"Fluorescent" is not "Glow in the dark"

[hamster]

If you were naive like me and you thought that the terms are interchangeable ... apparently they are not.

I have three rolls of filament. Shaxon's "fluorescent green" ABS and PLA, and MG's "glow-in-the-dark green" ABS.

By daylight, they look pretty much the same, and I noticed that Shaxon prints weren't all that glowy, but now I finally got around to test them side by side.

MG's "glow in the dark" stuff glows nicely if you move it into a dark room after sitting in the sun or even after a period of time under a daylight-spectrum, ahem, fluorescent lamp.

Shaxon's stuff does not glow in the dark. Like, at all.

And, strictly speaking, this is correct. Because the dictionary/textbook definition of "fluorescent" means "glowing at a certain frequency when hit by a light at a higher frequency". Presumably, Shaxon's filament would glow green under a UV light. (Can't test that part, since I don't have a UV light.)

[bford903]

I believe the "glow-in-the-dark" filaments would be exhibiting what's called "phosphorescence."

[hamster]

You are correct.

I probably should have known better, but it was not apparent to me that anyone would want to make filament whose distinctive feature is being able to glow under a UV light / blacklight.

[bford903]

Hmm...what could we make that glows in the dark?

Light switch covers
Rave jewelry (do kids still go to raves? or am I just old?)
Cell phone cases

Toilet Seat!!!

[Wolfie]

IF you wanted UV florescence, then Glow in the dark isn't your bag to open. They are completely different things. Sometimes they do coincide but only by accident, rarely by design. I mean, highlighter pens' ink doesn't glow in the dark but hit it with UV and it glows brightly. Some GITD pigment reacts with UV and either fluoresces or is energized and self glows. Some does not.

See my review on MG's site for their Glow in the dark sampler pack. I did a UV florescence test on them with photos (see below) and only their yellow and green GITD fluoresced.



I ordered a spool of the custom MG blue GITD PLA. Its NOT what I got in the sample pack. It glows blue in the dark (the blue in the sampler glowed green as they all did) and is nowhere near as bright as the samples I tested from the multi-pack so they must have changed the formula from what they are sending out in the sample pack or vice versa. The spool of blue DOES react with UV and glows very bright blue under blacklight.

Now, if you are looking for UV reactive, ie blacklight glow, the MG Nuclear Green glows very well under UV. I got plans cooking for addons for pumpkins (ears and eyes) for halloween using their green and GITD blue. Their safety orange does not fluoresce at all which surprised me. The white ABS from MatterHackers reacts and glows purplish as well though not as intense as, say a laundered white cotton shirt (Tide and most commercial laundry soaps contain a UV reactive dye that makes clothes "look brighter" and THAT is what is glowing, not the cotton itself).

[3dspider]

To test for fluorescence, I've found that those cheap "blue" laser pointers that you can get on ebay work really well. - You can usually just buy a "blue" one for around $5 or you can by a red, green, and blue set for $9. Look for the 405nm ones, I've found those work best.

[Wolfie]

Or, next halloween get a UV flashlight for pretty cheap at Target and Walmart. Or...go here right now: http://www.sciplus.com/s?sStr=uv+flashlight&x=0&y=0 for $7 or $11 you could have one on its way to you Got mine for doing Geocashing. Some codes are marked in UV ink/paint so muggles can't read em.

[curious aardvark]

I've got a flourescent yellow that really does glow in daylight.

But yeah, if it doesn't say 'glow in the dark', it doesn't :-)

[Wolfie]

See, thats the thing. I am unclear what the OP wanted. Did he want UV reactant (fluorescence aka blacklight glow) or did he want glow in the dark? Hard to tell with the way the first post was worded.

[hamster]

See, thats the thing. I am unclear what the OP wanted. Did he want UV reactant (fluorescence aka blacklight glow) or did he want glow in the dark? Hard to tell with the way the first post was worded.

I wanted glow in the dark. I still don't see many uses for UV reactant filaments.