Transparent 3D Printing!

Mom! I’m in a 3DPN video!! Thanks for the shoutout Joel, I hope everyone here enjoys the project! I have the full video about embedding parts inside resin prints coming out soon!

Formlabs commercial

I got into 3d printing because I wanted to make a part for an old discontinued rc. The part was extremely hard to find. Once I got a printer, it just let me to trying new stuff.

I did the same thing to my Bambu mouse. Only I don't have a resin printer. So I used Elegoo clear PLA on my P1S and it turned out amazing. It's not as clear as resin. But it has a great frosted look to it.

I always seem to get light bleed when using transparent resin. Any advice on setting I should change to prevent that?

For all those 90's kids who had the transparent phones, gameboys, and various other things because that was "cool" back then!

first off... 3D Printing Nerd should revisit the big hairy lion and give him a multi color update. color his mane or something, but thats how i first found this channel.

Actually, I've resin printed a custom shaped visor for a costume (I dont have vaccuform, and its a particular shape) and while it came out somewhat clear, even with sanding & buffing, it's still a bit cloudy. I'd love to re-print it in V5 to see if I can get it any clearer. I've also been trying to see if I can create it in FDM form using certain clear-ish resins that require post processing techniques (like Polysmooth with alcohol, or T-Glase with self-leveling resin). Results are mixed at best, so far.

I'm just wondering if it is possible to print lenses for cameras or something.

You come so far, why not make the bottom transparent as well.?

Transparent all the electronics! Also, that timelapse was trippy... usually you see the resin print coming out of a vat, but that timelapse made it look like it was coming out of mid-air.

As for reprinting something... that's a good idea. I also will be hitting 10 years of printing in December (first printer arrived Dec 2014) and there were some super-complex models that existed then (multi-ball jointed dog, a standing elephant that was print in place and had a flexible trunk) and I tried and the worst part was supports and tolerances. I came to a conclusion many years ago "let model makers make models, I'll handle the slicing and printing". This may sound a bit obvious, but some may remember years ago when someone would make a detailed/complex model and people would just comment "there's no way you can actually print this" and I decided "yea, they can't. But give it time and the slicers will get better, the printers will get better, but your STL or STEP isn't changing... so instead of shooting down a creator, let them create, someone will try to print it, but eventually everyone will be able to print it". I'll need to see what old model I have and try to reprint it with the advanced stuff we have now.

It’s a shame the bottom isn’t transparent as well

Crazy how hard a hobby 3D printing is on you, to imagine 10 years ago you were only 14 🤣🤣 JK lol but I'm sure all those ABS and resin fumes aren't helping us much 🤣

Back in the 80s we use to test injection molds with clear resin. All the tooling marks would marr the surface of the parts just like your mouse parts. A vapor honing process would dissolve the surface and it would harden in a crystal clear smooth glass like finish.

it needs RGB :)

In order to full clear like glass u need to polish and then coat . No matter what u use that’s the only way.

Its looking sticky

I used to live down the street from you. You inspired me to get my first printer about 5 years ago.

They can sometimes have temper tantrums, but when they do work, the continued amazed face I get when I show some of my work.

I think the faves are the colored lithophanes.

Not to be a hater, but I'd honestly call that translucent, not transparent

Yeah, I printed XYZ cube with my Ender 3 in the past, and now, I would like to reprint it, with all that new technology of Ender 3 I have. Yay! = )

PS yeah, its Ender 3, no suffixes and prefixes, pretty modern up to this day.

Crazy, but it’s the best mouse I’ve owned! Love the little button behind scroll wheel that allows scroll speed change on the fly so modeling details are more precise.

I'm gonna reprint the first thing that i printed with my new multicolor printer as soon as it arrives it was a creeper from minecraft that i 3d modeled myself

Is a 2D printer a thing? Is it that thing they have in old timey offices that dribbles ink on white paper?

So as fun as you made it seem there's no mention on performance. Just because it looks cool and you can do it doesn't mean it should be readily deduced it's practical... PLA from FDM is a lot more forgiving and flexible than resin... Chances are after a couple of hundred clicks that thing will crack and break especially after a proper cure... PLA is still the best choice for this case

Transparent is when your father is your mother. This is translucent 😅🤌

You should made bottom transparent too.

Looking at the kit, it boggles the mind how few parts there are to a mouse….

My project thesis

I'd like to try printing a carbon fiber handlebar for my bicycle now that tech has improved a fair bit.

Mouse kit order'd

That cyber truck mouse is pretty cool ;) I gotta say I really do like the 3d printed kits that are out there these days with Bambu labs mouse and edamame headphones very cool stuff! Thanks for sharing the transparent print!

Hi, i was wondering, i was tryng to do some 3d translucent printing for bike dashboards. but they all turn yellow with the sun, is there any resin that withstand the sun and keep it transparent properties? thanks !

I print all of my Star Trek Ships in Transparent/Clear Resin so that the light passes through the Warp Nacelles to create a glow!

I printed keychains when I started printing in late 2018, now on my Bambu Labs printers I can make keychains no sweat without needing to watch them and manually do the layer changes, and I wouldn’t worry about the print failing because tech has gotten so much better lately.

Just for public knowledge. You can use a cheap highRes 150usd printer (riesin one) and print the model with a inexpensive pmma like esun resin and obtain the same results, no need a 100usd resin and a 3000usd printer... (Sorry about my bad English

I wonder how little of the opaque undercarriage is needed to keep the position sensor operating effectively? Could the bottom print be separated into two to have even more transparency?

Yay! Get to see how he printed something transparent! [Watches first 60 seconds of video] Oh, he used a $4500 USD machine to do it... never mind.

Je pense que je vais réimprimer le pommeau de canne que j'avais imprimé au tout début de mon aventure 3D, ça ne fais pas 10 ans mais 3 que j'avais imprimé le premier et comme je débutais j'avais commis pleins d'erreur comme le remplissage qui n'était pas assez conséquent et le pommeau s'était cassé, du coup je suis en train d'attendre une Saturne 4 Ultra avec laquelle je vais refaire ce pommeau de canne mais en résine et non en filament ce qui devrait être plus solide cette fois :o)

What about the clickyness?? (is that a word?) When you press the mouse buttons does it still have the same resistance and feel like clicking a mouse?

You'll have to add some RGB to it! Looks great

Hmmmm🤔

Transparent
/trăns-pâr′ənt, -păr′-/

adjective
Capable of transmitting light so that objects or images can be seen as if there were no intervening material. synonym: clear

Close, but CLEARLY not Transparent!😕😁

Did you remember to hit the parts with a clear coat of paint? It looked crystal clear when wet, I think a clear coat would have increased the effect by helping to make light penetrate evenly.

I got my first printer about 9 years ago. Around 7-8 years ago I used a kinect scanner and free software to scan my head and I 3D printed my face. Thats probably the only print I'd like to redo.

You can make clear resin prints more clear by painting clear resin on top of the finished print and then curing that. The layer lines tend to make clear resin prints somewhat foggy like privacy glass in a shower door and this never completely goes away no matter how nice your resin is. So if you want perfectly clear, you need completely smooth surfaces like glass, hence painting other resins on top. I've actually found that painting print resin on top isn't that great and I have better success with a thicker resin like for jewelry making. They are usually self leveling and help fill in between the layer lines better.

I wonder if you can add subtle texture to it so you can have a frosted glass look to certain areas?

My first 3d printer was a PrintrBot. Something I tried to print on it was models of the shoulder beacon and rappelling tool from the original The Division game, but the print head clogged and it became a mess. A new friend printed them for me without even asking to. Now, a decade or so later, I've got a Form2 and a X1C I use regularly (as well as a tall delta printer and a CR-10S that both refused to work properly). I also now work regularly with Solidworks, and it's been floating in the back of my head to possibly re-model and re-print those two items with the newer, far better printers I have available to me.

You can see the lens pattern from the light source on the clear parts. Huh.

Fantastic video Joel 🤗 Next time brush on an extra layer of thick clear resin after the print is finished and all supports are removed and let it drip off in the dark for an hour then UV cure it and all the layer lines will disappear and it will be 100% optically clear like glass. I did this with a magnifying glass once and it was flawless without any wet sanding or anything. It had zero distortion also perfectly magnifying. It genuinely looked like blown glass. Try it next time. 👍🏻

about 5 years ago I 3D printed an RC F1 car for my son. Printed it on a Monoprice Maker Select. It worked, but the quality was kinda gross, especially the tires printed with NinjaFlex. I know so much more now than 5 years ago, and have way better equipment. I may end up trying it again...

One of my first prints was a small unicorn figurine. I knew so little about FDM printing. When I got a newer printer recently, I re-printed the same model, at the same size, in the same color filament. I replaced the old one. I'm still waiting for my wife to notice. The old one was not great. Visible layer lines, rough bottom from supports that wouldn't come off. The new one is almost perfect. I figure that unicorn is now my Benchy. Stupid little boat ain't got nothing on it!