Multiple material prints will be more common in the new year. We have several great printers that not only print two colors in one print, but also two materials. This expands the possibilities of 3D printing and give the maker more freedom to make functional products! Today we used both nGen and nGen_FLEX in one single print:
Designed by Imaginables from Australia, this coupler was made for a multiple material print and they used PLA with our nGen_FLEX. nGen_FLEX as their YouMagine page states, works very well with regular PLA. We opted to print with nGen ourselves, since the combination with nGen_FLEX has proven to be a match made in 3D heaven.
Our print was made on the recemtly launched Ultimaker 3 at a 0.1mm layer height.
Click the image above to see the flexible filament at work!
nGenwas released late last year and is an all-round filament which has many advantages over, say, a 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.
nGen_FLEX was released recently 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.
Both nGen and nGen_FLEX are 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 based filaments, 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 recently published: What we talk about when we talk about co-polyesters.
Both nGen and nGen_FLEX are available now in our webshop (click here or here) and via our network of distributors and resellers. Click here for a reseller closest to you (Imaginables also resells colorFabb filaments. Click here and here).
It’s great to be able to improve on your own equipment simply by adding 3D printed parts. We designed and printed an end-piece for our pelletizer. With this end-piece we prevent spillage of material because the pellets are guided much better.
Next to this part we also added a better dust shoot, collecting all the dust and guiding it towards a bag. A m8 locknut is incorporated in the sides of the end-piece so there’s the ability to clamp it down.
For both applications we used colorFabb_XT, made with Eastman Amphora AM1800. This machine is used everyday at colorFabb and vibrates a lot during operation. We decided XT would be the best choice for this particular application where good toughness is needed but no particular high heat resistance.
The two tone color effect on the end piece was created by switching colors during print, using the pause and change filament routine on the Ultimaker 2.
This might be one of the most futuristic looking gear mechanisms you’ve seen on Thingiverse. User otvinta3d released a great model demonstrating the Eccentrically Cycloidal Drive Model by EC gears. It’s a drive gear mechanism with a gear ratio of 1:9 in a very compact design. Achieving such a ratio with conventional gears, in the same compact body is very difficult.
We 3D printed this model with colorFabb nGen and at 0.08mm layerheight the gears run very smooth. This model contains only a few parts parts and is easy to print and easy to assemble.
Until the end of the year you can benefit from the Buy 4, Pay 3 promotion! Use coupon code colorfabb4you on our website to get the fourth spool you order for free! Some conditions apply though: cheapest spool is for free and samples and PLA Economy are exempt from this part of the promotion.
To inspire the community of architects we 3D printed a fantastic design by David_Mussaffi showing the potential of 3D printing for architectural purposes.
David designed various wall tiles which are clearly inspired by wave patterns. The models have been created using Blender.
We used woodFill and corkFill to print this model, which are two perfect materials for architects. These materials look and feel totally different then regular plastic filaments. For scale architectural models this materials is a great match and adds lots of value.
David also made a video of his Ultimaker 2 printing the wall tiles in colorFabb Dutch Orange.
The day before Christmas we feature a print that is both functional and, more important, has a backstory. Travis Corbett, under the name In3Designs, has designed the Universal Bottle Opener.
The reason for designing this bottle opener are best explained in Travis’ own words: “My mother was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome over a year ago. Along with many other symptoms muscle deterioration is one of them. She has been treated and is on the road to recovery but she is still very weak. She was telling me that she had to go to her neighbors house so they could open up a bottle for her. She had a bottle opener but not one that would fit a large bottle. I went through a few different designs but now I have a working version. The “Universal Bottle Opener” or “UBO” can open large juice bottles, sports drink bottles, soda bottles, canned drinks, and pop tops!”
This is a fantastic design and we love how 3D printing is being used this way! Keep up the good work, Travis!
For this print we used our all-round nGen filament and printed two bottle openers simultaneously on the Stacker S4 with 2 print heads.
nGen is made from Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer. Like colorFabb_XT, colorFabb_HT and nGen_FLEX, it is part of Eastman’s Amphora range of copolyesters for 3D printing. Find more about co-polyesters, what they are and what the advantages are by visiting our previous blog. You can find out more about nGen by visiting our dedicated landing page.
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.
The printer used was the Stacker S4. With up to 4 print heads working simultaneously, he Stacker is a perfect printer for large scale projects and small series production. You can find more information by visiting our website: http://stacker.colorfabb.com/
Another year flew by like it was nothing. Wasn’t it only yesterday that it was 2015? And a little over week from now it’s 2017! It is time for our annual recap. If you want to see what we did before, catch up with 2014 and 2015. Then, get ready for our 2016 recap!
As they say, time flies when you are having fun. What a year it was: here at colorFabb we cannot recall one day that was boring or unexciting. Every day brought something new and exciting and we have no doubt that 2017 will bring even more excitement. To give you a quick overview, here is colorFabb by the numbers right now:
Over 430 stock keeping units (individual articles)
Over 30 printers in two printlabs for testing
Nearly 20 shows so far we have exhibited on (and met a lot of you)
17 distributors worldwide and counting, with a lot more resellers
6 production lines
5 years since the first idea for colorFabb took shape
4 years active!
3 article groups (co-polyesters, PLA/PHA and specials)
2 hours of sleep we get on average every night
1 kick-ass team to bring colorFabb filaments to your printer!
You can find the timeline of the past four years here. Below are the highlights of last year in a more or less chronological order. Grab that cup of coffee, sit back and scroll down! Enjoy!
Let’s start at the beginning: January. As is tradition in the world of tech, the first week of the year all eyes (biological and digital) are focused on Las Vegas. Aleph Objects, producer of the highly rated Lulzbot Mini and Taz 3D printers invited us to join them at the Sands convention centre for the entire show, an invitation we gladly accepted. Aleph’s printers and our then recently launched nGen filament are a great match. nGen is available at the Lulzbot store, as well as other colorFabb filaments.
During this show we also launched nGen in a big way. nGen is of course our all-round filament for 3D printing. We introduced it in a limited capacity at the end of 2015. At the core of its reliability is the special chemical make-up of the Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer, which results in a good melt stability. From pellet to filament to 3D print, nGen retains its material properties very well, meaning more stable results with less waste of time and material.
One of the first, widely shared, reviews about nGen was from 3D Printing For Beginners. Click here to re-read this glowing review, which still holds up to this very day. nGen is currently available in 17 exciting colors.
In January and February we also held our time-lapse contest. Over 80 valid entries entered to win the grand prize of 48 spools of filament. You can find the full list with all entries by clicking here. Slovenian company AKLIH won this contest with the following entry:
To learn more about AKLIH and their work, look no further than the blog we recently wrote about them.
And then it was March and we attended the RapidPro show again. This show is where it all started for colorFabb 4 years ago, early 2013. After several months of preparations we announced our first products there. Now, for the fourth time there, we announced another exciting new product at the show: colorFabb_HT.
ColorFabb_HT 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 – which is over 100 degrees C. ColorFabb_HT empowers professional users to create more durable and useful items, making prototyping truly functional. ColorFabb_HT is made with BPA-free Eastman Amphora HT5300 3D polymer. You can read all about this excellent engineering material on our dedicated landing page.
Another feature that can be achieved with colorFabb_HT is a certain degree of transparancy. You can read our blog about this here or marvel at the see-through print we made:
In April we geared up for what is claimed to be the biggest industrial trade show in the world: The Hannover Messe. Like the year before we were there with the Eastman Amphora based filaments and of course the Stacker S4 3D printer. The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, even visited us!
In May we held a poll to see what you fine people really think of us. The results surprised us! Here are some figures:
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”!
These are quite staggering numbers and we are proud of them. This is by no means a sign that we can sit back and relax. We have taken your feedback and are working on this. One of the issues that we heard most (“Shipping costs!”) are being worked on as we speak. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks to see an exciting announcement regarding shipping of our filaments!
Aside from a lot of work behind the scenes to future-proof colorFabb for the future, all efforts were aimed at the AM Show in Amsterdam. Originally part of the 3D Print Show in London, the AM Show was completely re-branded and held for the first time in the RAI in Amsterdam in the last week of June. Although debates still go on about the quantity of the visitors we can safely say that the quality of the visitors was high.
We announced a new material at the show: steelFill, our fourth metal based filament. After succesfully launching bronzeFill in 2014, copperFill later that year and brassFill in early 2015, steelFill has already seen a rapid adoption. As with these other filaments, the key is post-processing and you can use similar techniques as with our other special metal based filaments (more on that later, keep scrolling).
One of the biggest draws during the AM Show was the huge Saturn V rocket, which was printed by Korneel Bullens. Entirely printed with nGen the total build took over 3500 hours on a total of 4 Ultimaker 2+ printers, 1 of them being a Ultimaker 2+ Extended. The rocket stands at 2.5 meters high. You can read all about this huge print in September’s blog.
After the AM Show summer holidays started all over the northern hemisphere. We took some time off, one by one, and this is also a good place to talk about post-processing (since everybody has a bit more time during their vacation, we think). This year we wrote several blogs about post-processing our materials. Of course, it is our aim to release materials that look awesome straight from the printer but we know there is a need for post-processing in certain cases, especially with our special filaments.
During the summer we also started warehousing filaments in the US. colorFabb USA, Inc provides our distributors in North America with our filaments. It is our aim to have our products faster and more efficiently available in the US through our distributor network.
Early September we also revamped our tutorial site: https://learn.colorfabb.com/ Originally intended as a site for tutorials, we have expanded the scope a bit by adding a News section where all the latest news (including this blog) can be found. The most active part is the Featured Print section where we regularly post prints we make in our print lab or feature prints that we found made from our materials. Keep an eye out on this blog for all the latest and greatest colorFabb related items!
The post-holiday 3D printing season cannot start without attending the TCT Show. You can read the full recap here, but we want to highlight two things from that show.
First of all the release of our first semi-flexible filament: nGen_FLEX. nGen_FLEX is a new elastomer material added to our existing range of co-polyester functional 3D printing filaments. It is made from Eastman Amphora™ Flex 3D Polymer FL6000 and the fourth filament in our range of Amphora based co-polyester, following colorFabb_XT, nGen and colorFabb_HT.
It is best described as a semi-flexible material with good printability on most 3D printers eliminating the use for specialized flex extruders. It’s rated at a Shore A hardness level of 95. By adjusting infill and perimeter settings it’s possible to influence how flexible a part should feel after printing.
It is chemically resistant and has a temperature resistance of over 120 degrees C. We have released this material in two colors: black and dark gray. We are looking at making skintone colors commercially available. nGen_FLEX was very well received. We have assembled the initial reviews.
Another highlight of the show was our Open RC Formula 1 project release. Designed by Daniel Norée (for the design, click here), we scaled his design 250% and used our entire range of co-polyester filaments, including nGen_FLEX for the wheels, to print this beast of a car! Check out the accompanying video:
October was a relatively quiet month, but only because we knew that come the end of the year it would be extremely busy. And we were right.
Starting in November we celebrated our fourth birthday. It had been four years in November since we started with colorFabb. It has been a roller coaster ride ever since and we could never ever have anticipated the success that colorFabb has experienced! We celebrate this with offering a great discount in our webshop: Buy 4, but Pay 3! The the exception of PLA Economy spools and samples, this applies to all other filaments. This promotion lasts until the end of this year, so there is still time to take advantage of this great deal!
Wait, we skipped a beat… We mentioned PLA Economy without properly introducing it here. In recent years we were asked quite regularly if there would be a colorFabb branded filament available in a more competitive price range. We have taken our time to source a raw material that would still be high quality, but which we would be able to offer at a much lower price. We found that PLA formulation with an impact modifier with our new PLA Economy range. Available in 4 colors and on 2.2kg spools only, this new filament offers a great value for your money.
Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1862683
As we did last year, we participated in the consumer madness called Black Friday. On top of the Buy 4, Pay 3 promotion we granted a 15% discount on all filaments, which resulted in longer delivery times and some serious overtime for our production and logistics teams.
Let’s take a step back and appreciate the awesome team we work with here. Everybody working at colorFabb – from production to finance, from IT to logistics, from material development to sales and from our team in the print lab to the management team – we all have one single goal: to bring the best possible 3D printing filament to your printer. It’s a simple goal, but also an ambitious one. Every day the entire team improves the processes and tries to find ways to improve our products and services. The result is always a team effort. With the best individual input we can bring in, we accomplish the best possible product and service as Team colorFabb.
It’s a small step from Team colorFabb to Team 3D printing. Of course we are talking about 3D Printing Day, which is becoming an annual event. December 3rd has been announced 3D Printing Day by 3D Hubs for eternity now. 3D Hubs is one of our partners and they recently released a great blog to explain what 3D printing exactly is. Of course you know it, but we find it a very handy tool to explain to new customers the possibilities of 3D printing. In this link you can also find some of the best prints we have made and seen this year so far.
3D Hubs also opened their new office in the middle of Amsterdam recently and we were there during the grand opening. We also made them a little present: The I Amsterdam logo which can be found on the Museum Square. If you are a 3D Hubs, print one yourself! You can find the design on Thingiverse.
As the year is ending, the days are at their shortest and the festive lights are everywhere we found that our filaments are being used in more and more practical ways. We started a series of regular blogs about companies who use our filaments in new and innovative ways. In the past weeks we have written three of them and we have quite a few more lined up. Below is a short summary of the companies we have highlighted so far:
AKLIH Design, making 3D printed design products with woodFill
Spectra3D, using PLA/PHA Natural for investment casting
Mathis Orthopédie, printing with colorFabb_XT to make prototype prosthetics
Almost at the end of the year and this blog. What we want to share is Tom Sanladerer’s video review of our PLA/PHA. This review is part of Tom’s Filaween review series. We started with PLA/PHA four years ago and it is always good to see that a product that is already in the market for four years is still highly appreciated.
It is good to look back sometimes and appreciate what we have.
That said, we are gearing up for 2017. A lot of great things are being prepared and we will keep you updated! For your information, we will not close next week, although some of our staff will be on a short break. Webshop orders will ship daily from Tuesday till Friday and as from January 2nd we are back in full operation again.
If you happen to be in Las Vegas at the CES, please drop by at the Aleph Objects booth in the Sands: Hall A-D, Booth 42524 where we will be as well!
The entire colorFabb team wishes you a merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!
For one more week, until the end of the year you can benefit from the Buy 4, Pay 3 promotion! Use coupon code colorfabb4you on our website to get the fourth spool you order for free! Some conditions apply though: cheapest spool is for free and samples and PLA Economy are exempt from this part of the promotion.
It is the season of giving and we can only imagine the amount of 3D printed items given away. One give away that was printed recently were little commemorative underwater hockey sticks. For this bulk print job we used our new PLA Economy filament.
Scaled at 20% from its original design, these little sticks were all printed on the Ultimaker 2+.
Underwater hockey is a sport that is played on the bottom of a swimming pool where two teams push and move a puck over the bottom of that pool. Although fairly unknown with the mass audiences, it is played worldwide.
PLA Economy was used for these prints since this new filament is a perfect filament to make such a give away, especially when they need to be produced in bulk and small series production. There were 33 little sticks per build plate, taking up approx. 5-6 hours per printer to finish the job. In total, nearly 200 were printed.
PLA Economy was launched only a month ago and we’ve been sold out ever since. With all the back orders having shipped now, we are creating a stock situation. We have been printing quite a lot with our new PLA Economy line. A few examples are:
We have been testing this material for the better part of the summer and have found this filament a great alternative those customers who need a lot of PLA. We have released PLA Economy in four colors: White (RAL 9010), Black (RAL 9005, Red (RAL 3020) and Silver (RAL 9023). This PLA grade has been tested extensively and is being produced and shipped by the same colorFabb team you are used to so you know we are not compromising on quality. You can rely with this filament on the same high standards that colorFabb is known for. It is available only on 2.2kg spools.
PLA Economy is an addition to our range of PLA/PHA, which is available in 30 colors (and on 750 grams spools).
One application for 3D printing that we are seeing a lot of potential in is the the field of prosthetics. Of course we all know the good work that projects like Enable and 3D Life Prints are doing, but 3D printing is already being used in the field of prosthetics as we speak. We have been following the French company Mathis Orthopédie for some time now on social media and specifically on their Twitter page.
We got in touch with them to know a little bit more about this exciting application for 3D printing. They use 3D printing not for the final application, but instead for the phase before that to make sure the prosthetic is fitting well and make sure the measurements and comfort are perfect.
Customization is one of the key aspects for prosthetics since no body is the same. 3D printing offers this on an unprecedented scale, but of course it doesn’t end there. Skills in both fields of prosthetics and 3D printing are essential in combination with the right materials.
With over 40 years of experience in prosthetics, Mathis Orthopédie is one of the leading companies in their field. 3D printing enables Mathis to customize the prosthetics for each and individual customer. It also significantly reduces waste and increases speed to bring the right prosthetic faster to the person in need by 3D printing the prototypes.
We have already seen 3D printing providing dramatic changes in bringing prototypes to life, products to the market and even finding its way into centuries old technologies like investment casting, but there are few ways where 3D printing can make such a personal impact on people daily lives as with prosthetics. Below is Mathis’ company video where you can see partially printed prosthetics being tested:
The material of choice they have been using is our colorFabb_XT, 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 high strength and very high toughness, odor neutral processing, a styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It allows the user, like Mathis Orthopédie, to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.
colorFabb_XT was our first co-polyester based filament. Our portfolio of co-polyester based filaments, made with Eastman Amphora polymers, has since extended with the all-round nGen, the high temperature resistant colorFabb_HT and semi-flexible nGen_FLEX. You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here.
The functionality that colorFabb_XT offers makes it a great material for prosthetics, as Mathis Orthopédie is using it. For visual prototyping, one of the materials Mathis uses is our colorFabb PLA/PHA natural, which has become a standard in the past 4 years as an extremely reliable filament.
For their printers they use Ultimakers and a Delta Tower.
Mathis Orthopédie strives for excellence in all aspects of the prosthetics they offer and have chosen colorFabb_XT as their primary material for this application. Be sure you visit their website (in French) and follow them on Twitterand Facebook, where they regularly share their works in progress.
This is the third part of an ongoing series of blogs about companies that use colorFabb filaments in unique and exciting ways. Recently we published about AKLIH, the Slovenian design company who use our woodFill filaments for their products, and last week we wrote about Spectra3D‘s use of 3D printing for investment casting. If you are interested in being part of this feature, or know a company who would be suitable, please contact us at sales@colorfabb.com
We printed these bottles on the Swiss made Delta Tower with a 0.2mm layer height. The smooth surface and consistency of the filament, make nGen an ideal material to print large prototypes with. These models were scaled up to nearly 30cm.
We printed this model in 6 colors, but did you know that we offer nGen in 17 colors (including a clear one)?
nGen is made from Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer. Like colorFabb_XT, colorFabb_HT and nGen_FLEX, it is part of Eastman’s Amphora range of copolyesters for 3D printing. We work closely with Eastman to bring the best materials to the market. Find more about co-polyesters, what they are and what the advantages are by visiting our previous blog.
Ever since launching late last year nGen has seen a rapid adoption amongst experienced and new users alike. An early review by 3D Printing For Beginners still holds true to this very day. The ease of use and higher temperature resistance (twice that of PLA!) should make this a go-to filament for everybody who wants to get more from their print.
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. Find out how to print with nGen in our handy tutorial.
Amphora 3300 has been made into high-quality filament that exhibits advanced overhang ability, excellent looks, and large printing temperature range—empowering large panel of users to create durable and useful items. With the unique combination of a low processing temperature and an elevated temperature resistance, nGen can quickly print creations that are functional, durable, efficient and attractive.
You can find more information about nGen by clicking here.
Until the end of the year you can benefit from the Buy 4, Pay 3 promotion! Use coupon code colorfabb4you on our website to get the fourth spool you order for free! Some conditions apply though: cheapest spool is for free and samples and PLA Economy are exempt from this part of the promotion.
That’s not a moon, it’s a … Christmas ornament. Lighten up the Christmas tree with some Star Wars holiday spirit! A perfect material is our nGen filament and a touch of glowFill.
Designed by plainolddave (based on an original idea by Galen Erso, but without the weak spot), the files can be found on Scarif itself, aka Thingiverse. There is no need to go on a dangerous mission. Just click the link and transmit the files to your own rebellion stronghold. We printed the ornaments with nGen light gray and gray metallic for the most part and the trenches with glowFill on the Ultimaker 2+ at a 0.12mm layer height.
nGen is a great all-round filament for every day use.
nGen is made from Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer. Like colorFabb_XT, colorFabb_HT and nGen_FLEX, it is part of Eastman’s Amphora range of copolyesters for 3D printing. Find more about co-polyesters, what they are and what the advantages are by visiting our previous blog.
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.
Amphora 3300 has been made into high-quality filament that exhibits advanced overhang ability, excellent looks, and large printing temperature range—empowering large panel of users to create durable and useful items. With the unique combination of a low processing temperature and an elevated temperature resistance, nGen can quickly print creations that are functional, durable, efficient, and attractive.
glowFill was launched over 2 years ago and is part of our range of special filaments. It is a fantastic filament to lighten up these dark, wintery days. Great to make a full print with or perfect to accentuate a print like we made to give it an extra special touch!
