Prusa Research has come out with a new filament, and it’s not just any filament. It’s claimed to be the brightest on the market. I bought a sample and tried it out. You need to prepare your printer – a textured or satin bed, a hardened nozzle, but the result is fantastic. It glows for hours after being charged.
The claim that a particular filament glows the most is something you will see from almost every seller/manufacturer of filament. Of course, this is also promised by the manufacturer of 3D printers and filament, Prusa Research, so I purchased a sample for testing and gave it a try.
This is my third filament that promises high brightness; how did Prusament PETG Ultraglow Green perform?
Author’s note: the rating of “how bright it glows” is very subjective – I have no way to measure brightness and I don’t have any competing filaments that promise the same with me. One I used up, the other is lying with someone else 😀
Preparing the Printer
Printing with the glowing filament Prusament PETG Ultraglow Green is fun if you prepare your printer for it. And when I say “prepare,” I mean it seriously.
- A hardened nozzle is essential; the material is highly abrasive and can reliably destroy a standard nozzle in no time.
- A recommended nozzle (hardened) with a diameter of 0.6mm is advised, and not a high-flow nozzle (0.4 clogs easily).
- A textured or satin bed is necessary, as it is PETG.
- Increased wear on parts – the highly abrasive material that glows a lot, really a lot, tends to wear out PTFE tubes or hardened parts more quickly.
First and Only Print
25g of sample isn’t much, but what to print to achieve the desired effect in a 3D print?
When selecting a suitable model, it’s important to remember that the area is important, not the volume. The area creates that wow effect.
Quick tips:
- vase mode or 1-2 perimeters (better a thin area than a thick block)
- The lower the wall thickness, the brighter but shorter the glow lasts.
- The greater the wall thickness, the less it glows, but it lasts longer.
- The best sources for charging are direct sunlight, UV LEDs, or cool white light.
I chose a vase model and printed it in vase mode. That is, one perimeter with a 0.6mm nozzle and a 0.25 STRUCTURAL profile on the Core One printer.
Suitable Model for Testing
I selected this model from https://www.printables.com/, printed it in vase mode, and also adjusted the dimensions so that the opening had a diameter of 19mm, as that was exactly the size of the ampule for flowers that I wanted to insert.
I used 19g of filament from the 25g sample.
I was very surprised by the very low shrinkage and high durability of the filament. The ampule fit, and the vase survived a fall to the ground. Several falls from children’s hands 😀
How Bright Is It?
And we arrive at the point that is hard to compare when you don’t have measuring equipment – so here is my very subjective evaluation.
Subjectively, it really is the brightest filament I have ever held. Competing filaments required a long time to charge, and even then, they only glowed for a few tens of minutes.
This is how it glows after printing and unpacking the sample from the envelope.
This glowed for another 6 hours after charging. Taken from two meters in the dark. It was clearly glowing to the naked eye, and the glow of the vase was captured even by the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion phone (from 2m).
And after 12 hours, it still glows. Very faintly, but it glows. Taken in the dark from 30 cm with the same phone.
I did not dry the filament. I simply took it as it was and went to print. However, the product page recommends drying the filament, especially for multi-color prints.
I selected the print profile 0.25 STRUCTURAL for a 0.6mm nozzle (hardened, not high-flow), Prusament PETG.
The filament strung quite a bit during printing, so I recommend drying it 🙂
