When I got my 3D printer, the first spool of filament I bought was transparent / crystal. No regrets.
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Is it actually see through? The “transparent” filament I’ve used in the past is always pretty opaque.
They normally require to be treated after the print to really get the transparent look
Makes sense
Yeah, the transparent PLA I have is more crystal than transparent. It lets light shine through, so handy for encasing a status LED, but at any reasonable thickness it's too cloudy / obscured to make out details through.
But I have seen success printing truly transparent panels and things using PETG / PCTG.
Do you know if it yellows over time or with sun exposure? Friends with transparent phone cases usually end up with yellow cases, unless they specifically have some specially treated plastic. I don’t know if that is rare in filaments
Depends on the type of plastic. PLA is what I have and it's the most commonly used material, and it will definitely degrade in UV light.
ASA is the most common, seriously UV resistant plastic, but it is inherently opaque (and printing it releases styrene which is toxic and requires special ventilation).
PETG is relatively easy to print, can be printed even more transparently than PLA, and has some UV reistance, so would probably be your best bet.
It will still eventually yellow or structurally degrade over time from sunlight though. I also suspect some of that phone case yellowing might not be UV exposure but absorbing oil from your skin.
Huh. Turns out UV resistance is a consistent consideration when making sun-exposed 3D prints! Thanks for the response!
If they transparent then you'd be able to see all the tracking chips right up the backdoor
Most of those are pretty cool, but the watch really let the gimmick compromise the function. Clock faces need to have high contrast for minimizing the time it takes to read the time.
I'm told that prison tech is transparent.
This looks so cool but a part of me is terrified of them slowly and unevenly turning yellow, just like an old phone case of mine 🥲
i had so many of those Memorex tapes and I also had the Swatch but with the blue and fuchsia face and strap combo.
This way you can easily tell if they actually had Sony guts or not.
we won't bring this back until society heals.