I am using SunLu Clear to put a layer of ironed transparent over a multicolor piece, but its not truly clear, has a milky appearance and leaves bubbles at times. Is there a better, more transparent clear out there in PLA?
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Try this, I found it helpful:
Also if you’re seeing bubbles or cloudiness your filament may have taken up moisture from the air. When the water boils in the extruder it forms bubbles in the plastic.
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This bloke did some great work.
I am told he is handsome.
Focus on
- Smooth build plate ^
- Speed
- Surface textures ^
- Infill texture ^
- Material is very important ^
- My experience had Translucent PLA better than PETG
Remember, it is translucent and not transparent, if you hold it close to something it is far better than held at a distance.
True translucent excellence comes from not diffusing light, this means’s removing anything structurally which changes the angle of light ^.
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So there isn’t a better one than SunLu? The bubbles I found came from a hole under the layer, had to look close at the print to see it. Was just wondering if there is a better clear transparent filament out there.
This is what it looks like when printing something 100% with it.
As I mentioned, a lot of it comes from how you print, how close it is to the object in question and also the material.
Experimentation is the key.
The model you shared will always have issues due to the amount of light you are refracting and curved surfaces introduce unintended changes in how the light travels.
These also have curved surfaces. The contents of which are forced to be further away than in the calibration model I shared previously introduces the distance to subject issue.
Reduce the wall count, follow all the other settings from the calibration model I shared and see what happens. Slow the print down.
You can print sections of your model, you do nit need to print the whole thing while testing.
If all else fails, you could introduce creams/solvents designed to make the surface clearer, but if you aim to share the model, you will be greatly limiting your audience.
Thanks, I will dig in deeper on the printing for this type of item. I think I misstated my actual question though, if there is a filament that is a bit more transparent. This SunLu stuff is not very clear even on the roll. Sitting next to the Arctic White from Bambu its not much different in color and it is dried. I use it to put a final ironed layer on keychains and things where there are tiny holes or banding from how it gets sliced so that the top layer is smooth, and I have to make it somewhere around .4mm max or it gets milky, especially when on top of black.
I used Yousu PLA Translucent for my PLA work.
I haven’t tried it, but the Elegoo PLA Translucent looks good.
A while back I tried every clear transparent PLA that I could find and only the SUNLU worked good enough, and I use it often. It seems to me that the best results are when the top, bottom, and infill layers are all the same pattern and the piece is printed as a solid body. Ironing does very little to help, even if one irons after every layer. The Hilbert curve allows the most light to pass but leaves a noticeable pattern across the surface. Using the monotonic line pattern tends to give the smoothest result, yet, as noted, it is on the milky side.
Using the Concentric, Archimedean Chords, and Octagram Spiral patterns results in a pattern that radiates out from the center which can have a dramatic effect when using transparent, or translucent PLA.
The milkiness is due to the layer lines, which you can’t get rid of because the printer lays material down in layers, and the fact that the material isn’t truly transparent.
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So the consensus is, I’m getting about what I expect, regardless of brand. OK, that answers my question then. It seems pretty clear then, that it would be a waste of time and money looking at other brands of clear, because none frankly are clear enough. I think we’re clear.
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