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This project started
out as an experiment and was never intended to result in a useful
item. I was learning the shell command in Solid Works and came
up with this hollowed out oval disk, which looked just like -
A soap dish! So it became so. Now this was printed with the CCE
Gold filament, and what a wild ride that was! Let me explain.
Plenty of online research
revealed there was plenty of boasting as to who had the most
shiny gold-like PLA filament in the world. We tried one popular
brand, which looked like shiny yellow plastic - Not gold metal.
The balance of gold greatness seemed to lean strongly toward
a Chinese brand called CCE. Reviews indicated they WERE the goldest
gold around. But, it was difficult to work with and took lots
of experimentation to get it to print right. So we ordered a
roll from Amazon and the rough climb to the peak began. This
thermoplastic is very brittle, foams up 3-4x when extruded to
a puffed up mess, and leaves artifacts all over! We have printed
it up numerous times now and probably have it as good as it can
be.
So does it look like
gold metal? Maybe brushed gold. Still, it was (most of the time)
fun to experiment with and we will show you here some of the
other things we printed up with this amusing filament.
Click on thumbnails
below for larger view:
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CAD
design in Solid Works. Experimenting with the "shell"
command I came up with this shape. Took a few hours to print,
but it actually worked great. |
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Solid
Works Visualize rendering in solid gold. Is this really
how the final print would look? |
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Final
3D print with CCE gold filament. It now occupies a prestigious
place in the downstairs bathroom. |
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A
few other prints with the CCE gold PLA filament. At left is a
shaving handle holder shaped like a star, and two sizes of telescope
dust caps. |
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