Engines

Our avid online followers remember the stellar work that Korneel Bullens does on his Ultimakers. Not only has he one of the busiest 3DHubs in the Netherlands (with excellent reviews to booth), he also finds time to print some side projects. Back in 2015 he printed the Toyota Engine for us with colorFabb_XT (check it here working on our ancient Vine account).

As if that was not enough he took on the next challenge like a trooper and printed the Saturn V rocket with our all-round filament nGen:

The Saturn V rocket as showcased on the Amsterdam AM Show. Original post here.

A while ago Korneel approached us with the idea to print not one, but two engines: The Subaru Boxer Engine and the Chevy Camaro LS3 V8. The results are simply awesome:

Subaru engine. Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1643878

Chevy engine. Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1911808

Like the Toyota engine, these two engines were designed and modeled by the insanely talented Eric Harrell, aka ericthepoolboy on Thingiverse. You can find Eric’s website here. His design talent, combined with Korneel’s printing skills resulted in a fully functional Subaru engine:

Korneel has 5 Ultimaker 3 printers and he used four of them to complete this project. Estimated printing time was about 200 hours per engine and assembling the prints took about 40 hours each in total. All parts were printed with a 0.15mm layer height.

The Chevy engine, opened up. One of the great features of these prints is that they can be disassembled with great ease due to magnets being used to hold several parts together.

The material he used was PLA Economy, which may be Korneel’s favorite filament at the moment. He receives a lot of requests for PLA prints and uses our PLA Economy due to its ease of printing on his Ultimakers.

PLA Economy works great with basic PLA settings on a wide range of printers. We see a lot of demand for this filament and it has been a favorite of our users ever since launching it in November last year.

Some close ups of the Subaru engine:

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.

Here are some print settings to get started:

Adviced 3d printing temperature
195C-220C

Adviced 3d print speed
40 – 100 mm/s

Advised Heated bed (if you have one, not strictly necessary)
50-60C

Cooling fan
100% fan cooling for best aesthetics, this gives best performance on overhangs and small details. For best mechanical performance try printing with the least amount of cooling needed, for optimal layer adhesion.

Or: You can use the standard PLA settings if your printer has these pre-defined and these should work fine.

Close up of the Chevy engine

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 high quality filament 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.

Once again it has been great to see Korneel’s work again (and we quietly wonder what he will come up with next…) Visit his site and contact him if you need a print job to be done!

 

 

 

Drone canopy

3D printing and drones have gone hand in hand since the beginning of time. The quick & easy fixes, as well as the customization that 3D printing provides, make it an ideal tool for everybody into drone racing. We have seen this already with our XT-CF20 filament when we released it a few years ago (check this post on 3D Hubs Talk) or the VTOL drone we posted about last year (original post here). We are seeing it again with nGen_FLEX, which was released during the TCT Show in September last year.

For today’s print, we made the Fury X220 Race Canopy by Bas Delfos:

Design by Bas Delfos: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2232593

 

We use nGen_FLEX since we needed a great filament for absorbing impact and protecting the electronics of a racing drone (and inevitably crashing it). Our nGen_FLEX is semi-flexible with a shore hardness of 95A and is super tough,

Printed on an Ultimaker 2 with LokBuild plate, at 0.2mm layerheight and 250C printing temperature and 85C buildplate temperature.

About nGen_FLEX

nGen_FLEX was released in September 2016 at the TCT Show and is our first semi-flexible material. With a Shore A hardness of 95 it is a material that is ideally suited for functional parts. It is not soft and squishy like other flexible materials in the market, but allows for fast printing and printing on 3D printers using a Bowden tube. nGen_FLEX is a material for users looking for an engineering grade flexible filament with a high temperature resistance (over 120 degrees C) and good chemical resistance.

You can read the initial reception of nGen_FLEX here.

nGen_FLEX is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymers, a range of co-polyesters developed with Eastman Chemical Company for 3D printing. Amphora co-polyesters are low-odor, styrene-free choices that are uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient and attractive. You can find more information about co-polyesters in the article we published last summer: What we talk about when we talk about co-polyesters.

More specific information about nGen_FLEX can be found on our dedicated landing page.

Need some more ideas what you can print with our nGen_FLEX filament? How about…

And more (click here)…

Rifle replica

3D printing has many applications. A very interesting one is the production of replicas. The most valuable museum exhibits are usually the most fragile ones too. They can be easily damaged so the curators need to enclose them behind glass and visitors can’t touch them.

Enter Get Models Now, a Polish design studio.

The National Museum in Poznan, Poland, asked Get Models Now to build a 3D printed replica that could become an interactive part of their display. The goal was to replicate an original 16th century rifle in full scale.

The 3D scanned model was cut into parts and printed on ZMorph 2.0 SX multitool 3D printer using colorFabb PLA and woodFill filaments. The parts were assembled around a lead rod that made the rifle heavy enough to simulate the original weight of 5.2 kg. The entire 3D printed antique rifle is one and a half meters long. It took long hours to post-produce even the smallest details like the fantastic dragon-shaped flintlock and meticulously engraved trigger.


Artists from Get Models Now painted the woodFill parts to make them look like even more natural wood and added hand-painted ornaments on them. This attention to detail makes it very hard to distinguish the 3D printed antique rifle from the original. Their work is a part of an interactive display at the National Museum in Poznan, Poland, right next to the original piece. It will give people a unique opportunity to literally get in touch with history.

Using 3D printing makes sure important parts of history can be preserved while the replicas are there for show and tell.

 

About Get Models Now

GMN – Get Models Now – is a design studio using 3D printing and newest technologies such as 3D scanning , Virtual Reality as well as CNC milling and a laser cutting machine. The idea of the company is to deliver 3D printed objects along with complex design support. They have over 10 year experience in working with 3D printing and the team consists of people with different design backgrounds which helps them finding the best solution for particular projects. They are one of the few companies in Europe that offers full design, printing, and post-production services and use only high-quality and eco-friendly materials to deliver the most outstanding results. Their workshop enables to create amazing postproduction effects which can be vital for individual finishing of printed objects.

You can find more information on their website (click here).

 

woodFill

woodFill was launched in November 2013 during the London 3D Print Show and was our first special filament. Other natural filled special filaments have followed, like bambooFill (which we recently discontinued) and more recently 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. Check it out online: it has received nothing but 5 star reviews on our site!

 

 

Free Print+ headphone kits

Update: we are all out of Print+ head phone kits. If you order a value pack now you will receive our awesome filament, but not the Print+ kit.

Earlier today we posted the prints we made with the Print+ head phone kits we received last week.

We used woodFill & PETG Economy for one headphone set and nGen Dark Gray for the other one. Of course, with our variety of 3D printing filaments, you can make a lot of combinations and make your headphones truly unique. You can read the original post here.

The casual observer may have noticed that in that very same post we mentioned we ordered 25 kits during the Kickstarter campaign. We used some ourselves, but what to do with the remaining 20+ kits? Hint: we are not going to use them ourselves…

Yours… soon.

We had decided to give them away. To you! With every value pack ordered (with the exception of PLA Economy and PETG Economy) you will get a free Print+ headphone kit! (Retail value: € 35). The value packs that are eligible for getting a free headset kit are:

Update: Please note that the limited amount of headset kits we had available has run out and therefor this promotion has ended. But if you have a Print+ headset please enter our challenge below for a chance to win 4 free spools of colorFabb filaments.

But that’s not all…

We challenge you to print the coolest and most original headphone set with colorFabb filaments! Then post it on social media (Twitter, Facebook or Instagram) and tag us.

Extra points for an original combination of materials and if photographed in a cool real-life environment. The most original entry will receive 4 free spools of colorFabb filament!!

So there it is: order a value pack and receive a free Print+ DIY headset kit you have a serious chance to get 4 free spools of colorFabb filaments as well!

Head to our website & choose the value pack of your choice!

Print+ headphone

After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015, the Print+ headphones have finally started shipping! At colorFabb we saw the potential of these DIY headphones immediately and backed the campaign by buying 25 of these headphone kits. We even made one of the headphone a featured print during the launch of our nGen filament:

From our nGen landing page. Print+ headphone printed with nGen Purple

We were also among the first to showcase the Print+ headphones during the 2015 TCT Show in Birmingham:

Source: colorFabb Vine account

Last week we received Print+ DIY Headphone kits. The kit contains all the necessary components such as speakers, cables and a remote. The remaining parts, to customize your headphone and make it truly yours, can be printed after downloading the files from their site. The Kickstarter campaign ended many moons ago, but the kit is available from their site now.

The variety in our colorFabb portfolio allows for some really cool combinations & unique headsets to be printed. Make it yours!

We have printed and assembled two of these headphones. One has been made in woodFill and our brand new PETG Economy Black filament:

Print+ headphone printed with woodFill and PETG Economy

We chose woodFill for the visual quality of the material and PETG Economy since it is strong enough, which is necessary for the headphone frame. The woodFill was printed on the Lulzbot Mini with standard woodFill profile settings (provided by Lulzbot) at 0.2mm layer height and a standard nozzle.

Another headphone was printed with nGen Dark Gray:

And for the other headphone nGen was chosen because of the visual quality and the layer on layer adhesion of the material. Aside from functionality, the nGen portfolio contains the brightest and some unique colors to really stand out.

This nGen print was made Ultimaker 2+ with a 0.4mm nozzle and printed at a 0.2mm layer height.

The Print+ project is not only a very cool idea, it is also a sustainable one. You don’t need to buy new headphones if one part breaks. You print one or two new parts right away! You can read the Print+ vision here or contact them directly if you have any further questions: https://www.print.plus/contact/

 

About the materials

woodFill

woodFill was launched in November 2013 during the London 3D Print Show and was our first special filament. Other natural filled special filaments have followed, like bambooFill (which we recently discontinued) and more recently 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. Check it out online: it has received nothing but 5 star reviews on our site!

PETG Economy

Earlier this month we released PETG Economy, a high quality filament for functional prototyping. It is available exclusively on 2.2kg spools and in three colors: black, white and red. We currently ship from stock and the PETG Economy range is also available as a value pack.

nGen

nGen has proven itself to be a very versatile material that can be used for a lot of applications, visual prototyping being one of them! It has become our default, all-round filament for printing all sorts of prototypes and prints just have to look damn good!

nGen is an all-round filament which has many advantages over PLA. The temperature resistance is over 80 degrees C and it works on most printers with a heated build plate.  nGen is a low-odor, styrene-free material uniquely suited for 3D printing enthusiasts, particularly those who need the flexibility to print within a wide processing temperature range.

With nGen you will have good flow properties through the printer nozzle—even at lower temperatures than some other polymers require. These properties make nGen more workable at a wider breadth of temperatures, producing reliable results and resulting in less waste. You can find more information on our dedicated landing page.

Ever since launching in november 2015 (and later in a big way during the CES Show early 2016), nGen has been a bestseller and a material that has been adopted by users worldwide very rapidly.

nGen is available through our webshop and our network of distributors and resellers worldwide as well as our partner Lulzbot.

Speaking of the Lulzbot Mini printer… Did you know we have it available on our website and ship from stock? Better even: we ship for free in Europe and send out two free spools of nGen with the printer!

The LulzBot Mini was built to work out of the box, with no complicated assembly process getting in the way of you creating. Operating the Mini is the same- straightforward software, easy to read documentation and an army of LulzBot enthusiasts eager to help out people getting started. This printer is not only easy. you will still find flexible, industrial strength capacity from this machine.

Read Make Magazine’s review of the Lulzbot Mini here.

The Lulzbot Mini is now available in our webshop at € 1.573 including VAT / € 1.300 excluding VAT.

Folded lamp shade

Our brand new PETG Economy allows for easy prototyping. With the Lulzbot MOARstruder one can also print faster, making prototyping even more efficient. Sometimes you don’t need too many details to get the job done. Today’s featured print is the folded lamp shade by H. Langemark, which we printed with PETG Economy Red:

Design by H Langemark: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:114976

Printed on the Lulzbot TAZ6 with the MOARstruder, The layer height was 0.3mm and we printed at 60mm per second at 240 degrees C.

We have received a lot of requests for PETG in our portfolio and have recently added PETG Economy to our portfolio. We initially started with 3 colors: Black, White and Red.

All of these are available exclusively on 2.2kg spools. You can buy PETG Economy here. Also available now, the PETG Economy value pack – four spools of PETG Economy at an even lower price! Available here.

Material specifications

Material: colorFabb PETG Economy

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.1 mm

Density: 1.28 g/cm3

Glass Transition Temperature: 70C

Full data sheets are available now: http://colorfabb.com/Materials/

Another great example with PETG Economy Red. Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1532652

 

colorFabb Economy: Large volume, High quality, Low price

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.

As with PLA Economy we have extensively tested this filament in our print lab. Both in production and print lab we have adhered to the highest colorFabb quality – this is something we simply do not compromise on.

The idea behind these filaments is to keep it at a very competitive price. Retail price of PETG Economy is € 40 excluding VAT and shipping. This works out to be a little over € 18 per kg for high quality filament.

Lulzbot TAZ 6

Engineers, designers, educators, and makers agree: The LulzBot TAZ 6 is the most reliable, easiest-to-use desktop 3D printer ever, featuring innovative self-leveling and self-cleaning, and a modular tool head design for flexible and multi-material upgrades. With proven 3D printing technology and one of the largest print volumes in its class, the LulzBot TAZ 6 is ready to work.

3D printing is more reliable than ever with the integrated automatic bed leveling system, all metal LulzBot v2 Hot End, and heated PEI print surface.  With the all metal hot end, you can take advantage of the cutting edge market for new materials. Perfect for both large and small objects, the heated PEI build surface keeps your 3D printed objects in place when hot and releases when cool. With Cura LulzBot Edition, you have hundreds of quickprint profiles built in for seamless 3D printing.

The Lulzbot TAZ 6 is now available in our webshop at € 3.025 including VAT / € 2.500 excluding VAT.

Not sold yet? The TAZ 6 was recently reviewed by Richard Horne (RichRap) and Joel Telling (3DPrintingNerd). See their videos below:

You can find Richard’s full blog here.

And of course Joel Telling‘s review:

Richard and Joel have convinced you, we’re sure, but we’ll throw in a bit more:

  • free shipping in Europe
  • 4 (four!) free spools of our nGen filament!

Interested in the MOARstruder? Contact us at sales@colorfabb.com to discuss the options.

The LulzBot TAZ MOARstruder Tool Head is a high output tool head with an extra-long heater block, dual print cooling fans, and a 1.2 mm diameter nozzle. These features enable high-speed printing and tough 3D printed objects.

FLEX_Link by Niels van Valburg

Updated: Now with promotional video (skip to the end)

Our intern Niels van Valburg has completed his chair design project and named it… FLEX_Link. The FLEX_Link is a chair that anyone can make at home! Two weeks ago we already tweeted the assembled chair and Niels now officially present the finished project.

Earlier this year Niels started with us as an intern and for his bachelor thesis he was to design and print a seating object. The most recent blog regarding his updates can be found here. Now the project has finished, let’s give the stage to Niels himself:

 

Hey there!

So this is the final result of my chair design project with nGen_FLEX!

 

Design by Niels van Valburg. Files on Thingiverse and Youmagine

 

“For the past 5 months I have been working on this project. And in case you are wondering, you can sit on it!

To make this I have used an Ultimaker 2+ equipped with a 0.8 millimeter nozzle and a fresh set of LokBuild on the glass plate for proper adhesion.”

“As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, the decision has been made to design and make a chair that is available to the public. That means using materials that are readliy available for everyone, in this case 18 millimeter thick plywood, and combining them with a couple of spools of filament to make an acual product ready for use.”

Niels himself

The connectors are designed with the possiblities of both the material and 3D printing in mind. The flexible material is also used as a way of ensuring that the connections are strong enough, by letting them flex around the wood.

One of the key aspects of this chair is that since it is easy to make, people can customize the design to their own needs. They can make it bigger, or more ergonomic depending on their demands. Also various types of material can be used in combination with the printed parts.

The chair itself has been designed to support a maximum of 150 kilogram using SolidWorks and FEM methods.

Enjoy!

Niels

The idea behind the design of the chair is that anyone should be able to print and assemble it. Niels has uploaded all the necessary files on Thingiverse and Youmagine:

Take particular note of the instruction manual to assemble the chair. It can be downloaded as a PDF and has been done in true IKEA form! Really impressive work, Niels!

 

 

About nGen_FLEX

nGen_FLEX was released in September 2016 at the TCT Show and is our first semi-flexible material. With a Shore A hardness of 95 it is a material that is ideally suited for functional parts. It is not soft and squishy like other flexible materials in the market, but allows for fast printing and printing on 3D printers using a Bowden tube. nGen_FLEX is a material for users looking for an engineering grade flexible filament with a high temperature resistance (over 120 degrees C) and good chemical resistance.

You can read the initial reception of nGen_FLEX here.

nGen_FLEX is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymers, a range of co-polyesters developed with Eastman Chemical Company for 3D printing. Amphora co-polyesters are low-odor, styrene-free choices that are uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient and attractive. You can find more information about co-polyesters in the article we published last summer: What we talk about when we talk about co-polyesters.

Update 7-7-2017:

Here is the promotional video:

Survey 2017

Want to get a 20% discount? Sure you do. We only ask a bit of your time. Read on…

At colorFabb we value your opinion. Your opinion helps us to improve our products and services. We read all your emails, value all the feedback on social media and try improve where we can. In May 2016 we held a survey and received very positive feedback. Have a look:

  • Over 86% of our customers rate our products and services a 8 or higher!
  • Over 95% of our customers would definitely recommend our products to other users!
  • Over 91% of customers who contacted our support desk rated the service as “Awesome”!

The most heard replies we received last year were about price and shipping. We took your comments and ran with them. In November we launched PLA Economy, followed two weeks ago by PETG Economy. This Economy line provides the large volume user for a better kg price for the filament, while maintaining the high colorFabb quality.

We also negotiated a better deal with DHL, which went into effect earlier this year. We can now offer cheaper shipping to more countries (unfortunately, not for all of them) and with the EU we have a lot of free shipping options. Check them out here.

But we’re not done yet. The 3D printing industry is moving fast, needs change and we are always eager to what those needs are. We have created a new survey which you can access here:

Click here to take our survey!

It only takes about five minutes. As you can see from the examples above, we actually do something with your feedback. If you receive our news letter you will find this same survey in your inbox as well (no need to fill it out twice).

To thank you, we want to extend a 20% discount for every survey that is filled out complete and correct. We will send you the coupon code soon after completing the survey. Only one per person and the discount code cannot be combined with other discounts (nor does it apply to printers and gift cards).

Thank you for your time!

– Team colorFabb

Camera housing

Today’s featured print serves two goals. First of all, we’re always looking to use our filaments to make the best use of it. In this case we have used PLA Economy to make a prototype of a security camera housing. The second purpose was to make our new intern Pierre known with the Ultimaker 2 and Cura slicer software. We can safely say both goals were met.

 

Designed by Toby Lankford: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:993974

Working from a design by Toby Lankford, Pierre made this model in 3 days. It was a perfect model for Pierre to get the printer and slicer known and to print multiple parts.

We used this case to welcome our new intern Pierre. This was a perfect project to get to know the Ultimaker 2 and Cura slicer software. Pierre also used a Raspberry Pi to show how the internal parts should be mounted.

Printed on the UM2 with PLA Economy Silver. Everything is printed at 0.2mm layerheight, 210/125C and 60C bed temperature.

We used PLA Economy as it’s perfect for making a first visual model of a new product. For outdoor use we would not advice using PLA Economy if durability is important, but it has proven to be an excellent filament for indoor use and visual prototyping.

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November last year. 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.

Here are some print settings to get started:

Adviced 3d printing temperature: 195C-220C

Adviced 3d print speed: 40 – 100 mm/s

Advised Heated bed (if you have one, not strictly necessary): 50-60C

Cooling fan: 100% fan cooling for best aesthetics, this gives best performance on overhangs and small details. For best mechanical performance try printing with the least amount of cooling needed, for optimal layer adhesion.

Or: 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.

Garden sprinkler

We all know Daniel Norée as the designer and maker behind the Open R/C project (remember the big F1 car we printed last year? It was his design!). But of course, Daniel is also known for his very active YouTube channel and his great work in 3D printing in general.

Last year he used our colorFabb_XT to print a self-designed garden sprinkler:

We found this design to be an excellent example for our brand new PETG Economy filament!

Design by Daniel Norée: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2077154

You can follow Daniel and the projects he is working on via YouTube and Twitter

The parts were printed with PETG Economy on the Lulzbot Mini. We used 0.25mm layerheight at 235C printing temperature and manually slowed down printing to optimize the overhang quality.

 

We have received a lot of requests for PETG in our portfolio and have recently added PETG Economy to our portfolio. We initially started with 3 colors: Black, White and Red.

All of these are available exclusively on 2.2kg spools. You can buy PETG Economy here.

Material specifications

Material: colorFabb PETG Economy

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.1 mm

Density: 1.28 g/cm3

Glass Transition Temperature: 70C

Full data sheets are available now: http://colorfabb.com/Materials/

colorFabb Economy: Large volume, High quality, Low price

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.

As with PLA Economy we have extensively tested this filament in our print lab. Both in production and print lab we have adhered to the highest colorFabb quality – this is something we simply do not compromise on.

The idea behind these filaments is to keep it at a very competitive price. Retail price of PETG Economy is € 40 excluding VAT and shipping. This works out to be a little over € 18 per kg for high quality filament.

The Lulzbot Mini is available at colorFabb. As Lulzbot’s official reseller we ship from stock. We offer free shipping in Europe and two free spools of filament!

The LulzBot Mini was built to work out of the box, with no complicated assembly process getting in the way of you creating. Operating the Mini is the same- straightforward software, easy to read documentation and an army of LulzBot enthusiasts eager to help out people getting started. This printer is not only easy. you will still find flexible, industrial strength capacity from this machine.

Read Make Magazine’s review of the Lulzbot Mini here.

The Lulzbot Mini is now available in our webshop at € 1.573 including VAT / € 1.300 excluding VAT.