White PLA for architecture  

RE: White PLA for architecture

Overture brand: White PLA available on Amazon.

it's white.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Depending on where you live, I use 3DKordo most of the time right now. Good price, good printing quality for my needs and they have White too

https://3dkordo.pl/filament-everfil-pla/

I am from Austria so ordering from https://www.3dprintek.at/ but just have a look around, I am sure you find a reseller.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Overture white and Hatchbox True White are both very white with an adequate amount of pure white pigment and are very similar.

Solutech white uses less pigment, and therefore is somewhat translucent.

RE: White PLA for architecture

White can be difficult to print, but that varies a lot by brand. There are some "artistic" filaments meant specifically for architectural and similar aesthetic prints. add:north's Textura series is one example. It's a bit pricey ($37/spool + S&H) but possibly worth it for your needs. I've got a couple of spools but haven't tried them out yet. Note that they recommend a larger nozzle.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Also, white comes in a lot of varieties believe it or not!  Vanilla White is as you say a yellowish white, then there is signal white, traffic white, off white, cool white, pearl white, etc.  Even Natural is sometimes referred to as Natural White.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Posted by: @bobstro

White can be difficult to print, but that varies a lot by brand.

I really don't understand this.  It was maybe a week ago that I heard the first 'white is hard to print' comment, and it was here.  I have yet to see this anywhere else.  I've printed a lot of colors, and I've printed a lot of white, and I would swear that no color, by virtue of color alone, is more difficult to use.  I would agree that some brands are not as easy to work with, and, of course, some materials are tricky, but really, it's just one colorant or another added to the base material.

The only white I've been disappointed with, as I've said, it Solutech, and I've found several of their filaments to appear to use less pigment than other brands, but it lays down and prints just the same as any of the other PLAs.

Posted by: @3delight

Also, white comes in a lot of varieties believe it or not!  Vanilla White is as you say a yellowish white, then there is signal white, traffic white, off white, cool white, pearl white, etc.  Even Natural is sometimes referred to as Natural White.

Sky Blue White, maybe? 🙂

RE: White PLA for architecture

@jsw

Here on this forum was the first time I've ever seen anyone bring the subject up, but I have experienced it plenty, to the point that I'm apprehensive when ordering unknown white filaments. I now only order them through prime, and if they are an issue I return them. I'll mention also that this wasn't an idea that was put in my head, I had no prior information to suggest that there should or could be an issue with white filaments, I learned it from experience.

Since were talking about this, What about PETG? it as supposed to be a wonder material with the best of both worlds, mechanical properties of ABS with the printability of PLA, and it turns out it's true what a noble member here once said, and I quote, "PETG can't take a joke" no truer words have ever been posted, and I learned that through experience too before I saw it here.

RE: White PLA for architecture

'PETg is the new PLA' is the line I've heard, meaning it's supposed to be a better go-to filament for routine jobs.

I agree and disagree with that. It's a good general purpose filament for a lot of jobs and has higher temperature tolerance than does PLA.

I've found it to be more oozy than PLA and not as good for fine detail work, as in the gear example I mentioned in another thread.

My experience is that PETg sticks to the sheets better than PLA, and many times too well, such that I almost always use a release agent when printing with it.

I've also found PETg to appear to be more flexible than PLA, as when bending the steel sheet to pop off the print, the print itself tends to bend with the sheet more than does PLA.

PETg also has more of a shiny finish than the more of a matte finish of PLA or ABS.

The photo below is of the gears I mentioned, which are about 20mm in diameter.  These were done with PLA, and I did a test print of one with PETg and the detail of the gear teeth was not as clean as on the PLA print.

RE: White PLA for architecture

I agree with the goods and bads you listed about PETG, for me there is one or two other properties of PETG that makes it not a very good choice for my purposes, it shatters on impact and it's abrasion resistance isn't that wonderful. about 3 years ago when we started testing to see how viable lower end printers (compared to Stratasys & Formlabs) would be in our product development efforts, we tested identical parts made of ABS,PETG, and PLA all printed on an MK3, at that time based on what we had read and heard PETG was (before testing) the clear winner, and we expected that it would out preform ABS and PLA, it broke, on the first impact, at the lowest level of our testing. ABS and PLA survived. so we tried other brands, and found that some PETG had better impact resistance then others but all failed to compete with PLA and ABS from that standpoint. that's been a deal killer for work, we stick with ABS, PLA, and now ASA for lower end rapid testing and step up to higher end products when we really need strength.

At home I do sometimes use PETG for certain items piggy banks for the youngins and hat hooks and such, it has it's place, but it's not what it was touted to be. but its difficult to find information about this anywhere. I had to laugh when I watched the kid at Matterhackers testing PLA and PETG, he was on video, and while his testing wasn't scientific he had the same surprised look on his face as he achieved the exact same results we did. it was the complete opposite of what he had read and been told. Then again on CNC kitchen, Stephan had a similar experience and was asking if anyone knew why, could they please tell him. We finally decided it must be the glycol, but I don't think that was confirmed.

RE: White PLA for architecture

I've nearly finished a roll of Extrafill Traffic White which I bought when I first got my printer and didn't have any problems with it.  I've just bought another for continuity of colour as I'm going to be printing lots of small parts and I thought I might as well get the same so I can finish off the first roll.

I hope there aren't bad batches and the second roll is the same as the first.  I just used the standard Slicer settings and achieved the same results as with the Galaxy but admittedly I've mostly used the white for larger parts so will have to see how I get on with the small ones.

As a side note, if you're taking your PLA models to clients don't leave them in a car in hot weather for long periods of time incase of deformity.  I've recently been making toolbox inserts with PETG as I will be leaving it in a car and don't want the trouble of potentially having to reprint them.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Posted by: @lize

As a side note, if you're taking your PLA models to clients don't leave them in a car in hot weather for long periods of time incase of deformity.  I've recently been making toolbox inserts with PETG as I will be leaving it in a car and don't want the trouble of potentially having to reprint them.

I've heard tales of PLA kitchen gadgets getting deformed in a dishwasher, as well as when using very hot tap water to remove soluble supports.

RE: White PLA for architecture

Thank you very much for all the replies! I appreciate your attention. 

Does anyone has any clue why is there no white Prusament? There must be a reason. The market for white PLA is huge and for me, it really seems like its the basics of any color range of products (sorry, that´s because Im an architect) 🤣 

RE: White PLA for architecture

The current eshop shows Vanilla White Prusament, but out of stock at the time.  There's a 'Traffic White' they sell, but not of the Prusament brand.

RE: White PLA for architecture

@filipp-obada

If your willing to print with ASA prusament Signal White is reasonably white and opaque, it prints very well in my experience.

I don't have any idea why they aren't Making that color in PLA, could be they found it didn't print well enough, or that they just haven't gotten around to it yet. they do have a very limited selection of colors and it's possible they figure there are so many other white filaments out there that they should focus on other colors or material types. your guess is as good as anyone, you had some good suggestions made here to help you start looking, as you find good filaments come back and point them out for others to glean good information.

 Engineers seem to like Gray and Silver-ish colors, overall its easier to see details, but when you have an office full of that one color or all dull colors it can be hard to tell one part from another. on the computer screen I prefer a white with ambient occlusion applied for seeing good detail, but that's hard to get in the office under real world lighting, since we adopted the use of some lower end printers in the office we have been seeing a change in the amount of colors on peoples desks, its kinda nice

Good Luck

Swiss_Cheese