taulman 3D Hacks Own Material, t-glase, to Appear as if Glass

Making 3D printed plastic parts which appear to have an entirely smooth surface and clear optical characteristics is likely to open up a wide variety of uses for PET polymers, and taulman3D now says they can make it happen with a “product hack” for their t-glase filament. By using their t-glase along with Smooth-On's new XTC-3D product, the team at taulman discovered that 3D printed objects can achieve a glass-like look with impressive clarity. Further details on the story can be found here: http://3dprint.com/29292/taulman-hac...ting-material/


Below is a photo of three objects printed clearly in different colors of t-glase using XTC-3D:
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Your link just redirect to "Chinese Say Patents On the Way For Laser Metal 3D Printing In Space"

Opps, try now!

That is fantastic. Yet another thing that I have to try.

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Originally Posted by WayTooManyHobbies

That is fantastic. Yet another thing that I have to try.

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Do remember they only works for a one layer wall as claimed taulman.

Holy crap that looks good. I'm predicting a whole new wave of vases and lampshades stemming from this little discovery.

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Originally Posted by richardphat

Do remember they only works for a one layer wall as claimed taulman.

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Which makes perfect sense if you consider what is actually being done. It's no different than slapping a layer of wax over a dull paint job. All you're doing is giving light a single planar surface to pass through instead of multiple cylindrical ones. Once you start adding multiple shells you can still coat the part but there will always be gaps between the threads of the different shells that can't be filled so you still have those extra surface faces screwing up your light path. However, since the product is an epoxy and not just a wax that will wear off with time, there's the potential to add strength to the part when applying this stuff so that may help to make otherwise fragile parts more durable. I'm also curious if an even stronger part could be made with 2 shells deliberately spaced far enough apart that the space between them could be filled with the stuff. Then coat the inside and outside of the part and once again you've eliminated any extra surfaces.... Damn it I really need to get me some freaking t-glase already. My head has been spinning with ideas for the stuff ever since I heard about it.

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Originally Posted by soofle616

Which makes perfect sense if you consider what is actually being done. It's no different than slapping a layer of wax over a dull paint job. All you're doing is giving light a single planar surface to pass through instead of multiple cylindrical ones. Once you start adding multiple shells you can still coat the part but there will always be gaps between the threads of the different shells that can't be filled so you still have those extra surface faces screwing up your light path. However, since the product is an epoxy and not just a wax that will wear off with time, there's the potential to add strength to the part when applying this stuff so that may help to make otherwise fragile parts more durable. I'm also curious if an even stronger part could be made with 2 shells deliberately spaced far enough apart that the space between them could be filled with the stuff. Then coat the inside and outside of the part and once again you've eliminated any extra surfaces.... Damn it I really need to get me some freaking t-glase already. My head has been spinning with ideas for the stuff ever since I heard about it.

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However, it doesn't mean most people will have ever paid attention to the catch. My boss went frenzy about look and finition and wanted to make a thick 2cm wall to be transparent for his compressor rotor.... I have to shatter his dream, else he would have wasted more cash.

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Originally Posted by richardphat

However, it doesn't mean most people will have ever paid attention to the catch. My boss went frenzy about look and finition and wanted to make a thick 2cm wall to be transparent for his compressor rotor.... I have to shatter his dream, else he would have wasted more cash.

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Agreed, I don't think most people would have noticed that there was a catch involved. But again I wonder about having multiple single strand wide walls with a space between them that could be filled with the epoxy. Granted each layer will reduce total transparency as noted in the article but it could still result in a nearly transparent wall that was significantly thick and sturdy. It definitely bears experimenting to see how far the idea could be taken or if it works at all.

Even though it's only for single wall I think it's a good opportunity. Well done Taulman (again).

lol... was going to buy some of the Smooth-on XTC... then someone here told me it wasn't really that great.. so I didn't order it..

/kicks self

Hmm, it all adds to the cost of the part. pet isn't that cheap to start with and the xtc stuff looks quite pricey.

I guess it's like everythig else, if you've got a particular use for it it's probably worth the money.

Also note that the XTC can't contact food, which I think I read somewhere.