Is there a resin comparable to Tough 2000, but in black instead of grey?
Hi @Lantech50
Unfortunately Formlabs itself does not sell a “Tough 2000 but black” in and of itself.
There are a couple options though:
- You can get in touch with us and if you fulfill a certain order quantity, we’re very open to make a resin just for you. (This isn’t really an option for most people, but I just wanted to mention this for the full picture).
- Print in Tough 1500 V2 on a Form 4 Series printer. This is not black, but much darker and you’ll likely need to scale up wall thicknesses to make the parts as stiff as Tough 2000 parts.
- Paint or dye the parts after the fact. You can find our ultimate guide for this following this link.
- You can get an Open Material Licence and look for a third party material with similar mechanical properties and the correct colour.
- Not officially endorsed or recommended: You could add dyes to your resin, I have had conversations with one of our customers in the Form 2 days who added soot to their resin to darken them. Number 4 carries a good increase in failure rate and if yomething goes very wrong this will not be covered by warranty, same as 1. I just wanted to list this for completion
These are the most common options you generally have, maybe someone else here on the forum can add something as well. I myself have dabbled in number 5 quite a bit in my time here at Formlabs but I fully acknowledge that I have the advantage of not paying for resins and/or tanks in case I do mess up one of those.
Kind regards
Jakob
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Hello @Lantech50
we use black ESD resin and are very satisfied with it. It is very durable, tough, and well suited for post-processing. Maybe it’s something for you.
I’ve come up with a dyeing solution for Tough 2000, at least for black, that works well. I am using RIT fabric dye with vinegar and heating the solution to just under boiling temperature. The parts remain in the dye for several hours.
Below are some links to a couple photos showing parts I worked over. One of the pics show a dyed part atop a larger Tough 2000 part, to show the color difference achieved. My dye solution was not quantified in any real way so feel free to experiment.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jmzrq3zzxzilMCTBSFuKT53qZV5bQC23/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OcUCyIQs4w0UWQutrD1joUT0rsk480Nc/view?usp=drive_link
Before I dyed my parts, I bead blasted them at 40psi to remove the “glaze” and open up the surface to accept the dye. I do not know if this is a necessary step, but I keep telling myself that it makes a difference so I do it every time. I also bead blast the parts after dying as well. This was first done tell if the color was fixed – so far so good. The links to the photos show parts that I bead blaster afterwards. This was done at 40psi as well.
To prepare the bath I used one 8oz. bottle of liquid RIT “all purpose” fabric dye. To it I added about 12oz. of distilled white vinegar and around 20oz. of tap water, enough to bring the level up high enough to cover my parts in the pan. I let the pieces stew in this solution at a temperature of around 200°F for a good three hours. Let them cool to room temp in the dye before removing them for cleaning.
- Edit: I think I was actually using at least twice the amount of vinegar
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Thanks for sharing I’ve also been interested in this. Do you find the parts warp? 100C is well over the HDT for tough 2000
I did not see any significant change in part dimensions or flatness. The solution must be hot to work but I have not explored the temperature threshold. I gather the cooler the dye is, the longer it will take? You could stick to the 60°C curing temp for Tough 2000, that might be the prudent thing to do.
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I’ve heard from friends who have tried that it was problematic for some parts and that they wouldn’t dye at lower temperatures. I have some on hand that I’ve been meaning to try though so I guess I’ll find out eventually. Thanks for sharing your results though!
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I’ve just bought some UV cure ink, in black to try. It goes on easy and covers in a single pass of a foam applicator. You could probably submerge a part in the ink and let it drip dry before curing.
To cure, I put it into a FormCURE with the tough 2000 settings. Halfway through I flipped the part over to ensure good UV exposure. As with my dyed parts, I bead blasted the parts after curing to see how well the ink bonds. Like the dye, I could bead blast it at 40psi with no visible degradation to the color or texture. The color is not quite as black as a part going through the dye process but look quite well. I am going to try 2 coats of ink and see if I can darken the shade.
This process is much easier and less messy than the dyeing procedure, plus you do not need the high heat. I think I will use it going forward. Below is an image of my inked part up against an older, discolored Tough 2000 part.
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we use Rit Proline run them in our Girbau DY130 Dye Machine around 200F for a full cycle or our Dye pot which is home made at the same temperature for 30 to 60 minutes and had great success dying all Formlab materials and the Tough 2000 has been sitting outside in Michigan Weather for over 6 months with no change to the color. Also Loctite IND249 is a great similar to Tough 200 and is black.
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Part look great, nice and dark. I’ve found 180°F for an hour does do the job. I did not know RIT had a pro line product, I need to check it out.
What are you using the Loctite IND249 in?
form 4
The Part in the picture is IND 249 FYI