My design is a CubeSat with Arduino Uno as the main part. The Uno will be attached to the base of the cube. Rest of the things will be stacked on top of it. I would like my CubeSat to be completely transparent. What type of filament would you recommend for that?
If you have a fdm printer petg is probably the best choice. It is easy to print and it is the most transparent I had as a result with a fdm printer. Keep in mind that it is not as transparent as let’s say Glas.
I agree with Infixus, clear PETG at the moment is the best easy to find material for clear FDM prints. Something claimed to have even better clarity is PMMA, which can ideally be chemically polished (acetone) and prints within standard temperatures. If these relatively exotic materials worry you, there is also some “crystal clear” PLA from a relatively well known producer. This should work with normal PLA settings. One trick to improve the transparency of the print is to use “tall” layer height. This because you will have less interfaces that break the light path.
Hello,
In Common there are no differences between the Filament-materials.
PLA is better printable and is chemical more stable.
ABS has a little bit higher Temperature, but under normal Conditions, this won’t make a difference,
I think you are most likly asking about the transparency. Here is no difference in the Filament. On all Filaments-Materials you won’t get a result like a Window-Glas.
This is mainly caused by the Printing-process where the layers are put together, which doesn’t make a optical perfect surface.
If you want to have a see-though-Glas, I would try one of the following Options (but I cannot garantee any success):
- Print with transparent ABS, afterwards put the Part in heated Aceton-Steam to make the surface better. ATTENTION: THIS IS A VERY RISKY WAY, because Aceton may easy BURN OR EXPLODE under this conditions !!!
- Print with other Material like PLA and grind the surfaces by Hand (Long work)
- CNC-Cut from Plexiglas
Kind regards
Karsten
PS.: Materials PETG like the others told are also possible, but the result won’t be better then http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0661/1353/products/MG\_8915.jpg?v=1452856846
