Colorants (masterbatch) (Page 4 of 9)

Greetings,
Just wanted to let everyone know that PLA colorant is in!! Expect to see it online in the next day or two.

Rob

ABS?

Yes, ABS

must be associated with a dye polymer. Polymer to melt and then add the dye.Cover up the dye in the feed hopper is useless.

Yes, Sorry

Yes, I made some today.  The brightest color came from a 50 grams of ABS to 1 gram of pigment.  More than 50:1 will cause the filament to pig tail.

The color isn't as bright as the eBay item photo made it seem.

Also, the filament came out kind of thick at 1.9mm.  I'm probably going to test it in my printer today or tomorrow.

I prefer using pigment powders instead of colorant plastic because it mixes better and the consistency doesn't change from using two different brands of ABS.

I ordered some Jacquard Pearl Ex and Ultra Fine Nail Art Glitter for more experimentation.

Jesse, how are you mixing the pigment powder with the plastic?

Ralph

That looks similar to my experience with the gold.  I wonder if the particle size is too large.  Is the filament itself brittle at all, or can it bend as easily a normal filament?

It turns out that Glitter doesn't work.  It can't be seen in the filament and it clogs the 3D printer nozzle.

Here are the colors I've run through my Filastruder so far and my impressions of them. I'm trying to do them in an order so that the colors are similar and one batch can quickly transition to the next. Here is what I've done so far.

Lemon/Lime (1:64 master batch ratio) - The color came out very close to a nice lemon lime color. The color varied back and forth between green and yellow as it would hit one of the master batch granules.

• 2 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting
  1.25 tsp yellow master batch
  0.25 tsp blue master batch

Yellow (1:32 master batch ratio) - I wanted a color that could be used to print a Pikachu for my daughter. For a true Pikachu yellow, I probably should have added a tiny bit of red to it. The yellow came out nice although I'd like it to be a little darker and richer.

• 2 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting
  3 tsp yellow master batch

Orange ( 1:32 master batch ratio) - The orange came out almost like a traffic cone orange. And again, like the lemon/lime, the color varied between yellowish to reddish as it would hit a yellow or red granule.

• 2 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting
  1 tsp red master batch
  2 tsp yellow master batch

Red (1:64 master batch ratio) - I really wanted a fire engine red but this didn't come close. It was a little light and pinkish. I think the problem is that I doubled the amount of ABS Natural when I was mixing it but forgot to double the master batch too.

• 4 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting
  3 tsp red master batch

Purple (1:32 master batch ratio) - I wanted a grape color but this came out too blue and too dark. The color was much more consistent than the others even though it was a mixture of two different master batch colors. I think that was because the blue color is a lot more dense and dominates the mixture. Next time, I'll try more red and less blue.

• 2 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting
  1.5 tsp red master batch
  1.5 tsp blue master batch

The colors that ended up with a variation to them were nice but if you are wanting solid colors, then these master batch granules are not quite the right size. They probably need to be at least a quarter of their size in order to disperse the color more evenly.

Here are some more reviews of my mixes.

Blue (1:32 master batch ratio) - The blue came out very nice. It was a bright almost electric blue. It has a variation to the blue that reminds me of the ocean.

• 2 cups ABS Natural from OSPrinting

• 3 tsp blue master batch

Green (1:32 master batch ratio) - This was the last of my ABS pellets from OSPrinting so I only made a cup worth. The green came out mostly dark with some variation from yellowish to forest green.

• 1 cup ABS Natural from OSPrinting

• 0.5 tsp blue master batch

• 1 tsp yellow master match

Red (1:32 master batch ratio) - I was again trying for a fire engine red so this time I made sure that I made it at a 1:32 master batch ratio. I was also out of ABS from OSPrinting and used from pellets that I bought off eBay from carlsievering.  This was the first time I've used the pellets and I don't know much about them but they are white-ish and not natural color so I guess that means they have white pigment already added to them. I think we know what happens when you mix white and red.  What came out of the Filastruder was much more pink than the previous batch of red. It's a kind-of chewed bubble gum color. I didn't time it but I think the Filastruder was also at least a third as fast in extruding them. Its been churning on the 2 cups of pellets for about 26 hours and it probably has several hours left to go. The filament is very flexible and I can bend it in much sharper angles than the OSPrinting filament which seems much more brittle . I wonder how well it's going to print?

• 2 cups ABS Natural from carlsievering

• 3 tsp red master batch (from OSPrinting)

Ralph,

You got it! Just like this:

1 teaspoon to 1 cup is about 50:1. (actually it is 48:1)

Thanks Tim, that is a relief I was picturing all sorts of complicated mixing method to try to get exact ratios.

Ralph