'Translucent white' PLA 3D print filament
Alex Gibson
Hi all
A very specific request for recommendations please – to use at work!
For part of my 3D printing day job (3D Hubs Bureau service printing) I carry a very wide range of PLA filament in stock – at least 40 colours – to over their entire colour palette. For all but one of them I have preferred suppliers, so I can re-stock next-day on everything. I’m not after general filament buying advice and I will be happy to talk best suppliers experience separately!
One of the colours is a real pain to define, let alone get a sensible stock of:
‘Translucent White’.
None of the main brands do it by name. I currently buy overpriced 500g reels from Dremel brand – about the only one to be listed as ‘Translucent white’ – and they also call it ‘natural PLA’
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/dremel-pla-3d-printer-filament-translucent-white-05kg
This is perfectly usable but:
- the cost is high end and the quality OK but not amazing. This translates to more wastage in getting saleable quality prints to customers.
- spools are annoyingly small and need to be put on a spindle
- the ratio of packaging to product is very wasteful.
So the question I am asking is, knowing people in rLab and TRRUG have experience with a lot of different filaments and suppliers, from expensive premium makes to seriously cheap stuff straight from China, does anyone have a solid suggestion for a good supplier of filament that meets these properties:
- 1.75mm PLA
- Available in 750g+ reels with at least 30mm hole
- <£27.50/Kg
- Branded – so you can definitely buy it again
- Definitely White – not too yellowy/waxy, and white rather than colourless ‘transparent’ PLA
- Definitely Translucent – you can see light and movement through a print made in it
To give an example of how getting this right is important to me, this colour is a popular choice for things like light fittings – the Dremel stuff is good for this, as the resulting print is fairly close to an ‘opal’ glass, it lets light through but you can’t see internal structure too much.
The problem is there is a lot of terrible quality ‘natural’ PLA on the market which sort of matches this, but is usually more yellowy and waxy looking and the colour is more of an impurity than intentional pigment. For example my Creality printers came with this sort of colour and it was awful filament that lets down the otherwise great out of box experience.
So… is anyone thinking ‘I know just the stuff’? I would love to hear…!
Many thanks,
Alex Gibson
admg consulting
edumaker limited
· Project management
· Operations & Process improvement
· 3D Printing
Malcolm Napier
--
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVRepRapUG" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvreprapug+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Norro
Alex Gibson
‘natural’ is indeed unhelpful as a search term.
‘pure’ PLA is almost colourless and transparent – with a very slight tinge of yellow. Several manufacturers sell as ‘transparent’ with or without processing to reduce the tinge of colour.
A reason that ‘transparent’ PLA is often harder to work with is it is brittle, as it is lacking some common additives manufacturers put in more opaque filaments to make them more ductile. Shelf life due to moisture absorption increasing the brittleness is also shorter.
Some manufacturers call the ‘pure’ transparent PLA ‘natural’ (Innofil for example) whereas many use it for a sort of yellowish waxy ‘raw’ or less processed PLA.
Some very cheap brands from China then stick the bare minimum of a whitening agent into this to make a ‘milky’ looking PLA that is almost what I am after – but too variable in quality to be used for professional work. Seems popular among the filaments that come with new Chinese printers.
Dremel’s ‘Translucent white’ is at the top end of this category - they give the game away also calling it ‘natural’ PLA. However it is the right level of opacity/translucency and the right colour – IE definitely white and not yellowish – and is at least consistent - which is why I have been stuck with it so far.
Malcolm - Thanks for the reminder about 3D Filaprint samples - they have a couple of own brand ‘natural’ PLA samples I will try now – from the photos a couple don’t look too yellow in photos... I already have them as go-to suppliers for ‘Off-white’ (Fillamentum Extrafill Light Ivory) and ‘Dark Red’ (Fillamentum Extrafill Purple Red). Their prices and next-day delivery are good. I would definitely urge you to also try Filamentive – similar advantages, cheaper plus cardboard spools and very high proportion of the material is recycled (white, which I get through the most of, is 97% recycled!) They are my preferred supplier for all colours they do as they vastly reduce my waste footprint without compromising quality!
Alex Gibson
admg consulting
edumaker limited
· Project management
· Operations & Process improvement
· 3D Printing
--
Norro
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvrep...@googlegroups.com.
Bo Herrmannsen
unless there are an UK source, and even with brexit i would say local sources are a must for next day delivery to happen consistant/reliable
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvreprapug+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
@(~Ô^Ô~)@
-------------oOo---U---oOo-------------
| |
| Bo Herrmannsen |
| |
| |
| "blessed are the "cracked", |
| for its they who let in the light" |
| Ooo |
|_________________ooO____( )________|
( ) ) /
\ ( (_/
\_)
Norro
On Sunday, 31 March 2019 23:05:46 UTC+1, Alex Gibson wrote:
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvrep...@googlegroups.com.
Alex Gibson
I see!
In which case it makes even more sense that only the top quality makes achieve a colourless product, and that it is more brittle.
The trouble with ‘translucent white’ is that to achieve this to a repeatable high quality you’d need to start by making a very good transparent PLA, and then mix in just the right amount of white pigment (which I understand is quite potent) to make it definitely white while remaining translucent. At which point you have a product that at first glance looks similar to budget ‘natural’ PLA…
I may be in luck as it turns out Filamentive now have a ‘natural’ PLA which may do the job… ordering this and the 3D Filaprint today, will try both tomorrow…
Cheers,
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvreprapug+...@googlegroups.com.
Norro
Bo Herrmannsen
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvreprapug+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.