Cosplay

Only two weeks ago we released our brand new lightweight 3D printing filament LW-PLA. With its active foaming technology it can reduce weight of a printed part with 65%, which makes it ideally suited for prints where weight matters. There are a lot of applications for this new material and one of them is for use in cosplay parts.

Parametric Cosplay Shoulder Armor by qxpmikeqxp / design

The Parametric Cosplay Shoulder Armor by Mike Lobsinger is a great example. We already know that 3D printing is extensively used by the cosplay community to make unique parts for ever more extravagant costumes. With larger sizes of the costumes weight becomes a factor of course and that is exactly where LW-PLA comes in.

We ran a comparison test with our regular PLA/PHA and LW-PLA:

Left: PLA/PHA, right LW-PLA

We printed on the Ultimaker 2+ witha  0.6mm nozzle and 0.1mm layer height for both materials. For the PLA/PHA we printed at 210C and a bed temperature of 50C with 100%. This resulted in a print of 120 grams. As for LW-PLA we printed at 245C with a 50C bed temperature and with 50% flow. The print ended up less than half at 54 grams!

Find out more on our dedicated landing page!

As you can see, LW-PLA is perfectly suited for lighweight prop making. It is easy to sand to create a smooth surface finish. At around 230C this material will start foaming, increasing its volume by nearly 3 times. Users can decrease material flow by 65% to achieve lightweight parts, or use the expanding properties to effectively reduce print time by using big layer heights or single extra thick perimeters.

Click here to read more on how to print with LW-PLA in our handy tutorial.

Reduce weight and make your cosplay and attributes lighter, more practical and comfortable. With LW-PLA you can dress like a superhero without needing the strength of a superhero.

LW-PLA is available now.

Stan Lee

Excelsior! With Avengers: Endgame finally being released this week, it is only fitting that we honor the man who started most, if not all of it: Mr Stan Lee. One of our colleagues printed this very nice bust with PLA Economy.

Design by Geoffro / Patreon Link

Printed on the Prusa Mk3 with standard PLA settings it is a fitting tribute of the creator of so many beloved Marvel heroes who passed away too soon and too young last year. His work in comics and the subsequent MCU movies cannot be valued enough.

This Stan Lee bust already has found a place in one of our colleague’s living room – a true fan!

About the filament

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

It is the perfect filament to make your fan memorabilia.

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. It has been one of colorFabb’s most popular filaments ever since launching 3 years ago.

Ceiling housing

Series production on a 3D printer can be done one by one. But what if you did it four by four? On the Stacker S4 it is possible to produce multiple parts at the same time due to the large print bed (345x525mm) and four print heads. Like these ceiling housings for a passive infrared (PIR) sensor, printed with nGen Dark Gray.

Design by TerroBladeZ

Printing small series is easier than ever with the Stacker combined with colorFabb filaments. Not only is it faster, it enables the user more flexibility and it saves money over conventional production. It took merely 18 hours to print 16 ceiling housings with a 0.4mm nozzle and at 0.12mm layer height.

 

About nGen

A little over three years ago, by the end of 2015, we released a new all-round material called nGen, next Generation, based on Eastman Amphora AM3300. We believed then (and still do) that this filament was a next step for 3D printing materials. It was our goal to bring a filament to the market that has functional properties, looks astonishingly good and prints like a dream.

nGen has been a hit ever since. This is not without reason. It is true all-round material suitable for most day to day 3D printing activities. Its chemical make up ensures a very consistent quality. An advantage over PLA is its elevated temperature resistance: 80 degrees instead of 45 degrees, so even in hotter climates (or a hot summer day) the material holds up extremely well. Below is a comparison chart of several of the Amphora based filaments compared to commodity materials like ABS and PLA.

You can read more on our dedicated landing page or our blog about co-polyesters.

nGen is an amazing material which enables users to create parts with gorgeous detail and the benefit of long term stability. Don’t just take our word for it. Below are some of the reviews that our users posted in our webshop:

“Its just the perfect Filament for me!”

“Printing as easy as PLA, but with better material properties.”

“nGen is very predictable and strong.”

“nGen is always my “go to” filament. It just prints beautifully. It’s strong, handles heat well, reliable, and just looks great.”

“… prints like butter 🙂 and the finish is absolutely perfect.”

 

About Stacker

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 6 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Coffee tray

Growth of a company can be measured in a lot of different ways. Economists and historians will debate for years what the best way is, but at colorFabb we measure it by the size of our coffee tray. Whenever someone in the office goes for a coffee, courtesy dictates that he or she will bring coffee for all of the colleagues. As from this week, our coffee tray was upgraded significantly to allow for all our coffee to be brought into the office and passed around at once:

In-house design by our intern Aron Smolenaars

This print was made with our PLA Semi-Matte Black and due to the size (33 x 37cm) we required a bit more than the standard desktop 3D printer. The Stacker S4 is a great printer where we could use of the bigger-than-average build platform.

Long hours at colorFabb to develop, produce and ship the best possible 3D printing filaments mean an equal amount of coffee to be consumed at the office. Carrying it around is limited by the heat of the cups, the lack of multiple limbs and opening doors. Hence the coffee tray which is already enjoying its third iteration.

Previous designs, starting with 3 cup holders, then 8 and now 16…

The coffee tray, seemingly whimsical, is a great example of how 3D printing can offer quick solutions for everyday work space challenges. Like burnt fingers.

When developing our semi-matte PLA (available in black and white) we’ve been looking for a solution which doesn’t involve fibers to achieve a less glossy surface finish. We did not want to loose the ease of use our PLA and keep print settings and parameters as close to regular PLA setttings. For a full matte finish our XT-CF20 and PA_CF Low Warp do the trick, but they need a hardened steel nozzle to print with. PLA Semi-Matte Black (and white) will bring a new aesthetic quality to our range of PLA filaments.

Our semi-matte PLA filament eliminates the glossy appearance seen on most PLA 3D prints. The highlights on the surface will be less visible, resulting in an overall cleaner and much higher quality look.

PLA Semi-Matte Black contains no fibers and prints at regular PLA temperatures and settings. The material is as reliable and easy to work with as any other PLA type material.

 

PLA Semi-Matte Black and White are available from stock and ship daily, worldwide.

 

About Stacker

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 6 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Deadpool

Deadpool, aka The Merc with the Mouth, has been a fan favorite for years and one of our colleagues has printed the iconic Marvel character recently:

Design: https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-deadpool-bust-remastered-supportless-edition-81435

Designed by David Östman, this Deadpool bust was printed with PLA Economy Black on the Prusa i3 MK3 with standard PLA settings. The design is the second, improved design by Östman.

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

It is the perfect filament to make your fan memorabilia.

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. It has been one of colorFabb’s most popular filaments ever since launching 3 years ago.

Print your own toolbox inlay

Updated: We have added the link to the Thingiverse page so you can print your own inlay!

With 3D printing comes great customization. With the right design skills, the right printer and the right materials one can make unique prints that not only look good, but are also extremely handy. Speaking of handy, having the right tools on hand is essential in every work space (print labs in particular), but what starts with some plyers and a screwdriver can easily grow into a collection of dozens of tools. Or more. And no tools are created equally, nor are the needs of the maker. To bring more order into this chaos we decided to design and print our own toolbox inlay:

Custom in-house design (Thingiverse link)

We used our trusted Stacker S4 printer for this print, making use of the full build plate of this industrial grade 3D printer. We printed with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer height. Infill was 10% (printed every two layers).

Material of choice to print the toolbox inlay was our very own (and extremely popular) PLA Economy Silver.

We printed 3 layers to store our tools, which fit inside a standard case which can be bought at any hardware store. This way you can easily store your tools in the way you want it: Everything is always in the right place, your tools can easily be moved from one work site to the other and when you pack up you see at a glance if you have not forgotten anything.

Print your own inlay now by heading to our Thingiverse page.

The design was made in SolidWorks, our design software of choice:

Render of the design in SolidWorks

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November of 2016. Initially we released four colors: white, red, black, silver and dark blue.

 

PLA Economy

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. 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.

 

About Stacker

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 6 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

 

Skin tone

With Color on Demand we have already matched hundreds of colors. We have published the RAL references (over 100 already) online which can readily be ordered. But we can match more than only RAL colors. Some customers send us physical references, others send us well-known color references like CMYK, Pantone or other standards which we then try to match as close as possible.. There are many series of colors & varieties and the one we focus on today is the skin tone color:

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2774477/files

With skin tone references 3D printed prosthetics are no longer limited to the basic colors, or subject to extensive post-processing like painting. For today’s print we used the Kwawu 2.0 Prosthetic Hand by Jacquin Buchanan, who is specialized in designing and printing prosthetics. You should definitely check out his website, One Monk Clapping.

We printed this hand on the Makerbot Replicator 2, with a 0.2mm layer height and at a print temperature of 195C.

By using skin tone colors designers and people wearing prosthetics have more options than ever beyond the standard color palette.

 

About Color on Demand

With Color on Demand we re-invented the way makers can choose colors. No longer you are bound to the colors that have been pre-selected by filament manufacturers anymore. Now you can order the color you actually need and want.

We have already matched over 100 RAL colors, which can easily be ordered online. Click here to see our collection. You can order as from one 750 grams spool! If we have not matched your favorite color, request it by using our online form. Starting from a 2kg spool we match the specific color you want, based on RAL, other well-known color references or a physical reference.

With Color on Demand you can say “yes” to that print job which needs a specific color or a look you have been waiting for. Stun your colleagues, family or other makers with your prints. You could already print one-of-a-kind designs, now you can also make them look unique!

Check out more recent Color on Demand prints by clicking here. Make sure you read our color disclaimer. Want to know more about Color on Demand, check our our FAQ page.

nGen_LUX on Ultimaker S5

In December we published that the base material of our widely popular nGen 3D printing filament, Eastman Amphora AM3300, had been added to the Ultimaker Market Place. In the Market Place Ultimaker users can download print profiles for tested filaments. We already added woodFill, Color on Demand PLA and XT-CF20 (more about that here) and were glad to have AM3300 added so the all-round nGen was part of the family as well. Read the full posts below:

Some testing over the Christmas holiday found that the amazing nGen_LUX prints excellent with the AM3300 settings as well! And we could not resist and printed everybody’s favorite scoundrel Han Solo with nGen_LUX Diamond Black on the Ultimaker S5:

Design by Toshi Tne: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/han-solo-bust

nGen_LUX is a unique development based on our best selling co-polyester nGen, made with Eastman Amphora AM3300 3d Polymer. The excellent clarity of the base AM3300 makes this material uniquely suited for the extremely rare pigment used in nGen_LUX. It is our new standard in how a 3D printed object can look. It is the filament for the users who wants to bring something extraordinary their work. It is the filament that needs to give that added value.

At colorFabb we are always looking to meet our customer’s needs and offer filaments with added value. The aesthetics of nGen_LUX allow for a new step in production and prototyping, especially for cosmetics, packaging, interior parts, electronics housings and many more applications.

Choose AM3300 as your prefered print settings for nGen_LUX

The “Lux” not only stands for luxurious – which is definitely the look of the prints – but also refers to the unit of illumination used worldwide. And light is what makes this filament truly special. The material uses diffuse reflection to scatter light in all directions. For the eye it’s nearly impossible to spot layering, even at 0.2mm layerheight. nGen_LUX allows users to print visually appealing models without the need of post processing. nGen_LUX features all the characteristics of our regular nGen: good chemical stability, elevated temperature resistance (85C) and thus allows users to print creations that are functional, durable, efficient and attractive.

nGen_LUX is the first special filament based on nGen and the second one in our range of co-polyesters after XT-CF20, our carbon fibre enforced filament based on colorFabb_XT.

Quick facts

Material: colorFabb nGen_LUX

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.05 mm

Density: 1.2 g•cm-3

Glass Transition Temperature: 85C

Printing with the right settings is easier than ever. Download Cura 3.6 and select the right material profiles to start printing right away. The colorFabb materials have been extensively tested by both colorFabb and Ultimaker, ensuring the best possible experience and results. Now this is something you have been looking for.

Click here to go directly to our webshop.

Palette 2 Pro

Late last year we got the Palette 2 Pro on loan as a test unit and printed not only our own logo, but also the Multi-Color Mosaic Keychain by Mosaic Manufacturing as a test:

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3245701/files

We printed on the Stacker S4 with a 0,6mm nozzle and printed this key chain in 3h 7min. It has 19 color changes (splices). As for the colors, we used 4 colors that were matched in our Color on Demand program:

Palette 2 (pre-order)

The Palette 2 Pro was loaned to us generously by the Mosaic team and does its job extremely well. Although not cheap it will definitely solve a lot of problems for users, especially ones with a single nozzle printer. Check out their website!

With Color on Demand we re-invented the way makers can choose colors. No longer you are bound to the colors that have been pre-selected by filament manufacturers anymore. Now you can order the color you actually need and want.

We have already matched over 100 RAL colors, which can easily be ordered online. Click here to see our collection. You can order as from one 750 grams spool! If we have not matched your favorite color, request it by using our online form. Starting from a 2kg spool we match the specific color you want, based on RAL, other well-known color references or a physical reference.

With Color on Demand you can say “yes” to that print job which needs a specific color or a look you have been waiting for. Stun your colleagues, family or other makers with your prints. You could already print one-of-a-kind designs, now you can also make them look unique!

Check out more recent Color on Demand prints by clicking here. Make sure you read our color disclaimer. Want to know more about Color on Demand, check our our FAQ page.

Our Color on Demand experience room, still under construction, with all the RAL colors we matched… so far.

Christmas Tree

With Christmas around the corner it’s only apt we follow suit with the rest of the world and print a Christmas tree. We chose the design by idig3D for our Christmas print. For the material we chose nGen Green Transparent.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1913982

Earlier this year we released no less than six transparent nGen colors:



nGen is of course our go-to filament and available in many colors. It is a true all-round material suitable for most day to day 3D printing activities. 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.

The Christmas tree was printed on the Ultimaker S5 with a 0.8 AA core nozzle and with a 0.4mm layer height. Nozzle temperature was 240C and the bed temp at 80C. We used the spiral vase mode.

nGen works extremely well on the Ultimaker printers. Find out more on the standard settings we recommend here. But one could make life even easier. Only yesterday we posted that nGen (under it’s raw material name AM3300) has been added to the Ultimaker Market Place, making printing with the right settings even easier!

Learn more about printing nGen on the Ultimaker 3 and S5 here.