coloring PLA with alcohol inks

Hi,
I have been experimenting with methods to color PLA filament prior to printing. Besides the usual Sharpie marker method, I have had good results with Adirondack Alcohol Inks. These inks are sold at JoAnn's (maybe also at other craft stores), and are intended for slick surfaces. The inks come in small bottles with a small applicator tip. Just squeeze ink onto a short length of plastic and use a small (cheap) brush to spread an even coat of ink. The ink dries very quickly. The colors show up very well on natural PLA, see attached photo (I am still trying to figure out good print settings, so please ignore any extra strands and loops).

Enjoy,

Sharon

... excellent, and really nice

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Viktor
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So let me get this straight - you're coloring the filament *before* sending it through the extruder?

How does the color afterward compare to the color before? Can you provide some pics of the 'before' vs. 'after'?

Great work!

Yes, I am coloring the filament before I extrude it. I painted the alcohol ink onto natural or white PLA from Ultimachine. The colors mostly stay on the filament, but you can rub some off it you try. The colors certainly change after being extruded. Natural/clear PLA shows more color, while the whit turns the colors lighter.

I ran a few tests and was surprised that some colors do not survive the extrusion process - fading to almost nothing.

From upper left - "stream" ink works well on clear PLA, but fades badly on white
"wild plum" is very pink on clear PLA (wheel gear) and turns bubblegum pink on white.
"cranberry" keeps it color on clear PLA - I haven't printed anything with it on white PLA
"lettuce" keeps color on clear and fades a lot on white (and looks awful IMHO)
"butterscotch" keeps it's color for white (and clear, see my last photo in first post)

I used a single layer of ink, maybe a second layer could improve color. Coloring white PLA gives an interesting streaked effect - some lines lighter and some lighter.
The colors seem permanent after they are extruded - they don't rub off.

Sharon

Hey Sharon

Have you done any strength tests?

I would imagine tension tests would be more applicable than compression tests in this case.

Just wondering if the ink decreases the adhesion of the separate layers.

Cheers