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Why You Should Purchase Ascent Special Type Filament for Channel Letter 3D Printing

Dov "Dave" Rom, President and Chief Engineer of Ascent Equipment
By Dov "Dave" Rom, President & Chief Engineer
Published May 12, 2022

Differences between the standard filament and special channel letter filament

1. Light Transmission

Channel letter filaments have two kinds of transmittance: Lightproof and Semi-transparent. In many cases, you will need a lighttight letter wall — here we take white color filament as an example:

Solid color filament — light leaks through, makes the letter wired
This is the solid color filament. It cannot be entirely opaque to light, which makes the letter wired.
Special channel letter filament — completely tight to light
Special channel letter filament can be completely tight to light.
Normal filament — not enough transparency for 50% transparence
Normal filament doesn't have enough transparency when you want 50% transparence.
Semi-transparent special channel letter filament — even and soft light
Semi-transparent special channel letter filament will give you exceptional even and soft light.

2. Pigment Leaching

If you use liquid acrylic, you need stable color material.

Normal filament — pigment dissolved by liquid acrylic, magenta leak
The development of normal 3D printing filament does not take this into account, so the pigment in the material will be dissolved by liquid acrylic and leach into the liquid acrylic. (Black pigments are magenta when diluted many times.)
Special channel letter filament — pigment will not be dissolved
The pigment in special channel letter filament will not be dissolved.

Differences between our channel letter filament and other channel letter filaments

3. Toughness and assembling

When assembling the LED light or PMMA panels, the material's toughness is a must.

Normal PLA filament — letter breaks when squeezed during PMMA panel install
When you try to squeeze the letter when installing the PMMA panel, the letter 3D printed with normal PLA filament will be broken.
Special channel letter filament — withstands squeezing, even higher toughness than competitors
Special channel letter filament is acceptable for the squeezing. Our channel letter filament has even higher toughness than other filaments on the market — the letter won't break down when it falls on the floor.

4. Low-temperature impact when printing

Normal filament — warps under cold air during printing of large objects
When 3D printing large objects/letters, normal filament will require a very warm and stable temperature environment. If lower-temperature air blows, the object/letter will warp, and 3D printing will fail.
Special channel letter filament — withstands cold air impact, stable printing
Our channel letter filament can withstand cold air impact without warping and ensures stable printing progress.

5. High and long edges do not distort

Normal filament — distorts on long, high edges
When printing tough and high-edge letters (e.g. 12 inches long, 3 inches high), a normal channel letter filament will fail. It makes subsequent installation procedures much harder.
Special channel letter filament — works excellent on large, thick letters without distortion
Our channel letter filament works excellent when printing large and thick letters without distortion.

Low shear force and high fluidity, suitable for high-speed printing

Our channel letter filaments have a low shear force and high fluidity. Those are essential features for high-speed extruding in the print head — a must when using our high-speed channel letter 3D printer.

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