solarbird | Check out this black PHA’s variable glossiness

I play sometimes with PHA filaments – they’re a lot more temperature resistant and/but also more flexible / less rigid – but I haven’t had a black before, and check out the change from glossy to matte depending upon printing temperature. I haven’t seen this in any PLA – and I hadn’t seen it in natural or wood-infill PHA either. but I pulled back out my white PHA tower and there it is, albeit much less obvious.

White PHA, black PHA, and black PLA temperature towers laid flat next to each other. The black PHA in particular is glossy at 220°C, becoming fully matte at 205°C.

PHA typically needs a 0.6mm nozzle, but I’ve found 0.5mm nozzles work with 0.4mm slicing and you get better bridging that way. People have been kind of moving lately to 0.6mm nozzles lately so it’s not a big deal either way, but it’s a nice little trick for that little bit of extra precision – though with this black I think 0.6mm should be the rule, there’s clearly some occasional issue with the 0.5mm. Not enough to cause a jam, but enough to flaw the otherwise lovely matte surface.

I’ve had issues with matte black PLA in the past, so now I’m wondering if this will work for my matte black needs. I hope so. Matte black prints are gorgeous.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.