Clear filament?

[Baz Leffler @bazinoz]

Anyone here used ABS Clear filament?

Is it clear or frosted?

I am unable to get any of the Robox stuff but I notice there is other types available.

I need to make see thru port holes in boxes.

 

Baz

[BHudson @bhudson My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Beta]

@bazinoz I haven’t used clear ABS but I have used T-Glase and clear ColorFabb _XT and they can both be clear when printed in thin, solid sections. You won’t get water clear and it will look frosted from a distance, but you can see through it up close. The T-Glase has a post-treatment chemical that can be used to make it pretty close to perfectly clear, though.

http://3dprint.com/29292/taulman-hacks-clear-t-glase-3d-printing-material/

Personally I can’t see using PLA or ABS when the polyester materials are available, even if they are more expensive.

I am not affiliated with CEL; I operate two Betas and one Production Robox.

[Omega64 @omega64 My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

Hello @bazinoz,
original (CEL) Clear filaments aren’t available yet, neither in PLA nor in ABS. I know because I was interested in purchasing them too. All other colors instead are available.

As @bhudson pointed out, if you want a clear filament nothing beats T-Glase.
It’s superior than ABS in every aspect, so even if you need a non-clear color you should feel free to use it (it’s available in various colors, not just the clear one, and all of them are quite transparent).

Only con is that it costs much more than ABS, and we’re talking about reels long just 50 meters (405 grams).

I have no direct experience with it, however I spent some time reading about it, as when my Robox will work I intend to use my CEL PLA reels for prototypes, my CEL ABS filaments for some parts and T-Glase for all demanding stuff (I plan to do especially precise mechanical parts).

Here are some links you may be interested to read:

http://taulman3d.com/t-glase-features.html

http://www.taulman3d.com/t-glase-spec.html

http://taulman3d.com/t-glase-optics.html

http://www.cel-robox.com/forums/topic/in-pursuit-of-flat-bottom/page/2/#post-10180

By the way I see that in the first link they write << Optimum temperature is about 235c to 240C >> but in the 2nd link they say that printing temperature should be 228C. I know Ben has experimented a lot with this filament, so he’ll be able to clear this point if he wishes.

In the last link you will find a thread in this forum, where Ben has published the T-Glase profile he made. I haven’t had the time yet to read the whole thread, but I wanted to add this link too, in case you have.

Regards,
Fabio

[BHudson @bhudson My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Beta]

I have found that _XT is as good or better than T-Glase is some ways but is slightly more brittle. It is a variant of the same polyester material.

I print T-Glase at 235 for the first layer and 225 for the subsequent layers. The bet starts at 80 and drops to 70 after the first layer. Filament multiplier is 1, feed rate is .95.

I am not affiliated with CEL; I operate two Betas and one Production Robox.

[Aimdy @mistsoul My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

@bazinoz also with a well tuned printer t-glase prints are very precise, see link below:

http://www.cel-robox.com/forums/topic/print-challenge/#post-12004

madesolid also offers clear filaments which I purchase a reel of but have not printed yet, it is also a PET and supposedly really strong stuff

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Aimdy.

Moh

[Omega64 @omega64 My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

Hello @mistsoul,

I too have heard very good comments about MadeSolid (someone reviewed it against other PET filaments, colorFabb and T-Glase, and found MadeSolid to be the best, although the other 2 were very good too), please let us know how your test goes.

PS: I’ve just read that MadeSolid is releasing a new filament, called PET++. An improvement vs the already excellent previous PET+.

Shipping is very expensive, at least from the factory in California. Do you know an online shop where their products can be purchased directly in Italy or in EU anyway?

 

[Aimdy @mistsoul My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

@omega64 will do when my printer is back and runing again.

Moh

[Aimdy @mistsoul My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

@omega64 you should be able to get it from amazon.com when it is available, that is where I got my current roll.

Moh

[Baz Leffler @bazinoz]

I initially wanted it for LED light ‘extensions’ but now have a need to make clear button caps to fit over existing buttons to hold labels in.

Thanks for the advice; i shall consider my options.

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