Wife has a need, and wants to show off the 3d printer results to her friends. So we start looking at Rose models for a centerpiece…the test print looks okay after cleanup (green, pla, support, nothing special)
I then show her t-glase and the promise of a rose with optically clear properties sounds like a good one. But a spool, and a .8 nozzle (more on that later…it’s going to be fun to play with when this project is over)
And $6 worth of t-glase and 6 Hours later, I’m left with the photo album and a bleeding hand (edges of this stiff is SHARP!) The support material removed wonderfully, but it’s not the slam dunk I was hoping for…
The deetz:
.2 layer height
1.6mm shell
20% fill
30mm/s print speed
220 C nozzle
60C bed
1.75 diameter at 110%
.8 nozzle
.1 retract at 30mm/s
Sure was hoping it’d be a little clearer…and I’d bleed a little less.
Man, I actually would have left it as the original picture and told here it is a frost bitten white rose… :-). Looks really nice by the way!
You dyed T-glass?
My experience with T-glass is clarity is based on extrusion temperature. I did the dragon, post on here somewhere, in T-glass single perimeter and got great clarity. Too hot and it will appear cloudy. I do remember there was a post by @Tom_Martz about post processing T-glass to get almost complete clarity. Search out his post I think it will show up as of decently recent.
No, the green rose is PLA, the frosted rose is T-glase. I can lower the temp a bit, but I need 4 roses and am projecting 5 or 6 per roll, so I don’t have a lot to play with. Mostly I’m wondering if the effect we’re looking for is possible.
You are over-extruded and you need a lot more retraction. 0.1mm will do almost nothing to help. Make sure you have a decent travel speed (150+mm/sec) and increase the extruder retraction to 1mm, then also try 1.5mm. Reduce the temperature if you can, but watch check the extruder can still work without skipping.
With a 0.8mm nozzle a bigger layer height will help with clarity as does slowing down and temperature reduction.
I’ll make some changes tonight and see how they go. I’ve got a bondtech extruder (gear reduction, positive dual drive wheels) so it should be able to handle it.
I was making 1.6mm total wall thickness and .2 mm height…so perhaps .4mm thickness and .3mm layer height?
Another discovery from last night…the nozzle was too close to the build plate and it forced the filament to come out the side of the Bondtech…and let me know that it’s a beastly extruder.
After adjusting bed height, the material properties were great…0.8 mm is…a lotta plastic moving when coming from .4
@Ashley_Webster That is travel speed! not print speed Many issues like this are because the acceleration settings and machine travel (non print moves) are just too slow to get from point to point. Getting the best travel speed for your machine is another calibration issue, but it’s worth finding out how fast you can move and tune your acceleration speeds for your specific mechanical setup of your machine. Everything will improve.
It is possible to print PET at high speed, but I tend to print it under 30mm/sec to get the best results.
Many issues like this are because the acceleration settings and machine travel (non print moves) are just too slow to get from point to point. Getting the best travel speed for your machine is another calibration issue, but it’s worth finding out how fast you can move and tune your acceleration speeds for your specific mechanical setup of your machine. Everything will improve.