colorFabb_HT – made with Eastman Tritan™

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. With certain FDA approvals and chemical resistance it is an engineering grade material that has been in high demand with the professional users and hobbyists alike.

 

Print near transparent parts with colorFabb_HT (original blog post here)

colorFabb_HT: Tritan Technology

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. Amphora is Eastman’s brand of co-polyesters dedicated for 3D printing. Our nGen, colorFabb_XT and nGen_FLEX are also made with Amphora materials.

Image result for eastman amphora

colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology. Tritan is Eastman’s flagship product and has been succesfully added to the 3D printing portfolio with colorFabb_HT. Learn more about Tritan on Eastman’s dedicated website.

You can find more documentation here:

  • Technical Data Sheet (TDS)
  • Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
  • Product Regulatory Information Sheet (PRIS)

 

Copolyesters explained

The way we see it, FDM 3D printing filaments will be all about functionality in the future. How you are going to use your prints in the real world will define what material you choose. We have found a lot of characteristics in Eastman’s range of Amphora co-polyesters that offer functionality, durability and efficiency. Added benefits compared to ABS are the low-odor while printing and that Amphora based filaments are styrene free.

Compared to PLA, Amphora features a much better heat resistance, starting at 75C for colorFabb XT, 85C for colorFabb nGen and 100C for colorFabb HT. Below is a chart how our range of co-polyesters compare to other materials like PLA and ABS:

Learn more about co-polyesters in our previous blog.

 

High tech clamps, printed with colorFabb_HT on the Leapfrog Bolt by Peter de Corte

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.

 

 

colorFabb_HT prints

One of the unique features of colorFabb_HT is the ability to print near transparent parts. Due to the high flow characteristics it is now possible to print parts that are almost see-through. Check out the blog we wrote about it previously here.

 

Original post

Another aspect of the filament is its ability to print extremely detailed prints, like seen below:

Tiny Hellboy by Geoff W. / Hex3D. Original post 

Although our range of co-polyesters already look extremely good, there are quite a few way how you can perform so-called secondary operations, like glueing, painting, etc. Click the image below for more information:

678778

 

Below are some of the prints we made in the past few years with colorFabb_HT:

Old and broken laundry dryer part left, new printed one on the right. Original post

 

 

Air gun adapter by colorFabb. Original post

 

Brushless motor by MakeSEA, colorFabb_HT print in combination with steelFill. Original post 

 

Vertical windmill by Michael Broderick. Original post

 

Dremel tool holder by mitchnajmitch, printed with colorFabb_HT and woodFill. Original post

colorFabb_HT is available in five colors, as 700gr and 2kg spools. It ships daily and from stock. Click here to go to our webshop.

colorFabb_HT is available in Clear, Black, White, Light Gray and Dark Gray

Ending the sample life

As from today (December 16th 2019) we have ended our sample program… for now. No samples can be ordered anymore in our webshop with immediate effect.

 

Why?

It all comes down to efficiency. In recent years we have seen a steady month-on-month decline of demand for samples and an increase of materials we offer. Making samples is mostly a manual process with lots of handling and packaging. All these factors combined increase the complexity of maintaining our sampling service.

By discontinuing our sample operation we can focus our logistical efforts on the things that matter: shipping your orders faster and more efficient.

Our samples… no more.

Ending a product or a service is not a decision made lightly, but one made to improve our overall efforts to bring the right filaments straight to your printers in the most efficient manner.

 

How can you test our materials?

As for the time being we do not offer any samples for testing anymore. Rest assured that all materials we bring to the market have been extensively tested on the most well-known printers (Ultimaker, Prusa, Lulzbot, BCN 3D, Makerbot, etc.). If you are in doubt, please contact us at support@colorfabb.com

We have also written tutorials with recommended print settings for most of our materials. Click here to find out more. Settings can also be found at the bottom of the individual product pages:

 

Now what?

But you have not seen the last of our samples! In Q1 2020 we will return with a more simplified sample program. We will also use samples more for other efforts at colorFabb, like the occasional give-aways or other promotionals!

In the meantime, we have our Holiday Season Discount of 20% on selected filaments running until December 31st 2019! Head over to our webshop to see what is on sale! (No coupon code needed, we have already lowered the prices of the applicable filaments)!

Holidays 2019

Christmas starts early… 2 weeks early to be more precise. Our holiday 2019 season sale starts today with 20% discount on selected filaments! Scroll down for our current sale campaign, clearance sale and – important! – when we will be open during the Christmas holidays. Click here to go to our webshop!

Try our classics like PLA/PHA or nGen. Or colorFabb_HT, enabled by Eastman Tritan copolyester technology for engineering parts!

Or why not try one of our latest filament releases, like LW-PLA, Tough PLA, varioShore TPU or Laser Marking PLA:

 

Clearance sale!

We have over 25 filaments on a special clearance sale! These items are available as long as stock lasts. After that they will no longer be part of our portfolio. Get yours while you can, some of them are already sold out!

No coupon code needed – we have already lowered the price on our website. Discount does not apply to third party filaments, samples, hardware & accessories, Color on Demand and value packs. Discount does not work with other discounts! This discount applies to all orders placed until December 31st  23:59 CET!

Opening days during the holidays

Please note that we are formally closed during the Christmas holidays. There will be limited shipping of webshop orders during the week of Christmas and New Year. After Friday December 20th we only ship on Monday December 23rd and Monday December 30th this year. Normal operations resume on January 2nd 2020.

To summarize:

Shipped before December 21st: order before December 20th noon CET

Shipped before Christmas: order before December 23rd noon CET

Shipped before New Year’s: order before December 30th noon CET

Shipping depends on availability and stock levels. Please note that during the holidays deliveries can take longer. This is beyond our control.

 

Happy holidays everyone!! 

Mosaic Palette

The Mosaic Palettes are perfect tools to create multi-color and multi-material prints, even (and especially) when you have a single nozzle extruder. We have created two examples of how you can make great looking prints on most printers which handle 1.75mm filament.

Handle Bosch Rexroth by Sidnei Willians Nurchi (link)

Screwdriver (VDE) Phillips by Matt Davey (link)

 

During Black Friday 2019 we offer a 10% discount on both the Palette 2 and Palette 2 PRO

Both prints were made with PLA Economy and PLA Semi-Matte Black using the Mosaic Palette. We used an Tripod Maker with various DIY adjustments as the the primary printer, which worked very well.

 

Both designs were originally single color, but we used the paint feature in the Mosaic CANVAS software to determine the various materials and colors for the prints. Users are able to digitally paint models in CANVAS. This makes it easier than ever to create multi-color designs.  Palette 2 made a significant step toward making multi-color printing accessible to a new community. However, designing parts was still a challenge. There are millions of 3D models available on the internet, but only a small percentage are split into multiple pieces for printing in multiple colors. Designing these models would typically be significantly harder than their single color counterparts. While the library of color models is growing, it’s still in the early days. This has put a damper on one of the unique value-adds of 3D printing – the ability to create unique and custom objects.

You can read more about the paint feature in CANVAS on Mosaic’s blog.

 

The Palette 2 and Palette 2 Pro take up to four filaments and combines them into a single filament strand. This strand is then fed to your printer, enabling your single-extruder printer to create multi-filament prints!

Mosaic is a digital manufacturing company creating the next generation of product delivery systems. Founded in 2014, Mosaic began by enabling 3D printers to create substantially more useful and valuable products. Now, they’re working to scale this technology to help millions of people get value from the upcoming waves of customization and personalization.

We’re proud to be Mosaic’s partner in their quest to increase the flexibility of 3D printing for our users worldwide.

PALETTE 2

Palette 2 combines four filaments and feeds them into your printer in real time, no modifications required.

  • Print impossible overhangs with water-soluble support.
  • Make heat- and water-resistant models in four colors of durable PETG.
  • Create functional, end-use products by combining PLA with a flexible TPU.
  • Improved hardware design helps to create consistent and reliable bonds between filament.
  • Color touchscreen includes built-in Gradient and Pattern modes.

PALETTE 2 PRO

Palette 2 Pro includes all of the above and:

  • All aluminum Splice Core Pro allows for faster splicing and cooling, improving the overall print time
  • Includes additional parts to ensure optimal performance and maintenance
  • Sleek all-black casing

During Black Friday 2019 we offer a 10% discount on both the Palette 2 and Palette 2 PRO

Clearance sale

Nothing lasts forever…

In the past few years we have been adding and adding filaments to our portfolio. And then we added even more. At this point we have, also thanks to our Color on Demand program, thousands of products in our system. Mostly filaments. But not all filaments are equally succesfull and some of them need to make space for new innovations. That’s why we are currently having our largest clearance sale in our seven year history. Go to our Sales page on the webshop to see what filaments will be gone forever soon.

Why?

Why get rid of all these bright and fantastic colors. To be quite honest: economy and efficiency. We have a lot of great filaments that sell really well. The filaments chosen to be part of the clearance sale simply do not sell well enough to keep in stock. With every filament we asked ourselves questions that needed to be asked: Is Warm Red too close to Traffic Red to justify its existence? Is there any real demand for colorFabb_XT Pink or Purple? Although stunning, was there every really a market for nGen Transparent? All these questions were answered and tough decisions were made.

Are they bad filaments? No, absolutely not. They have been produced according to the same high standards as our other filaments and we stand with the quality of the materials we ship. We listen to the market and said market has made a choice. Demand is simply too low to keep them in stock. That is not to say there is no demand for them at all, but with an ever increasing portfolio of various filaments we have to make decisions. And we like our decision to be rational and fact-based.

So…? If your favorite material or color is among these pre-selected colors, you can now order in bulk to make sure you have plenty of stock to keep you printing for the time being. We have dropped the pricing significantly so the initial investment can be kept at a minimum.

But I really need this one filament!?! Custom production can be arranged, but an MOQ will apply for this, usually as from 25kg per material/color. Check with our team for the options.

And if I need only one spool? If it is PLA you are in luck. With our Color on Demand service we can produce a spool of PLA in RAL for you. Click here for the options. Color on Demand does not extend yet to other materials.

And when it’s gone? It’s gone. It is a clearance sale after all. We do not plan to have these products in stock again. There are more materials on the horizon (*stares at horizon*).

Below is a list of the materials which will go out of stock:

  • PLA/PHA Magenta (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Chocolate Brown (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Fluorescent Green
  • PLA/PHA Light Brown (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Greenish Beige (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Yellow Transparent
  • PLA/PHA Olympic Gold (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Olive Green (SOLD OUT)
  • PLA/PHA Warm Red (SOLD OUT)
  • nGen Pink
  • nGen Purple
  • nGen_LUX Star Yellow
  • nGen_LUX Nature Green
  • nGen_LUX Regal Violet (SOLD OUT)
  • nGen Yellow Transparent
  • nGen Orange Transparent
  • nGen Red Transparent
  • nGen Blue Transparent (SOLD OUT)
  • nGen Green Transparent
  • nGen Violet Transparent
  • colorFabb_XT Purple
  • colorFabb_XT Pink
  • colorFabb_XT Dark Green
  • colorFabb_XT Orange
  • colorFabb_XT Yellow (SOLD OUT)

 

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR SALES PAGE

Motorcycle suspension part

As we add more materials to our portfolio we see more possibilities. With our proven XT-CF20 and the recently added Igus Iglidur I150 for instance. We printed a motorcycle suspension linkage prototype:

Design by colorFabb

Both materials were printed on the Ultimaker 2+ with the Olsson Ruby Nozzle. Both components were press fitted together with a tight tolerance. This model was made as a fitting prototype and was not part of a working motorbike. We used the following print settings:

XT-CF20
Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
Layerheight: 0.2mm
Printing speed: 40mm/s
Nozzle temperature: 255C
Bed temperature: 80C
Infill: 90%

Igus Iglidur I150
Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
Layerheight: 0.2mm
Printing speed: 40mm/s
Nozzle temperature: 255C
Bed temperature: 90C
Infill: 60%

About the filaments

XT-CF20 is our first Amphora based special filament, launched nearly two years ago, made with colorFabb_XT and 20% carbon fibres. More information can be found here. XT-CF20 has received some really good reviews on our website. It may not be the easiest filament to print with, but the results can be stunning. The functionality, stiffness and the matte finish are true selling points of this material.

A special point of attention is the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers. In general these fibers will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than unfilled filaments. Therefore we  recommend to use hardened steel nozzles. XT-CF20 is available online

 

igus filaments are all about functionality. The iglide® range of filaments are 3D printing materials for maximum service in moving applications. You can create custom parts with significantly higher wear resistance than standard filament. The iglide materials benefits include:

  • High degree of wear resistance, similar to that of injection molded iglide® components
  • Igus has more than 30 years of experience in the development of high-performance plastics for moving applications
  • Tested in Igus’ own laboratory

Components made of igus® Tribo-Filament are up to 50 times more wear-resistant than standard materials for 3D printing and therefore have an extremely long service life. Due to their excellent tribological properties, they are suited for 3D printing of replacement parts, for example bearings, drive nuts, gears and other wear parts. The igus® Tribo-Filaments can be processed on 3D printers that are based on the fused-deposition-modelling method (FDM/FFF) and that allow the nozzle temperature to be set as required.

Longboard Wheels

In recent months we have added quite a few new materials in our webshop. To showcase two of them we have combined them into one functional print. We used Iroprint F80213 by Huntsman and our brand new Tough PLA to print longboard wheels.

The Street Wheels for Longboard were designed by Zenjota (link)

The two components are printed seperately and assembled after printing:

 

Iroprint F80213 features good abrasive resistance amongst other key features. In this case the tire feels grippy and offers dampening due to the infill and shore A85. It is a polyether-based Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) with shore A85. Key features, aside from the abrasive resistance, are high elasticity, cut and scratch resistance and good low temperature performance. Being polyether-based, it offers a good hydrolysis resistance. Developed by chemical specialist Huntsman, Iroprint F80213 stands out in our range for delivering prints with a mat finish, resulting in a high-quality touch and feel of the final object.

Iroprint F80213 by Huntsman is one of the materials which settings can easily be accessed in the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura.

The inner rim is printed with colorFabb Tough PLA. We decided for a 100% infill to achieve maximum stiffness with this material and at the same time toughness. The part was printed at 230c and 0.2mm layerheight.

Our Tough PLA is a custom blend which retains the ease of use of PLA but adds serious toughness to the material. As a result the material is a lot less brittle than regular PLA filaments and has a higher impact strength.

The recommended printing temperatures are 210C-230C and 50-60C heated bed temperature. The print speed can be set to 40-50 mm/s. For better overhang performance we recommend using slower outer perimeter speed, 20-30 mm/s.

We release Tough PLA in two colors: black and white, which are available now and ship from stock.

Custom Filaments

As a specialist in quality 3D printing filaments we see the need for more diverse filaments every day. Of course we have our expanding portfolio of readily available materials (like PLA, co-polyesters and Specials), as well as our Color on Demand service. With our recently launched colorFabb Labs we offer even more special filaments, often suitable for specific applications. Besides these colorFabb branded filaments, we also develop and produce custom filaments specifically tailored to meet our customers’ needs.

 

 

 

These days custom filaments is one of our strengths and core competences at colorFabb.

FFF 3D printing is slowly maturing and companies are actively looking for material solutions for their applications.

A perfect example of custom material development is our effort with Witcom Engineering Plastics. With Witcom we developed a filament with similar Radar Absorbing properties as the granulate material used for injection molding.

 

 

 

Witcom Engineering Plastics, located at Etten-Leur, the Netherlands, specialises in the development and manufacture of technically high performing polymer compounds for automotive, transportation, aviation, electrical / electronics, industrial, medical and consumer product applications.

PLA-3DRAM allows OEMs not only to test form and fit, but also the actual radar absorbing performance of their physical design. Often radar units are mounted in brackets which need to be designed in such a way that the radar units have the least amount of ghosting. This is application is being used in, for instance, the automotive industry.

This material is exclusively made for Witcom Engineering Plastics and not available at colorFabb. Interested in this specific material, please contact Witcom Engineering Plastics.

 

For businesses we offer the chance to have a custom filament being developed, either as a co-branded or a private label filament. Interested? Contact us here or email directly to sales@colorfabb.com so we can discuss the possibilities with you.

 

PLA-3DRAM 3D print service

Only interested in printed PLA-3DRAM parts? Get in touch with our 3D print engineers and we’re happy to discuss the possibilities with you. On our Stacker 3D printing systems we’re able to achieve high quality parts at lighting speed by 3D printing with 4 printheads at the same time:

 

About us

In our 3D Printing Application Center just south of Venlo, The Netherlands, our team of specialists are ready to answer your questions and meet your needs. colorFabb offers a unique combination of in-depth polymer knowledge in combination with 3D printing know-how for end users and businesses alike. This knowledge, combined with almost seven years of experience in the 3D printing market, ensures we can offer solutions for a wide range of applications and meet your needs.

 

Available now – Tough PLA

 

New filaments are coming fast and strong here at colorFabb these days. Talking about strong… Today we release our latest 3D printing filament: Tough PLA.

Our Tough PLA is a custom blend which retains the ease of use of PLA but adds serious toughness to the material. As a result the material is a lot less brittle than regular PLA filaments and has a higher impact strength.

The recommended printing temperatures are 210C-230C and 50-60C heated bed temperature. The print speed can be set to 40-50 mm/s. For better overhang performance we recommend using slower outer perimeter speed, 20-30 mm/s.

We release Tough PLA in two colors: black and white, which are available now and ship from stock.

PLA Tough was developed under our new colorFabb Labs program. colorFabb Labs is dedicated to bring more innovative materials faster to the market. It is colorFabb’s aim to meet customers’ needs in terms of materials and 3D printing services. Stay tuned for more exciting developments this year.

PLA Tough is available in black and white on 750 grams spools.

 

Car parts made with PA-CF Low Warp

There are as many uses for our filaments as there are 3D printers and users in this world. We love to come across great applications for our materials. Applications we could not think of when we developed and produced the filaments. Or could think of but never thought we would actually see it. Enter John Pham from Brisbane, Australia, who prints car parts with our PA-CF Low Warp filament.

 

3D printed velocity stacks, all images made by John

We came across these prints on Reddit and contacted John about the amazing quality and practical use of his prints.

Check out the original Reddit post!

John considers himself a hobbyist and has printed about 10kg of PA-CF Low Warp. He has declared it his favorite filament so far to use.

Spacer and velocity stacks, aluminium inserts used to add strength to the parts

 

John is a 3D printing enthusiast who happens to love cars. He adds: “I took this opportunity to try design and print as many parts for my modified Mazda MX-5 as possible. My main printer is a modified Tevo Tornado with a E3D Titan Aero hotend/extruder and 0.5 mm NozzleX, I print at 0.2mm and 0.1mm layer height depending on the parts function. My printing material of choice for functional car parts has always been carbon fiber nylon, and in my opinion colorfabb PA-CF produces the best results. Consistent printing results for myself and customers, good strength, excellent resistance to heat, fuels and oils. It also prints very easily, purple gluestick on 55C glass, no warping, flawless supports, excellent surface finish and dimensional accuracy.”

As you can see, John has quite the skills to print with our engineering grade filament. PA-CF Low Warp is a carbon fiber infused polyamide material with the mechanical properties of a PA6 and excellent printability because of extremely low warp.

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.

It’s not only the velocity stacks that John printed: “I’ve used colorfabb PA-CF to print intake velocity stacks, bulkhead plates, side mirror mount, bonnet prop, work jigs, mounting brackets, 3D printer parts, and electrical connector housings.”

Visit John’s blog for more of his work!

PA-CF Low Warp was developed and released two years ago with LEHVOSS Group. 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 at colorFabb and ships worldwide from stock.

Curious how to print with PA-CF Low Warp? Here is our tutorial!

 

Disclaimer: 3D printing is subject to various factors: material, processing, printer, settings, etc. Using printed parts like car parts or other parts that are used in real life are at the user’s own risk. We recommend expert level printing, like this example, and extensive testing before use.