3D Matter

In the past four years we have been active in the world of 3D printing, we have seen a lot of filament brands coming up. We understand only too well that it is often hard for users to choose the right filament for their respective applications. Luckily there are now review sites like filaments.directory (where colorFabb is the most tested and most awarded brand). One step further goes 3D Matter. With their platform Optimatter, 3D Matter thoroughly tests filaments from all over the world and makes comparisons. Recently they released a list of, what they see, are the best filaments of 2017. Needless to say they test a lot of filaments and for convenience sake 3D Matter has split the results up in 9 categories.

You can read the full test results here.

Of all the filaments tested, colorFabb came out on top or near the top in the 5 categories it participated in (not all our filaments were tested in all categories). Given all the quality brands in the world of 3D printing, we are very proud of the results!

 

Category: Ease of printing

Winner: PLA/PHA

Our very first material is still, over four years after launching, a favorite as an easy-to-print filament. PLA is already seen as an easy to print material in general and it is also still the most common in 3D printing. To come out on top is an honor, to say the least.

Graph courtesy of 3D Matter

When we launched our portfolio of PLA/PHA early 2013 (with currently 30 colors available) our aim was to make a less brittle and easy to use 3D printing filament for visual prototyping. We are happy to find that after four years it is still very well regarded.

 

Category: Visual quality

Winner: copperFill

When we released woodFill as our first special filament, we wanted to make something truly special. Not the first wood filled filament in the world, but it was a truly special filament. Within a few months we released a truly unique filament: bronzeFill and within half a year we came up with a new variety: copperFill. This very copperFill was found by 3D Matter to be the filament with the highest visual quality.

Graph courtesy of 3D Matter

Containing 80% of copper by weight, copperFill truly shines when properly post-processed. Our copperFill has been developed for aesthetical purposes and been a hit since the launch in the fall of 2014. It is a perfect material for, for instance, busts and statues, like this bust of Teddy Roosevelt:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:274086

After copperFill we launched brassFill and steelFill to our product line of metal filled filaments.

 

Category: High temperature

Runner-up: colorFabb_HT

It is a tough category, but we still came up in the top 4. colorFabb_HT was launched a year ago as the third filament in our range of co-polyesters. After colorFabb_XT and nGen we found that the market was in need of a high temperature resistant filament. colorFabb_HT has a glass temperature of over 100 degrees C and has proven to be a favorite of the high-end professional users.

colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology and is uniquely suited for advanced 3D printing users, particular those who need their creations to exhibit excellent durability, toughness and temperature resistance. You can find more information on our dedicated landing page.

Aside from its functionality in practical prints, colorFabb_HT Clear also allows to print near transparent prints. Another feature, as a recent post shows, is the ability to print with extreme detail.

 

Category: Affordable

Runner-up: PLA Economy

colorFabb has never been positioned to be the cheapest filament around. All in-house development, the best raw materials, high quality and our aim to have top after sales support comes at a price. However, we aim to keep the price as low as possible. Last year we listened to your calls for a more economical filament to be available from us and in November of 2016 we launched PLA Economy. We are glad to read that we have made the top of the affordable filaments tested by 3D Matter, especially since we know this is a field which is already well served in terms of the quantity of different filaments and brands that are available.

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. 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.

 

Category: All-round

Runner-up: nGen

What is an all-round filament? There is no such thing as a filament that can do everything and has all the characteristics that everybody needs for every application and print. At 3D Matter they asked themselves:  “If we don’t know what we are going to print, what material would we like?” And we are happy to read that nGen is one of the filaments that come out the best.

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.

 

All filaments are available in our webshop or through our network of distributors and resellers worldwide.

 

 

 

Drain exit

In Western Europe the weather is erratic at best. With leaves ending up in the gutter, we want to avoid that they clutter up the drains. One of our colleagues, Jos,  ended up designing and printing his own drain exit:

Design by Joshyu: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2308895

It is a practical piece, printed on the Ultimaker 3 with colorFabb_XT Dark Gray. It took approximately 12 hours to print this part.

We launched colorFabb_XT almost 3 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 temp. resistance, Styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance, BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It will allow the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.

You can find the data sheets and other documentation on our website: http://colorfabb.com/Materials/

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.

PLA Economy Dark Blue

Yesterday we added a fifth color to our range of PLA Economy filaments: Dark Blue. Recently we held a poll on Twitter and we asked what color our users would prefer next. Dark Blue was the obvious winner and as from today we are shipping PLA Economy Dark Blue:

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November last year. Initially we released four colors: white, red, black and silver.

 

Now we have 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 works great with basic PLA settings on a wide range of printers. Below is the first test print, our very own mascot Sir Fill:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:501831

We printed our Dark Blue Knight on the Prusa i3 Mk 2 with standard PLA settings and a 0.2mm layer height.

The XL spool does not fit on the Prusa itself, so we used one of our spool holders (design can be found here). If you want to know if the PLA Economy XL spool fits on your printer, check out the spool sizes we carry here.

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.

Replacement pedal

3D printing allows for a lot of applications, DIY repairing being one of them. This weekend we wrote about replacing a part for a laundy dryer, which was printed with colorFabb_HT. Today we have another case, made with colorFabb_XT, which started in our very own print lab!

A couple of weeks ago the pedal of the garbage bin in our printing lab broke. One of the pins that is used as a rotation point broke off. So we decided to model and print it ourselves!

On top: the printed version, below the original broken version.

Printed with colorFabb_XT Dark Gray, this model has been designed in SolidWorks, during which the printing orientation has been kept in mind.

When you print parts for mechanical or functional use, the direction of the printed layers is important in order to maximize the mechanical properties of the print. It also incorporates the original foot pedal, which snaps on nicely. The part itself also fitted to our bin without any problems.

colorFabb_XT is a perfect material for functional prints like this, due to the excellent mechanical and printing properties of the material. The printed parts also show a high glossy finish which can also be used for visual aspects in functional prototypes.

Printed on the Lulzbot TAZ 6 with the standard nozzle on 0,2mm layerheight.  Scroll down for more information on the Lulzbot TAZ 6.

colorFabb_XT is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM1800. Launched in September 2014, it is a fantastic functional engineering material. With colorFabb_XT we achieved to produce a filament that provides good strength and toughness, as well as certain FDA food contact compliances. It has found a wide audience amongst users looking for extra functionality. With a temperature resistance of 75+ degrees, this filament offers (aside from its high strength and very high toughness) odor neutral processing, a styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation.

colorFabb_XT is available in 14 colors (including clear) and we ship from stock. Order yours now!

 

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!

 

Laundry dryer part

Last week we posted about a real-life problem (although not a problem on a global scale). It is an annoyance that every household encounters: a part of, say, a laundry dryer breaks. And that is exactly what happened.

Normally what happens next: you call the service guy (or girl), they take their good time to come over, try to fix the problem, have to order in a spare part, etc. etc. But we prefer not to be stuck in the 20th century mechanics of everyday life. Let’s get disruptive. Let’s design the part ourselves, print it and replace it.

Original broken part on the left, newly printed part with colorFabb_HT Dark Gray on the right.

First, of course, we needed to model it in Solidworks and then we set out to print it.

Printed on the Ultimaker 2 we made this part with colorFabb_HT Dark Gray (printing at 260 degrees and the heated bed at 100 degrees at a 0.1mm layer height).

3D printing has allowed for the creation of gadgets, cosplay and other fun stuff, but materials like colorFabb_HT, enabled by Eastman Tritan™ co-polyester technology, allow for truly disruptive uses in day to day life.

colorFabb_HT is made with Eastman Amphora™ HT5300 and is a low-odor and styrene-free material uniquely suited for advanced 3D printing users, particularly those who need their models to exhibit excellent durability, toughness and high temperature resistance with a Tg of over 100⁰C. colorFabb_HT empowers professional users to create more durable and useful items, making prototyping truly functional. This opens up new areas in which 3D printed applications can be successfully applied.

colorFabb_HT is uniquely suited for advanced 3D printing users, particular those who need their creations to exhibit excellent durability, toughness and temperature resistance. You can find more information on our dedicated landing page.

Aside from its functionality in practical prints, colorFabb_HT Clear also allows to print near transparent prints. Another feature, as a recent post shows, is the ability to print with extreme detail.

colorFabb_HT is available in our webshop.

King’s Day

Get your 20% discount on all filaments now! Update: this discount lasts until April 30th – midnight CET.

As annual traditions go, King’s Day (Koningsdag in Dutch) is one of the more fun and carefree public holidays we have here in the Netherlands. It’s the King’s birthday, but most people take the chance to enjoy the sun, a few drinks and all the festivities that are held throughout the country. It is the day that the entire country turns orange (our national color).

That said, we’re closed on Thursday, but we want to celebrate this day with you to give you a whopping 20% discount on all our filaments!

Crown design by colorFabb, exactly : http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:80709

Go to our webshop now. The best thing? You don’t have to do anything! You get your discount right away when checking out your cart. (Yes, we are that nice). The discount, however, does not work with other discounts (for instance: Buy 4 PLA/PHA spools and pay only 3 does not grant an additional 20% discount) and does not apply to the printers that are available. We’re nice, but not that nice.

This discount lasts until Thursday midnight CET, so get yours while you have the chance!

Have you checked if you are entitled to free shipping? For selected European countries we can offer free shipping as from a certain number of spools. Check it out here.

Need inspiration? If course we offer orange filaments (the aptly named Dutch Orange, the more all-round nGen Orange, the functional colorFabb_XT Orange or the translucent PLA Orange).

But we have much more! Choose from 30 PLA/PHA colors, from 17 nGen colors, 7  nGen_FLEX colors (including 5 skin tones), 5 colorFabb_HT colors or 14 colorFabb_XT colors! We are colorFabb after all.

Or why not our range of PLA Economy: four colors available (more on the way!) on 2.2kg spools at a little over € 35 excluding VAT. But with our 20% discount it gets even better in terms of pricing!

XL spool holder: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1862683

Always wanted to try something else and go for an awesome, non-printed look? Go check our special filaments!

colorFabb gift box by Tony Short: https://learn.colorfabb.com/colorfabb-gift-box/

Or try our value packs! Several combinations and great deals possible!

No reason to linger here longer. Click here or on the images above to go directly to the webshop and order with a big discount! Enjoy King’s Day with us (we’ll be back on Friday to ship all your orders!!)

– Team colorFabb

 

Inverted bucket steam trap

Our metal filled filaments have great aesthetic characteristics. They look awesome when printed, even stunningly beautiful when post-processed, but one aspect that you cannot see – but all users agree on – is the added weight of the filament. This makes a great filament to create visual prototypes that also need that added weight. Like the inverted bucket steam trap we recently printed:

Inverted Bucket Steam Trap based on the 3D model by Tamas Cserto
Design: https://grabcad.com/library/inverted-bucket-steam-trap-1

Printed in steelFill, copperFill and bronzeFill, this cross-sectioned model beautifully shows the inner workings of an inverted bucket steam trap.
It’s screw threads are fully functional straight out of the printer so you can assemble it whilst showing the different aspects or even change out parts on the fly.

The metal filaments have a nice aesthetic and give the parts a genuine feel both in terms of added weight as well as the look and feel of the parts. Note however that this is not a functional part, working in real life, but a visual prototype.

We printed this model on the Ultimaker 2+ with Ruby nozzle (which is recommended for steelFill) on 0,10mm layer height.

One of the aspects of steelFill is that it has magnetic properties. steelFill is the latest in our range of special metal filled filaments, being launched in 2016 after bronzeFill and copperFill (both in 2014) and brassFill (in 2015). You can find some post-processing tips here.

We have also written handy tutorials on how to print with these special filaments:

The high steel content of the steelFill material makes this filament quite abrasive to brass nozzles.  Therefore it’s recommended to print with abrasive resistant nozzles. For the nozzle we chose the Olsson Ruby nozzle 2,85mm version. 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 XT-CF20, but also our steelFill.

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.

This nozzle was generously supplied to us by 3DVerkstan, our distributor and partner in the Nordic regiona and manufacturer of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle. For more information about the nozzle, contact 3DVerkstan: info@3dverkstan.se

colorFabb’s metal filled filaments are available online.

Micrometer holder

In our production and in our print lab we need to be accurate.  We use our micrometer quite a lot, but we are only human and have only two hands. A custom designed (by our own print team) micrometer holder was a great solution, printed with colorFabb_XT.

Micrometer holder by colorFabb: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2258819

We printed the micrometer on the Stacker S4 with colorFabb_XT Light Gray.

For clamping down the micrometer without damaging it we designed two bendable sections. Using M6 screws that come in from the bottom the two sections can be bend outwards to hold the micrometer in place.

colorFabb_XT is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM1800. Launched in September 2014, it is a fantastic functional engineering material. With colorFabb_XT we achieved to produce a filament that provides good strength and toughness, as well as certain FDA food contact compliances. It has found a wide audience amongst users looking for extra functionality. With a temperature resistance of 75+ degrees, this filament offers (aside from its high strength and very high toughness) odor neutral processing, a styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation.

colorFabb_XT is available in 14 colors (including clear) and we ship from stock. Order yours now!

 

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. 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.