SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Question about coloring filament

Re: Question about coloring filament

2014-11-30T19:49:16Z

Thanks for the info. It sounds like something I might experiment with (on a small scale) when I get my printer.

Re: Question about coloring filament

2014-11-30T15:54:03Z

mwille wrote:

Would it even give a consistent or desired color in the finished print, or not fade/wash away?
Would the ink damage the hotend or cause problems with the extrusion?
Would it leave behind too much residue that would continue to add color for too long?
Has anyone tried something like this?

I have messed around with this a few times and had some interesting results.
Now that I have a bit more time, I can answer a couple questions:
A1: It would be fairly consistent, but it would depend on what type/color filament vs what color marker you use for this. Just remember that once the combination of filament+colorant enter the hotend, you have lost all control of the mixture, so it can be tricky to get a more controlled effect.
A2: It is possible to get a partial clog. While swapping nozzles shortly after my experiments, I found some residue that resembled a powered soot. This was some ink left over, and I did have a slight clog. With an all metal hotend like an E3D, it was very simple to clear it out and I was back up and printing in minutes.
A3: When using a black marker on red and orange filament, I noticed black or at least a darker hue of the filament's color for about 150mm after the last section of colored filament went in. But this can give a pretty cool result if you are patient and don't over color.

I would not recommend using this technique for an entire roll of filament, but if you just want to add a few color features that only a dual extruder can create, then this can be a fun experiment. If I can ever get my imgur app to work, I will share a print I did with this approach.

Re: Question about coloring filament

2014-11-30T14:39:00Z

AZERATE wrote:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42056 for dual markers
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5570 for single marker

Thank you!

Re: Question about coloring filament

2014-11-30T05:26:23Z

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42056 for dual markers

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5570 for single marker

Re: Question about coloring filament

2014-11-30T04:27:54Z

Do some searching and you'll find that this has already been done. I think the holder is for the marker is on Thingiverse.

Question about coloring filament

2014-11-29T21:08:49Z

I'm a newbie & don't even have my first printer yet (SD Press), but I've been reading a lot on here. I do understand how colored filament is made, by using special color pellets while extruding it. But I got a crazy idea while reading this thread: http://www.soliforum.com/topic/8499/acrylic/. The 3rd picture shows what happened when the filament got marks on it from a sharpie. Would it be possible to use white/clear filament & purposely mark it to add color for printing? If so, I'm thinking we could design a holder for a wide tip marker that the filament could go by/through sometime before entering the extruder.

Would it even give a consistent or desired color in the finished print, or not fade/wash away?
Would the ink damage the hotend or cause problems with the extrusion?
Would it leave behind too much residue that would continue to add color for too long?

Has anyone tried something like this?