Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Terraforming Mars and 3D Hubs - Part 2 - Materials

I am always looking for an excuse to experiment with different filaments and this project is providing just that chance. The first image shows four different types of tiles done in three different types of filament (green and off white are the same type just different colors).
These two are both Proto Pasta Matte Fiber HTPLA.  They describe it as "A Fiber Composite optimized for finish, performance, and compatibility for architecture, sculpture, industrial and product design, and engineering 3D prints.".  It prints as easily as PLA but has the same textured surface as the Colorfabb carbon fiber filament (which I really like).  I added both the green and the off-white to my inventory in hopes that I might be able to do some architectural work that required the green (and besides it made sense for this project).  The off white is probably the better choice as it can be colored post printing.




The green tiles will get printed with the green stuff (obviously)!  The off-white will be used for the tiles that are predominantly surface terrain as I expect the look and feel to be able to take advantage of the filament characteristics.

The challenge will be the mining tile that has both structure and terrain.
The ocean tiles are a complete experiment in that I want to try and take advantage of some clear filament that I have had for a while.  This is T-Glase Clear and it should be about as clear as a 3D Print can be given extrusion lines will always be an issue.







Finally, the tiles that are primarily architectural will be done in a "standard" filament.  I am using some PET as I have been liking it lately from a printer perspective and wanted to see how it takes to being painted.  In the future I would probably be more likely to just us PLA.

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