Transparant CMY Combinations Framed

Testing how transparant Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (or similar) filament combinations turn out by stacking two of them on top of each other. All 9 combinations are made in a frame which means that there are redundant combinations. However for these combinations the top-bottom order differs and, depending on the light, still look a bit different.

How to create a similar model (optional)

• Create a frame with holes for 9 cylinders and extrude it 1.6 mm.
• Fill the holes by creating 9 circles and extrude them 0.8 mm to cylinders. Make sure that they completely fill the hole but do not join with the frame into one object. They must be separate objects.
• Repeat this step but now at 0.8 mm height e.g. on top of the first set of cylinders.
   

In total there should be 19 individual objects without any gaps.

PrusaSlicer

Prepare the model

Load the model or a similar one and split to parts:

• Right Click on the object and select Split -> To Parts

You will get a list of 19 parts: 1 frame (1.6 mm) and 18 cylinders (0.8 mm) forming 9 stacks of 2 cylinders.

Define the layers

In order to get a solid print the following settings are relevant:
In the Print Settings tab \ Layers and perimeters set:

• Layer height: 0.2 mm
• First layer height: 0.2 mm

In the Print Settings tab \ Horizontal shells set:

• Solid layers: Top: 4 Bottom: 4. Both should be at least 4 in order to amount to a height of: 8 x 0.2 = 1.6 mm.

Also, to get a nice Fresnel lens look, in the Print Settings tab \ Infill set:

• Top fill pattern: Archimedean Chords.
• Bottom fill pattern: Archimedean Chords.

Extruders setup

Assign color to the extruders (optional)

In the Printers tab select:

• Extruder 1 and set the Extruder Color: Cyan.
• Extruder 2 and set the Extruder Color: Magenta.
• Extruder 3 and set the Extruder Color: Yellow.
• Extruder 4 and set the Extruder Color: Anthracite Grey (or other).
• Extruder 5 is not used for this print.

Assign extruder to parts

Assign Extruder numbers to each part so that you get the top and bottom color patterns as shown in the PrusaSlicer pictures. Use the whipe tower as a reference and see the difference between the orientation of the top and bottom color patterns.

• Right click on the Extruder column for each part in the parts tree and change to the required extruder number.

Required filament

To represent CMY I have used the following transparent filament of mixed brands (intentionally left out the brand names):

• Cyan: PETG - Blue Translucent
• Magenta: PETG - Transparant Violet
• Yellow: PETG - Yellow Translucent

Remarks

• The type of filament is not relevant as long as all are of the same type.
• For the frame any other color will do.

Make sure to load the spools in the respective order of the extruders e.g. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Anthracite Grey (or other).