G1 thread extender

Ah, the summer… When everybody and everything slows down, wisely, to a much calmer pace. With the current temperatures we see the need to take extra care of our lawns as well. And we wouldn’t be colorFabb if 3D printing couldn’t be fit in there somewhere. One of our engineers needed a G1 thread extender for his garden watering system and designed one himself:

Design by Jos Deelen, Team colorFabb

The thread extender was printed on the Ultimaker 3, using a 0.12mm layer height, 3 perimeters and 95% infill. The material of choice is our very first copolyester colorFabb_XT. The color for this print is Light Green – grassy and fresh.

We launched colorFabb_XT almost 4 years ago at the London 3D Print Show together with Eastman Chemical Company. Eastman is our material partner for co-polyesters. colorFabb_XT is made with Amphora AM1800 and has a unique formulation for 3D Printing that features excellent properties: High strength and very high toughness, odor neutral processing, high Tg / improved temperature resistance, styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It will allow the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way and is ideally suited for prints like the thread extender.

colorFabb_XT is available in 14 colors, including clear.

Our range of Amphora based co-polyesters are perfectly suited for a project like this. In 2014 colorFabb teamed up with Eastman Chemical Company to develop unique grades of co-polyesters suited for 3D printing. Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer are a low-odor, styrene-free choice that is uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

So far we have launched four grades, starting with colorFabb_XT in 2014. Late 2015 we follow this up with nGen, our next Generation general purpose filament and a drop in replacement for PLA. A wide processing window and perfect reliability make this filament a very popular one in our portfolio.

A little over a year ago we followed that up with colorFabb_HT, a high-temperature resistant filament that allows for functional engineering projects that need lasting parts. colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology.

At last year’s TCT Show in Birmingham we introduced nGen_FLEX to the market, a flexible filament with a Shora A hardness of 95 allowing for functional and flexible parts to be printed.

More information can be found in the blog we wrote about co-polyesters last summer.

The Prudence Project

Whenever people think about 3D printing, they mostly think about desktop 3D printing. Mostly. With the Stacker, Blackbelt and other large printers the world is slowly opening up to larger size prints. But sometimes we come across a print that is just huge. Think: Almost 2 meters huge. Enter The Prudence Project by Mikrotvornica from Zagreb, Croatia, made with colorFabb PLA Economy.

 

 The full sized print (190cm), human for scale

Prudence is a sculpture produced for contemporary artist Abigail O’Brien from Dublin, Ireland. “Last November, the RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy)  presented Abigail O’Brien RHA, Prudence and the Game of Golf in the RHA Ashford Gallery, a photographic, sculpture and sound installation. Having completed Fortitude, The Collector, 2005 and Temperance, Oatfield Sweet Factory, 2009, Prudence is the third body of work in O’Briens series, The Temporal (Cardinal) Virtues, which are Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Justice.”  

Says Marko Salopek of Mikrotvornica: “After the initial contact with Abigail and acceptance of our offer we started with the work. The request was to 3D print sculpture of a female golfer with total height of 190 cm. The STL file we were given was great but since it was produced from 3D scan there were some parts of the model that needed to be repaired and removed to give her that desired look Abigail requested. After we completed 3D model repair, we decided to build our own semi-large size 3D printer to help us 3D print this sculpture. Nikola was an architect in constructing our custom made 3D printer (400x400x350 mm – CoreXY build). Big digital 3D model was cut into 21 pieces at the most optimal places for easiest 3D printing avoiding any support. Also each individual part was optimized for easy assembly and gluing. They were sliced and 3D printed on our Modax3D Core 400 3D printer using exclusively colorFabb material.”

Test models

With PLA Economy Marko, a long-time user of colorFabb filaments, had found a great material that has proven to be very reliable with large print jobs. He continues: “To finish the physical model we used high gloss surface finish as requested by our client. Several layers of syringe putty was applied to remove any imperfections and layers in 3D print and of course lots of hand sanding after every layer. Later on we applied primer paint and finally high gloss paint varnish for the final look.”

 

So far they have made 3 large sculptures of Prudence and total of 15 small (30 cm in height) versions. Below is a short summary of the Prudence in numbers:

  • 21 individual parts glued together
  • total of 17.526 grams of colorFabb PLA was used (in our version 3)
  • total of 453 hours print time (in our version 3)
  • variable layer heights from 120 microns to 300 microns depending on the part of the sculpture and the version of the sculpture (big or small).

Glueing the parts together

About Mikrotvornica

Mikrotvornica is a young startup company founded in Zagreb, Croatia by Nikola Blažević and Marko Salopek. Interesting thing is that Prudence project was a main reason they started Mikrotvornica. Before the project, both of them were working on their own individual ventures in 3D printing. Working on the Prudence project made them realize they worked very well together and decided to join forces.

Now, almost a year later, they have grown into young startup with strong foundations and great potential for growth. In Croatia we started local brand named 3DPrintaj. Under that name they bring everything 3D printing related to the local market. From 3D printing services to 3D modeling, 3D printer and material shop as well as education (as elsewhere in the world, educational sector for 3D printing is growing fast in Croatia).

Regarding their international efforts, Prudence remains our biggest project so far. With that project Marko and Nikola realized there is great opportunity in 3D printing art. That is why they are now actively looking for agents across Europe to connect us with artists who are willing to work with us on their art projects. Interested? Contect them here.

Being painted

About PLA Economy

It makes sense they chose PLA Economy for their project. It is a highly popular filament used for bulk projects by many of our users… and ourselves.

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November of 2016. Initially we released four colors: white, red, black and silver. Recently added the always popular Dark Blue, which is similar to our very own Ultra Marine Blue that we offer in our portfolio of PLA/PHA filaments.

PLA Economy offers a great value for your money. One spool consists of 2.2kg of filament for a dirt cheap price of a little over € 35 (ex VAT and shipping). It is a different grade than our range of PLA/PHA, but we guarantee the same colorFabb quality. Our filaments are readily available from our webshop. You can use the standard PLA settings if your printer has these pre-defined and these should work fine.

You can also opt for the PLA Economy Value Pack: order four spools as a value pack and receive an immediate 10% discount!

Buy PLA Economy                                      Buy PLA Economy Value Pack

PLA Economy is very well suited for the maker who needs quality at an affordable price. It is a perfect filament for large volume and small series production, made with the guaranteed colorFabb quality that we are known for.

 

Plantygon

Let’s go green today. For today’s print we have chosen the great Plantygon design by Sam Welch, aka printfutura. This excellent design is a modular geometric stacking planter and based on the truncated octohedron which can tesselate in 3D space. This allows each planter to stack together in any combination that you’d like!

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2448911

Each planter has a sloped inner drain leading to holes which drain into the neighboring planters. A version without drainage holes is also available for indoor use. You should definitely check out printfutura’s Instagram and Etsy pages:

Etsy Shop – https://www.etsy.com/shop/PrintFutura
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/printfutura/

We printed these Plantygons with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2 layer height at 40mm/s on the Ultimaker 2. The nozzle temp was 215C and the bed temp 55C. We used support touching buildplate only.

And why the RAL color charts next to the prints you may ask? Valid question. The colors we printed in are the ones we released two weeks ago with our brand new Color on Demand service:

 

With Color on Demand you can request a RAL reference which will be matched in PLA by colorFabb’s team. With an MOQ of 2kg, the threshold is lower than ever for 3D printing users to create with their very own color!

The idea of Color on Demand goes back to the essence of why colorFabb was started. Back in 2012 founder and current CEO Ruud Rouleaux had the idea to produce a filament tailor-made for the end user. He says, “Back in the early days producing custom colors presented us with high additional costs and inefficient production issues, eventually leading to a more general portfolio of standard colors.”

In June we launched this new service where we can produce custom made colors in a more efficient way.

 

How does it work?

A special section has been created in our webshop. You can go there directly by clicking here. We have already matched a lot of colors:

The colors above can be ordered immediately and you can order these like any other product in our webshop. The catch? We don’t stock it. All products in Color on Demand are made to order.

If a color has not been matched by us already, you can choose a RAL color (click here) or request a custom color (click here).

The team of specialists at colorFabb then go to work to start matching this color request. You can opt to receive an injected molded plaque to verify the color first, before the spool is produced. This is optional.

Expected lead times are:

All Color on Demand spools are produced on XL spools, containing 2kg of filament in your prefered color. It does not stop there. At the same time Color on Demand is being offered for granulates as an extra supply option besides filament.

Important: If you order a Color on Demand spool, as well as regular stocked products, we will ship these together as one shipment.

How is color matching being done?

Check our disclaimer! We use the RAL Classic references as our guide. All filaments produced are optically checked by our specialized production and QA team. You can order an injected molded plaque before commiting to order a full spool. Please check in the webshop!

Please be aware that we use the actual RAL reference. Colors on a computer screen, printed images and promotional art can give a misrepresentation of the actual color. Injection molded color plaques can be ordered for a quality check before ordering a full spool.

If the color is then accepted production is started on the custom made spool, which is a single spool containing 2kg (MOQ) of PLA in either 1.75mm or 2.85mm – or more spools, of course. Whenever a color has been matched, it will be added to the colorFabb website for future references.

It does not stop there. At the same time Color on Demand is being offered for granulates as an extra supply option besides filament.

Pricing is as low as € 75 (ex VAT / shipping) for a 2kg spool of custom made filament, with tier pricing available: 10% discount when 4 spools are purchased, 20% when 10 spools are purchased.

 

Color on Demand is a first new step into the direction of customization of filaments for the end users. Starting with PLA and RAL, the possibilities to expand to other materials and color references are plenty and will be implemented at a later stage.

Basically, color on demand will enable the maker / 3D Printer user to pinpoint specific projects and claim a different position in the supply chain with exactly that color that is requested.

Users can send requests to colorFabb or visit our website:

Questions? Check the FAQ section we made first. Or contact us through sales@colorfabb.com

The Olsson Ruby nozzle

Recently we announced the winners of our Design Challenge. The idea was to send us functional designs that we would print with PA-CF Low Warp, our engineering grade and nylon based filament. The PA-CF Low Warp is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. PA-CF Low Warp excels in tensile and impact strength and allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient mechanical properties.

A special point of attention is the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers. In general these fibers will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than unfilled filaments. ColorFabb recommends to using wear resistant nozzles, such as the Olsson Ruby nozzle.

Last week, Swedish 3D specialist 3DVerkstan – our distributor in the Nordic countries contacted us. They were more than happy to provide the five winners of the challenge with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle, which would be added to the the 2 spools of PA-CF Low Warp they were already getting.

The Olsson Ruby nozzles

A fantastic gift and a very useful one as well. The winners, who were contacted about this, were very grateful and they can expect the nozzles with them soon. Thank you, 3DVerkstkan for providing these nozzles!

In a world where 3D printing users require more functional and exotic filaments, we try to keep up with the demands. Although we aim to make sure our filaments work on as many printers as possible, we know that not all materials are a good fit for every printer. Abrasive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, XT-CF20, steelFill and to a lesser extent glowFill wear out the standard brass nozzles too fast.

In the words of Daniel Ljungstig, CEO of 3DVerkstan: “The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. He designed it to be able to print extremely hard materials for scientific research at Uppsala University in Sweden.”

We have seen quite some benefits over the regular brass nozzles that are the current industry standard: The ruby nozzle retains the excellent heat conducting properties of brass, while being extremely resistant to wear. This means that you can print your standard materials as usual, but also very abrasive materials such as PA-CF Low Warp, XT-CF20 and steelFill. Daniel Ljungstig adds: “In addition to this, many of our test users have reported an improved surface quality compared to standard nozzles.” 

The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. You can visit the website here.

It is a well established fact by now that our new PA-CF Low Warp filament is all about functionality. We developed this filament with only one goal: to make sure a lot of users have the ability to print high quality printed parts. Even on a cold bed. PA-CF Low Warp is, due to its stiffness and strength, a perfect material for replacement parts and custom made parts.

The PA-CF Low Warp filament is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints.

PA-CF Low Warp allows continuous use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. Most high heat resistant materials will be difficult to print and require heated chambers and / or heated platforms to keep parts from warping the bottom layer. PA-CF Low Warp shows a very low tendency to warp, even at ambient temperature platform.

Eager to get started? Click here to get the basics on how to print with PA-CF Low Warp.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock. We currently stock spools of 700 grams, but as from late next week large spools containing 2kg of material will be available as well.

You can also opt to get a unique bundle package, containing one spool of PA-CF Low Warp and the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in our webshop.

Modular Drawers

With our new Color on Demand service we offer custom made colors to make prints that look truly unique. As an example we printed the Modular Drawers 2.0 by Dan O’Connell, aka O3D.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2539830

The drawers are great to store small things in your workshop and by printing them in unique colors, you can make them stand out and never loose anything again. Or so they say.

We printed these drawers on the Ultimaker 2+ with a 0.4mm nozzle and no support. Printed at a 0.2mm layer height and with 45mm/s. The nozzle temperature was 215C and we kept the bed at 55C.

The colors we used for these prints were:

  • RAL 4001 – red lilac
  • RAL 7001 – silver grey
  • RAL 1018 – zinc yellow
  • RAL 2002 – vermillion
  • RAL 6001 – emerald green
  • RAL 9003 – signal white
  • RAL 6027 – light green
  • RAL 7021 – black grey

As you can see there are many options and there is no reason you are not printing in your favorite color.

With Color on Demand you can request a RAL reference which will be matched in PLA by colorFabb’s team. With an MOQ of 2kg, the threshold is lower than ever for 3D printing users to create with their very own color!

The idea of Color on Demand goes back to the essence of why colorFabb was started. Back in 2012 founder and current CEO Ruud Rouleaux had the idea to produce a filament tailor-made for the end user. He says, “Back in the early days producing custom colors presented us with high additional costs and inefficient production issues, eventually leading to a more general portfolio of standard colors.”

In June we launched this new service where we can produce custom made colors in a more efficient way.

 

How does it work?

A special section has been created in our webshop. You can go there directly by clicking here. We have already matched a lot of colors:

The colors above can be ordered immediately and you can order these like any other product in our webshop. The catch? We don’t stock it. All products in Color on Demand are made to order.

If a color has not been matched by us already, you can choose a RAL color (click here) or request a custom color (click here).

The team of specialists at colorFabb then go to work to start matching this color request. You can opt to receive an injected molded plaque to verify the color first, before the spool is produced. This is optional.

Expected lead times are:

All Color on Demand spools are produced on XL spools, containing 2kg of filament in your prefered color. It does not stop there. At the same time Color on Demand is being offered for granulates as an extra supply option besides filament.

Important: If you order a Color on Demand spool, as well as regular stocked products, we will ship these together as one shipment.

How is color matching being done?

Check our disclaimer! We use the RAL Classic references as our guide. All filaments produced are optically checked by our specialized production and QA team. You can order an injected molded plaque before commiting to order a full spool. Please check in the webshop!

Please be aware that we use the actual RAL reference. Colors on a computer screen, printed images and promotional art can give a misrepresentation of the actual color. Injection molded color plaques can be ordered for a quality check before ordering a full spool.

If the color is then accepted production is started on the custom made spool, which is a single spool containing 2kg (MOQ) of PLA in either 1.75mm or 2.85mm – or more spools, of course. Whenever a color has been matched, it will be added to the colorFabb website for future references.

It does not stop there. At the same time Color on Demand is being offered for granulates as an extra supply option besides filament.

Pricing is as low as € 75 (ex VAT / shipping) for a 2kg spool of custom made filament, with tier pricing available: 10% discount when 4 spools are purchased, 20% when 10 spools are purchased.

 

Color on Demand is a first new step into the direction of customization of filaments for the end users. Starting with PLA and RAL, the possibilities to expand to other materials and color references are plenty and will be implemented at a later stage.

Basically, color on demand will enable the maker / 3D Printer user to pinpoint specific projects and claim a different position in the supply chain with exactly that color that is requested.

Users can send requests to colorFabb or visit our website:

Questions? Check the FAQ section we made first. Or contact us through sales@colorfabb.com

Benchy test print on the Stacker S4 XL

Earlier this week our first Stacker S4 XL arrived in our warehouse:

The Stacker S4 XL, next to the regular S4 and the S2. Spool box for scale.

As Stacker’s European distributor we had been eagerly awaiting this beast of a machine. The Stacker S4 XL is the latest offering in the Stacker portfolio. It is next generation industrial grade 3D printing, based on the technology and experience of the S2 and S4 printers. Featuring unique closed loop servo motor system and a massive 61cm build space (in all directions), the Stacker S4 XL is the ultimate production platform within FDM for large scale and small series 3D printing. You can find more technical specifications in our catalogue.

Of course we had to try the latest addition to our print lab for a test and we combined the latest addition (the printer) with our very first filament: PLA/PHA. As the first print we chose JUN, the Jungle Queen visual benchy by vandragon_de – whose has an exceptional collection of ships in his Thingiverse account.

For these prints we used a 0.4mm nozzle on all 4 nozzles and a 0.16mm layer height – using standard PLA settings on the printer. It took 6 hours to print the ships.

PLA/PHA is our signature PLA filament which we exactly launched 4 years ago this month. The added PHA makes our grade of PLA tougher and less brittle than generic PLA grades in the market. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) is like PLA a bio-polyester, so our unique blend is still 100% biodegradeable. This material is available in 30 colors. During the summer of 2018, if you buy 4 spools of PLA/PHA, you only pay 3! Use BUY4PAY3 as the coupon code when checking out.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2811241

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 5 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another. We recently published two blogs about Dutch companies Optima and Mifa and their use of Stacker 3D printers.

The Stacker S2 and S4 are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This Minneapolis, USA, based manufacturer produces highly reliable printers and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page (S4 XL will be added soon).

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Functional Design Challenge – winners!

Recently we challenged our followers to design a functional part and send it to us. You can read the initial announcement right here. The designs are to be printed with our PA-CF Low Warp filament, an engineering grade nylon based filament which can be printed with virtual no warping – even on a non-heated bed.

We received quite a few responses. All entries were judged by three experienced designers and 3D printers:

  • Steve Cox, UK – 3D printing expert when it comes to our metal filled filaments & much more!
  • Brent Wright, US – founder of LifeNabled and changing lifes by using 3D printing. See some of his amazing work here.
  • Gijs Houdijk, NL – technical development manager at colorFabb, knows 3D printing and our filaments better than you know yourself.

They have taken the month of June to judge the designs and chosen five which will be printed by colorFabb. The winners, mentioned below, will receive the print when ready, 2 spools of PA-CF Low Warp and 15% discount for life in our webshop! Thanks to the jury for taking their time!

Here are the winning designs, in no particular order:

 

Brent Heylen / part for the Shell Eco marathon, a school project

Pol Guixe / filter box for a Fiat Panda

Peter Roodenburg / Prusa fan shroud

Oscar Kogenhop / personal shoe stretcher

Jaromir Efler / bashguard for a trail bike

The parts will be printed over the coming weeks and we will keep you updated on the progress! This blog will be updated with the final results once ready, of course.

 

About PA-CF Low Warp

We launched PA-CF Low Warp late last year. It is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. The formulation has been modified to reduce the uptake of moisture by half compared to PA6 and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less sensitive to moisture than most other nylon filaments available in the market.

This tailormade formulation of polyamide features the mechanical properties of a PA6. Tensile strength was measured at 77,99 MPa and impact strength (notched) was measured at 5,44KJ/m2, test specimens both printed on Ultimaker 2+, 260C 0.1mm layerheight with 100% infill.

PA-CF Low Warp allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. For those looking to print with nylon, moisture is a serious topic. PA-CF low warp has been modified to lower the uptake of moisture and slow down the time it takes to fully saturate by 4 times. In practice this means the filament is quite forgiving and user should be able to print with the material without noticing extreme influences of moisture uptake.

Users can now print high strength material without the need of heated chambers. The materials shows very good results for 3D printed parts compared to injection molded data, with only minimal loss in performance. This is a result of the excellent printability of the material, enabling users to acquire optimal performance on desktop FFF 3d printers.