I printed a single-wall structure with Z-Glass using 390µ layers (0.5mm wall thickness, mesh mode), then coated it on both sides with XTC-3D per this article:
The increase in clarity is amazing, but it's still not truly clear - you can read through it easily at a distance of up to 25mm or so, but not much more. Still, for my purposes it was enough. The print in the photo only has one coat of XTC-3D, but a second coat did not seem to improve it very much. I was not too careful in my application of the coating, and I didn't do the spin thing described on the Taulman site.
This will only work with a single-wall print, since any infill will prevent direct passage of optical rays. Also, there is no way it is extremely difficult/impossible for the raft or horizontal support can to be removed from a single-wall surface without destroying it.
Voudas's test made the layers almost completely invisible; it looked like only issue with his was the slop... erm... hasty application. (Just teasing Voudas :P ). I wonder what you two did differently?
Edit: I just realized that the 'layers' I was referring to in your test were actually most likely brush lines. I think that the spin application is what made the difference with Taulman's test.
Oh, I somehow missed seeing Voudas' experiment. I think our results are quite similar in clarity and the differences mostly due to photography; it looks like he used more coating than I did since XTC strongly recommends thin coats. Also I used 390µ layers which I think theoretically should improve clarity vs thinner layers due to less refraction, but I could be wrong about that.
If you look at the figure labeled "Variance in light ray path..." in the Taulman article it seems to imply that it's fine to use thin layers when using the coating. Probably worth a test at least.
i think wet sanding the part first with 400 grit would help.
Z-ABS profile
390µ layer thickness
High speed
"Mesh" infill
Normal seam
Auto fan
Extrusion temperature 250ºC
Sanding before coating might reduce the amount of coating required, since the process works by filling in the gaps between the round layer edges to form a flat surface. Then again, I'm not sure it would really be worth the effort of sanding, because two or three coats should fill those gaps in any case. Ultimate clarity will then depend on the flatness of the surface of the coating, which is where the spin process comes in I guess.
