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Two color text can be printed on any any printer that supports filament switching, but this results in either raised text or \u201ccut out\u201d text. This is still a very useful approach to 3D printing text, but what if you want text on a smooth flat surface, and you do not have a multi-material printer?

This print shows a method for printing text (via filament switching) that results in a flat smooth top surface. The basics of the method are quite simple :

Print \u201ccut out\u201d text in two colors using filament switching.
Print a transparent \u201ccover\u201d on top of the \u201ccut out text\u201d surface.

It is simple enough to make a CAD design with this structure - simply create the cut-out text, and then add a solid cover on top. I found that making the \u201ccover\u201d two print layers thick works best. When the transparent filament prints the \u201ccover,\u201d it simply bridges over the cut-out text. This actually results in \u201chollow\u201d text, but this is not evident from looking at the finished print. Adding ironing to the top surface results in a very smooth and transparent cover.

I should note that the final print is not, strictly speaking, perfectly smooth. There is actually a very minor \u201cbulge\u201d (see photos; it is only visible when viewed from an extreme angle) above each text letter. My guess is that this bulge results from the hollow text ballooning a bit as the layers are heated.

Note also, that with the proper choice of filament color, the text that results from this process can also be back-lighted (see photos).

Print Instructions

Print in PETG using the 3mf files provided, otherwise :

0.2mm layer height
0% rectilinear infill
bottom two layers = text color (I used yellow)
middle three layers = background (I used black)
top two layers = transparent filament; use ironing for the topmost layer

CAD

The OnShape 3D CAD files for this are here :

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0ef27c78961c259975e8cd6b/w/65c2bc6823925f91c61c0b88/e/4b361179f3ba195ce5e564e8?renderMode=0&uiState=664fde1796ede356fd20a8a2

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