a .8 nozzle

[@LarryPfeffer]

Pleased to hear you mention gas/fluid-tightness as a reason to try this approach -- brings me closer to taking the plunge.

[@Bebamyotamaki]

With heat gun or small flame you can carefully melt the surface to smooth out the layered wall and improve further the transparency. Thank you for this video, I like.

[@jaredkrivin6204]

This is something I've been curious about for a long time, it makes sense that the parts are stronger given the adhesion is better but it's more impressive to actually see the results of the tests, thanks Stefan! I might just have to try this out for my own stuff.

[@Balrog132]

I have a transparent PLA I want to try this with. The one I have is already more transparent than I expected, but I will definitely try this and see if it improves transparency even more.

[@meusana3681]

This is perfect for replicating retro blinker light lenses and stuff, the FDM effect actually promotes scattering which is perfect. Normally you design a flat part and then give it a texture, this just works out of the box.

[@isthattrue1083]

To be honest, I like using PETG way better than the other filaments. Transparent filaments seem to have a different melting point than their colored counterparts. Also, I read that post from dude on transparent parts. One key is making sure that all the lines go the same direction. No cross-filling. Speed, layer height, and temp are some of the other factors.

[@lucasherrera1989]

Really cool to see that half-angle shear. 14:54

[@thespacecowboy420]

I have been printing PETG for a long time. I print articulated dragons and all kinds of crazy things with it. 30% max fan rising fan from 5% to 1" height. Retraction test and dial distance until your eyes bleed. Make sure you set max retractions per distance to a very large number so it will always retract.

[@loom4k]

Awesome video! It's really interesting to see that such simple change within the settings and using the same filament can bring such visual but also technical improvements. I love this channel!

[@JamieStuff]

Guten tag, Stefan! Thanks for doing the research; it benefits the entire community.

[@CNCKitchen]

You're welcome!

[@fkopac]

Years ago I tried some PET filament from Taulman, then the best bet to get something that could be used as a light guide. They had similar suggestions to achieve transparency, with one significant difference: They said thick layers were best. I wish this parameter were tested too. Thank you for this and keep on making :)

[@pamhunametalle9152]

Printed a gear with transparent parameters about a month ago and it still works great 2 prev samples from same transparent petg with default parameters broke

[@SharkWipf]

SuperSlicer, a PrusaSlicer fork, has a few settings specifically for this purpose that may produce better results, like infill ironing to really fill up the gaps (but also more difficult to print)

[@CorDawgYT]

I have an Ender 3 S1 and I was impressed with some clear TPU that I have used. TPU printing is awesome.

[@DragonFinlay]

I was LITERALLY starting to experiment with glass-like printing a couple of days ago. Good timing!

[@GuruMN]

Printing thicker layers with a bigger nozzle works even better for me, especially when looking at a tall print with a cylinder. .32mm layer heights allows for a reasonable print speed with a 1mm nozzle, but print speed will still be less than 15mm/sec because you are flowing so much filament. I haven't tried higher layer heights but it might be even more clear because each layer line blocks the light. I printed a lighthouse with a solar LED light on top and transparent red and got great results seeing through the transparent sections.

[@bytesandbikes]

I've been doing a trick for stronger prints for a while. I don't have any transparent filament, but would be interesting to try. Set the slicer to a nozzle size half what you really have. Adjust extrusion rate, and set model inset to half the difference.

[@DavidBaumgarner]

Hmm that sounds like an interesting hack. Seems like it would come out even, but I imagine once you tune the extrusion rate, you are doing a better job of getting perfect flow. Do you "adjust the extrusion rate" mathematically or do you do additional tuning manually by how the extrusion looks?

[@bytesandbikes]

The idea is that each line in a layer is overlapped. As you say, it should come out even, but I adjust to maximise density. About 200% works for my machine.

[@guerrillaradio9953]

The grooved look of transparent FDM parts is perfect for one thing...lenses for lights on cars, both model and full-sized!

[@garagecedric]

Clear prints have transformed the prototype development at work, when its suddenly super fast and easy to make see through parts. Though i think they are SLA prints that are polished and clear coated, they look really good !

[@iansabrewolfe]

I’m still impressed by how much smaller the variance between samples were on the transparent prints. Even if the strength hadn’t been significantly higher, the better uniformity/reliability alone would be worth pursuing further.

[@microdesigns2000]

The nice thing about adjusting parameters for transparency is that it is an indicator for the strength of the part. Adjusting parameters on opaque parts doesn't yield much visual difference, so testing is the only way to identify structural changes. Transparency is like that, revealing the truth of many situations.

[@cogo9313]

Though I haven't been printing because I haven't had the time to sort out the problems with my mini delta, I have an idea that could take some time to develop, but might make a useful addition to a 3d printer. One comment I read mentioned flash melting the surface of a 3d print with a heat gun. A 3d printer with extra XY space could possibly be rigged with a nichrome wire (surplussed from a dead blow dryer) stretched out horizontally next to the print head. Just before the layer is done the gcode could pre-heat the nichrome wire very hot, and then the gcode could iron every layer before starting the next layer. Then the gcode could reduce the heat on the wire for printing the next layer. Since I don't know of anyone doing this yet, if I'm the first one to suggest it, I'm placing the idea in the public domain, so have at it!

[@kev4241]

as mentioned in the video, its far quicker and easier to get transparent parts from resin printers, especially using a cure-wash-cure process sequence. FDM parts air gaps between filaments in the corners of the channels require going to extremes of slowness and heat. perhaps some sort of sideways movement of the extruder might help shear off the gap volumes. in welding, little circles are done with the welding rod.

[@snoozlet]

I’ve just realised this was released only 19h ago. You’re faster than my thoughts! Keep up the good work!!

[@gmonte00]

Have you tried the ironing setting? I think that might help to get a smoother surface finish and therefore less light diffusion and better transparency

[@spagamoto]

If bridges are an issue for your part, PrusaSlicer can be set up to only turn on (or speed up) the fan during bridges. It's under Filament Settings -> Cooling (make sure Expert Mode is enabled).

[@fischdl73]

Available on Cura as well

[@matushonko7223]

Another class of materials that might be interesting to look at are the next generation polyesters: Fiberlogy CPE HT claims to be a drop-in replacement for polycarbonate, Innovatefil has hight-temp CPE that looks similar, then there are DURABIO, Green-TEC... all of these (according to the manufacturers) would be quite high-performance engineering plastics, all non-toxic and printable without a smell, and without an enclosure

[@denvermatt]

I love this, I've been screwing around with clear tpu for awhile so I rushed out and bought the filament you recommended.

[@queazocotal]

For parts that will allow it, I wonder if a larger nozzle would also allow thicker layers. Doubling the nozzle diameter and layer height would do obviously nice things to the volume per second, even with slow linear speed.

[@WhatWorks-DIY]

I was just thinking about this today, i had made some key caps in transparent petg, i made sure to use concentric layers and infill for best transparency.