Garden Sprinkler

January 10th: Updated with images of the finished part

This is a print we have made before and one that is an excellent example of how well overhangs are handled with PA-CF Low Warp, our new nylon based carbon re-inforced engineering filament. The Garden Sprinkler by Daniel Norée is a great design to showcase our filament with.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2077154

We scaled the sprinkler to 200% scale to show the awesome ability to print overhangs. Not only does this high-end filament print very well on a wide range of printers (find out how to print), but it shows excellent properties like strength, low warp and also overhangs. Only this morning we featured the ability to have great looking prints and with the ability to print challenging overhangs we know we have released a filament that is perfectly suitable for the professional user who needs a high quality filament that performs!

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 then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

We printed similar to previous posts on the Ultimaker 2+ using an Olsson Ruby nozzle. Print settings used were 260C hot end temperature with a 50 degrees C bed temp and at 0.3mm layer height.  Fan cooling is set to 70% and used 80% of the original speed, this gives plenty of time for cooling and results in very crisp overhang geometries.

Daniel Norée is well known for his Open RC project (where we printed a large version of his F1 design), but he has more than 120 designs on Thingiverse – under his handle barspin – very functional and cool ones among them.

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. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. 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.

The finished part looks amazing!

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

The Olsson Ruby Nozzle – One nozzle for all materials

Due to the abrassive nature of the filament we recommend the use of hardened nozzles for the best performance of the material and printer. For this reason we are offering the Olsson Ruby Nozzles with the purchase of PA-CF Low Warp. You can find the combined offer here.

We have published about the use of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle before and we are very enthusiastic about the use of this filament combined with abrassive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, but also XT-CF20 and steelFill.

The ruby mounted at the tip assures that even the toughest materials will be printable. It was originally designed for printing with a composite of Boron Carbide (B4C), the third hardest known material in the world. Since most of the Olsson Ruby is made from brass, with its excellent heat conductivity, performance and throughput is first-class.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

The Olsson Ruby is manufactured, assembled and tested in a high-quality facility in Sweden. This is why 3DVerkstan – also colorFabb’s partner in the region – guarantees the very best quality and tolerances.

As from now you can purchase the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in combination with PA-CF Low Warp in our webshop.

Single Gauge Pod

Our brand new PA-CF Low Warp filament is all about functionality. That means it also has to look Good (yes, that is a capital G). It is a perfect material to make parts that are used in an industrial environment, like the Single Gauge Pod by oldmatedave:

Design by oldmatedave: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1832214

We printed, similar to prints we posted about yesterday, on the Ultimaker 2+ using an Olsson Ruby nozzle. Print settings used were 260C hot end temperature with a 50 degrees C bed temp and at 0.3mm layer height. If you want to know more about printing with PA-CF Low Warp, click here.

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. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. 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.

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 then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

The Olsson Ruby Nozzle – One nozzle for all materials

Due to the abrassive nature of the filament we recommend the use of hardened nozzles for the best performance of the material and printer. For this reason we are offering the Olsson Ruby Nozzles with the purchase of PA-CF Low Warp. You can find the combined offer here.

We have published about the use of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle before and we are very enthusiastic about the use of this filament combined with abrassive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, but also XT-CF20 and steelFill.

The ruby mounted at the tip assures that even the toughest materials will be printable. It was originally designed for printing with a composite of Boron Carbide (B4C), the third hardest known material in the world. Since most of the Olsson Ruby is made from brass, with its excellent heat conductivity, performance and throughput is first-class.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

The Olsson Ruby is manufactured, assembled and tested in a high-quality facility in Sweden. This is why 3DVerkstan – also colorFabb’s partner in the region – guarantees the very best quality and tolerances.

As from now you can purchase the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in combination with PA-CF Low Warp in our webshop.

Printing with PA-CF Low Warp

Earlier this week we launched our brand new, functional filament PA-CF Low Warp. 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. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. 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.

We have been testing a lot with this filament, with our focus on functional parts. On Tuesday we published a video where we printed a wall mount with cable hanger:

J1772 Wall Mount with Cable Hanger by BenTheRighteous

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2446369

We printed on the Ultimaker 2+ with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle. Settings used for this print were: 0.3mm layerheight, 260C, 50C bed, 30/40 mm/s speed.

Today we have posted a new video, once again printing on the Ultimaker 2+ with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle:

This is an adapter to make carbon blasting the intake valves on a Mini Cooper R56 / N14 much easier. Normally you have to custom make you own, and that can be very difficult. This replaces a $90 adapter made by Mini. The design we used was made by Geofox.

We printed with 22% infull, 0.3mm layer height on a glass plate and used 3DLac and a brim on a cold bed.

With PA-CF Low Warp functional prints can be made on most printers.

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 then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

The Olsson Ruby Nozzle – One nozzle for all materials

Due to the abrassive nature of the filament we recommend the use of hardened nozzles for the best performance of the material and printer. For this reason we are offering the Olsson Ruby Nozzles with the purchase of PA-CF Low Warp. You can find the combined offer here.

We have published about the use of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle before and we are very enthusiastic about the use of this filament combined with abrassive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, but also XT-CF20 and steelFill.

The ruby mounted at the tip assures that even the toughest materials will be printable. It was originally designed for printing with a composite of Boron Carbide (B4C), the third hardest known material in the world. Since most of the Olsson Ruby is made from brass, with its excellent heat conductivity, performance and throughput is first-class.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

The Olsson Ruby is manufactured, assembled and tested in a high-quality facility in Sweden. This is why 3DVerkstan – also colorFabb’s partner in the region – guarantees the very best quality and tolerances.

As from now you can purchase the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in combination with PA-CF Low Warp in our webshop.

How to print with PA-CF Low Warp

How to print with PA-CF Low Warp

Below are some tips and tricks to get the best results with PA-CF Low Warp, colorFabb’s first nylon based engineering filament.

Original blog announcement: click here
Available in our webshop: click here
To get the best possible quality out of any 3D printing material it’s important to match the slicer settings with the material which is used.
On this page we’ll address the most important settings and formulate general settings to be used as a starting point for further fine tuning.
Build platform
The material shows good results when printed at ambient temperature, or cold bed. For some model geometries or high density infill parts a heated bed at 40C / 50C is advised. Using a brim will help when printing on a cold bed and heated bed. The material has been tested on buildTak and glass bed. When printing on glass bed we advise using 3DLac to obtain better adhesion to the plate.

Printing temperature

A minimum hot-end temperature of 260C is recommended. If you’re machine has 260C as the maximum temperature you’ll need to fine tune by lowering speed settings to make sure the 3D printer can keep up with the extrusion needed at certain speeds. The advised processing temperature for this material is set between 260C and 280C.

Cooling

As always, less cooling results in better layer-to-layer adhesion, more cooling gives better result on complex overhanging surfaces. We would recommend a 50% fan speed as default and use less fan speed if the print geometry allows for this.

Abrasive resistant nozzle

The addition of carbon fibers makes this filament highly abrasive for regular brass nozzle. We recommend users to use abrasive resistant nozzles, such as E3D hardened steel nozzles or Olsson Ruby nozzle.

Retraction
Users can expect a slight increase in retraction length and speed to prevent oozing from the nozzle on travel moves. If the material is saturated with moisture users can notice more oozing of the material on travel moves.
Layer height

For this material we recommend a minimum of 0.2mm layerheight. Due to the length of the fibers layers lower then 0.15mm can cause issues such as clogging or partial clogging of the nozzle.

Print speed
Most 3D printers will process this material at speeds of around 30/40 mm/s for layer height around 0.2mm with a 0.4mm nozzle. Outer perimeters can be printed slower at 30mm/s for better surface quality
This information was first published on the dedicated landing page: http://pa.colorfabb.com/how/

PA-CF Low Warp

Today we proudly announce the release of PA-CF Low Warp, a carbon fiber infused polyamide material with the mechanical properties of a PA6 and excellent printability because of extremely low warp. This new filament, which will be available for pre-order as from now and will start shipping as soon as tomorrow, is the first material developed under our new partnership with LEHVOSS Group.

The material can be printed on desktop FFF 3D printers, which have a temperature range of at least 260°C on the hot-end and the ability to mount an abrasive resistant nozzle. PA-CF Low Warp excels in tensile and impact strength and allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. The formulation has been modified to reduce uptake of moisture and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point compared to unmodified PA6. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less affected by moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market.

The material shows good results when printed at ambient temperature, or cold bed. The advised processing temperature for this material is set between 260C and 280C. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF low warp is available for pre-order now and will start shipping tomorrow.

Visit our webshop

“The ability to print engineering level materials on any desktop 3D printer is very exciting. In most cases engineering materials can be very challenging to print, but what we’ve seen from our tests on several popular 3D printers is that the PA-CF Low Warp has excellent properties and can even be printed without warping on a build plate at ambient temperature. This is huge value for a material which is known to be difficult to print.”, said Ruud Rouleaux, director at colorFabb B.V.

“We are excited that colorFabb have chosen our materials for their high-performance PA filaments. With our product line LUVOCOM 3F for extrusion based 3D printing we are focusing in high-performance applications. Our materials enable 3D printing to be used not only for the traditional prototyping applications but also for functional parts and series production. Having an improved layer adhesion and reduced warping, coupled with the high-quality filament technology of colorFabb, makes the whole process reliable and repeatable.”  said Thiago Medeiros Araujo, Market Development 3D Printing at LEHVOSS Group.

As with previous materials we have created a dedicated landing page for this filaments, which you can visit here.

About LEHVOSS Group

The LEHVOSS Group, under the management of Lehmann&Voss&Co., is a group of companies that develops, produces and markets chemical and mineral specialities for various industrial clients. Lehmann&Voss&Co., in Hamburg Germany, was founded in 1894.

LUVOCOM® high-performance compounds as well as the 3D printing materials LUVOSINT® and LUVOCOM® 3F extend the range of applications for plastics and ensure that the products produced from them in many industries are able to reliably fulfil their function, even when subject to stringent requirements. The materials with exactly defined properties are based on almost all available thermoplastics and are tailor-made to individual customer requirements.

 

The Olsson Ruby Nozzle – One nozzle for all materials

Due to the abrassive nature of the filament we recommend the use of hardened nozzles for the best performance of the material and printer. For this reason we are offering the Olsson Ruby Nozzles with the purchase of PA-CF Low Warp. You can find the combined offer here.

We have published about the use of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle before and we are very enthusiastic about the use of this filament combined with abrassive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, but also XT-CF20 and steelFill.

The ruby mounted at the tip assures that even the toughest materials will be printable. It was originally designed for printing with a composite of Boron Carbide (B4C), the third hardest known material in the world. Since most of the Olsson Ruby is made from brass, with its excellent heat conductivity, performance and throughput is first-class.

The Olsson Ruby is manufactured, assembled and tested in a high-quality facility in Sweden. This is why 3DVerkstan – also colorFabb’s partner in the region – guarantees the very best quality and tolerances.

As from now you can purchase the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in combination with PA-CF Low Warp in our webshop.

Full design attributions:

Motorcycle brake lever by Mark3D_GmbH

Fully 3D printed modular RC Sailplane by Walt

Torqueboards Mount Pulley Cover by emancarrillo

C – Beam 20/80 by Mindless

72mm exhaust fan for 3d printer to 3″ hose by BloomingtonFPV

Lodewijk van der Grinten Prize 2017

3D printing allows for unique prints and what needs to be more unique than an award or trophy? Recently we printed the Bioplastics Magazine Award for the third consecutive year. Last year we printed the nominee awards for the Lodewijk van der Grinten prize, a local award. This year, once again, we were asked to print the commemorative trophies for all the nominees and used our upcoming nGen_LUX:

This year the prize was won by Seacon Logistics. Congratulations!

For these commemorative trophies we printed on the Stacker s4 with dual extrusion mode at 0.2mm layer height and with a 0.4mm nozzle at 240C 85C bed temp.

All nominees received this award.

 

A little bit about the award…

The Entrepreneur Award is named after Lodewijkvan der Grinten (1831 – 1895), founder of the current Océ. The name is not chosen without reason. Océ has become one of the biggest economic powers in Venlo and its region. The award is an initiative of the Foundation Lodewijk van der Grinten Business Award, in which LLTB Horst Venlo, Venlo Small and Medium Businesses (MKB), Entrepreneurial Venlo and the city of Venlo participate. It is handed out during a ceremony ever since 2010. The award is also made possible by sponsors, of which colorFabb is one.

The city if Venlo is located in the south of the Netherlands, next to the German border and in between the big harbors of Rotterdam and Antwerpen on one side and the German Ruhr area and Central Europe on the other side. Venlo and its surrounding region has been called one of the (if not the) best logistics hubs of Europe! With so much business in the area it is hard to stand out, which makes winning the award such an achievement!

nGen_LUX is our upcoming new 3D printing filament that will be released early 2018. With nGen_LUX we put years of experience in development, 3D printing, R&D and production into a single 3D printing filament that will bridge the gap to production with unmatched surface quality.

As the name indicates, nGen_LUX is based on nGen – the highly successful co-polyester based filament we launched nearly 2 years ago. nGen is currently our best-selling filament and go-to material for all your prints. It is a truly all-round filament made with Eastman Amphora™ AM3300.

Years of development, unique light diffusion additives and compounding know-how have lead to nGen_LUX. The “Lux” not only stands for luxurious – which is definitely the look of the prints – but also refers to the unit of illumination used worldwide. And light is what makes this filament truly special.

Keep your eyes and ears open for the release date in the next year!

The Stacker S4 can be set-up for small series production, or single large part printing. Mounting up to 4 toolheads on the x-carriage gives the user higher output, but reduces the build volume. The alternative is to mount only a single toolhead and take advantage of the entire buildvolume of the S4 or its smaller sibling, the S2.

Multi-material printing is an option with the Stacker printers.

The Stacker S4 is an industrial grade FFF 3D printer. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make it a versatile printer. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable 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.

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.

colorFabb is proud partner of Stacker and official distributor for the EMEA region. At colorFabb we have been extensively testing with both the S2 and S4 in our print lab with our entire range of filaments.

Football trophy

It is the season of gift giving and one of the more peculiar traditions in the Netherlands is to be creative with how to present the actual gift. Simple gift wrapping paper does not suffice anymore and people go at great lengths to make something special of the gift. A request came into our print lab to print a football trophy with a hollow ball on top so the present can fit in.

So we went to work:

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:439592

Designed by BadDevices this football trophy makes for a truly special gift for all football fans. And football (soccer for our North American readers) is still part of the Dutch DNA, despite the abysmal performance of the national team of late.

We went full PLA for this print! For the ball we used PLA/PHA Standard White and PLA Economy Black on the Ultimaker 3 with a layer height of 0.2mm. For the standard we utilized the Stacker S4 and used PLA Economy Silver, again printing a 0.2mm layer height.

3D printing proofs once again to have a lot of diverse applications. Investment casting, model making, museum pieces, pens, head phones, chairs, signs, housings, lamps and gifts!

 

The materials we used…

PLA/PHA Standard White

And what a standard it is! We started with this modified grade of PLA almost 5 years ago and this filament remains one of our biggest hits. The unique blend of PLA with PHA make it a fantastic filament to print with on a wide variety of printers.

PLA Economy

About a year ago we listened to you – our users – and brought a more economic version of PLA to the market. This new grade of PLA, with an added impact modifier, has been in huge demand from the moment of release. We developed this new PLA, separate from our lauded PLA/PHA, as a filament for large volume users. Because it’s made with the same processing technology used for other premium colorFabb products, this PLA Economy filament is just as reliable. PLA Economy is available on 2.2kg spools only, delivering a whopping 740 meters of 1.75mm filament and 270 meters of 2.85mm filament.

Utility Ship

Here at colorFabb we regularly have interns hard at work in the print lab, creating awesome things. As you may remember, Stephan Schürmann designed and printed a bike during his internship here (and is now about to ship his very own Blackbelt 3D printer!). Earlier this year Niels van Valburg made the FLEX_Link chair. And former current co-worker Jos Deelen worked on the early concepts of the biofoam spool during his internship here. Our current intern is Mike Baetsen and to get him more acquainted with 3D printing and designing he printed the Utility Ship, originally designed by Petersripol:

Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2192118

As you can see, we put it in the lobby of our new building right away! Mike used the Ultimaker 2 and 2+ for this print (or various prints, if you will) with various settings. Several items on the boat he designed himself using SolidWorks.

3D printing has always been a great tool for model work and this once again proofs that the best results can be achieved with a variety of materials.

The materials (all colorFabb’s, of course), where:

  • PLA/PHA Standard White for the hull
  • PETG Economy Red
  • woodFill for the deck
  • PLA Economy Black

Mike mentions that he wanted to use a variety of materials (two kinds of PLA, our PETG and a special filament) to see how well they work on the Ultimaker printers as well and of course for the aesthetical aspect.

As showcased in the lobby, together with the Subaru and Chevy engines, printed by Korneel Bullens.

 

 

About the materials

PLA/PHA Standard White

And what a standard it is! We started with this modified grade of PLA almost 5 years ago and this filament remains one of our biggest hits. The unique blend of PLA with PHA make it a fantastic filament to print with on a wide variety of printers.

PLA Economy

About a year ago we listened to you – our users – and brought a more economic version of PLA to the market. This new grade of PLA, with an added impact modifier, has been in huge demand from the moment of release. We developed this new PLA, separate from our lauded PLA/PHA, as a filament for large volume users. Because it’s made with the same processing technology used for other premium colorFabb products, this PLA Economy filament is just as reliable. PLA Economy is available on 2.2kg spools only, delivering a whopping 740 meters of 1.75mm filament and 270 meters of 2.85mm filament.

PETG Economy

Not long after PLA Economy we released PETG Economy this summer. This is our first PETG and has already found a large group of devoted users. colorFabb’s Economy line is developed for users who need a lot of filament. By adding a specifically sourced PETG to our portfolio we are adding more functionality and diversity to our range of filaments.

woodFill

What can be said about woodFill that has not been said already? woodFill was launched exactly 4 years ago this month during the London 3D Print Show and was our first special filament. Other natural filled special filaments have followed, like bambooFill (which we discontinued earlier this year) and corkFill. Our woodFill has been a hit from day one due to easy processing and its fantastic looks. Added bonus is that your print room smells like a wood shop when printing with woodFill.

 

Eager to try our filaments? At the time of writing we are in the middle of our Black Friday discount. Click here for the details. Basically: you get a 25% discount on all filaments! Use discount code BLACKFRIDAY when shopping online.

Sale lasts until Monday November 27th.

 

Looking for a new printer? The desktop 3D printers in our portfolio ship with a 10% discount during the Black Friday campaign. No discount code needed – we already lowered the price! Of course you get a free spool of filament with every printer and for selected European countries we offer free shipping!

 

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Can’t choose? Check out our catalogue:

Acorn Planter

To stay in the autumn theme we have printed an acorn planter. Designed by and printed on the Makerbot with corkFill.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:292854

Printed on the Makerbot Replicator+ using the Experimental Extruder with the 0.6mm brass nozzle. “Sow a seed within a seed with the Acorn Planter.”

Recently we have been testing a lot with the brand new Experimental Extruder. The Makerbot Experimental Extruder was recently announced and allows for more experimenting on the existing Makerbot printers. Over the course of several months, we participated in a beta-test program that included a select group of MakerBot’s Thingiverse power users. During this time the new Experimental Extruder was tested using a range of colorFabb specialty materials – including the corkFill, copperFill, bronzeFill, and woodFill.

After woodFill was launched exactly 4 years ago this week during the London 3D Print Show and was our first special filament we saw the need for more biofilled filaments. Other natural filled special filaments have followed, like bambooFill (which we discontinued earlier this year) and corkFill. corkFill has been a hit from the moment we launched due to easy processing and its fantastic looks.

As it happens, corkFill is on sale now. Click here to get corkFill with a 15% discount (for a limited time only).