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Hi all, I’ve recently started using some PLA glow in the dark filament. A small print of a simple object worked out okay, but when I printed this larger and more complicated buddha statue, I notice that there is significant color consistency going on:

Notice how the base is perfectly white and then when it starts on the actual figurine the color starts turning greyish. The glow in the dark effect at these darker spots is also almost gone. I retried with a scaled down version and almost the same effect can be seen. Notably the hat is perfectly white again.

Does anyone have any theory as to why this is happening?

I am using a Felix 3.0 at the following settings:

layer height: 0.1mm
shell thickness: 1.5mm
bottom/top thickness: 1.5mm
fill density: 17.5%
speed: 100mm/s
infill speed: 50mm/s
travel speed: 200mm/s
retraction speed: 50mm/s
retraction distance: 5mm
temperature: 180C
minimal layer time: 30s
slicer: Cura

The filament I used:

http://www.123inkt.nl/123inkt-nl-3D-…84-t43554.html

Thank you very much for any clues!

2 Likes
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Correction: that should be a Ganesha statue, not Buddha :slight_smile:

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@ColorFabb @MadeSolid @Proto_pasta any clue on this one?

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My guess: the base is a simple solid shape, allowing the printer to reach higher speeds, which means the plastic spends less time being melted, meaning it doesn’t reach as high of a temperature. When you get to the more complex shapes the extruder can no longer do long straight lines, it’s slowing down to go around the complex detailed curves, giving the plastic more time to heat up, and it’s exceeding the maximum temperature of the glow-in-the-dark pigment, destroying the color.

If your printer uses Marlin firmware, there is a feature “AutoTemp” that can be used to adjust temperature based on speed, but it’s a pretty advanced feature. Otherwise you can try turning down both the speed and the temperature and see if that helps.

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Any ideas from the other filament guys as well? @ColorFabb @Faberdashery @Proto_pasta (@MadeSolid see below)

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@madesolid 's theory seems to be a good bet. We haven’t experimented with glow in the dark filament, but have heard it can be a bit finicky to print with for a variety of reasons. What does it look like while glowing?