varioShore TPU is available now!

varioShore TPU is the latest innovative 3D printing filament by colorFabb and is now available. Our varioShore TPU is flexible in more ways than one!

Printing handle bars is a great application due to the soft touch characteristics of varioShore TPU.

varioShore TPU is available now. Click here to go directly to our webshop!

varioShore TPU allows users to vary the density of the material by adjusting temperature and material throughput (speed & layerheight). At temperatures between 200 and 250C the materials will start to expand to roughly 1.4-1.6 times its original volume. This means the material can be printed at low flow rates (60-70%), to compensate the active foaming, which in return gives very soft printed parts. Between 190-200C the material can be printed without foaming, resulting in different haptics and harder prints compared to foamed samples.

We sent several spools to beta testers and this is what they had to say about it:

“It really is a fantastic development… Incredible innovation.” – Steve Cox

“Another astonishing FDM material development from the colorFabb team.” – Richard Horne

“Another amazing product by colorFabb!” – Bart Tangermann

 

Lubrizol co-operation

For this development colorFabb partnered with Lubrizol Engineered Polymers, a leading global producer of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), used in everyday consumer and industrial applications, with a strong global manufacturing and supply network.

Lubrizol Engineered Polymers’ expertise in TPU chemistry was key to provide a customized TPU with a wide range of processing temperatures and adequate melt viscosity, meeting the requirements during extrusion and printing. A wider range of thermal stability and melt rheology allows an extended upper range of printing temperatures to maximize the range of densities achieved through colorFabb’s unique filament foaming technology.

The result is a filament with a base TPU of 92A, which will work with most standard extruder set-ups for both Bowden and direct drive systems.

Main features

The main features of varioShore TPU are:

Variable shorehardness

This material is not limited to one shore hardness, but with the right print settings you can have multiple shore hardnesses – even in one print!

Reduced weight / density

colorFabb used the technology previously used in their light weight LW-PLA in this filament as well to reduce weight significantly. Although the weight reduction of varioShore TPU is not as significant as LW-PLA, the weight of the overall print is noticeable and can make the difference for prints where weight matters.

Soft touch surface

Prints that need a soft touch, like handle bars for bikes or shoe soles are no problem anymore with varioShore TPU.

It is, in short, a filament that is flexible in more ways than one. colorFabb initially offers one variety: a very neat natural filament without colorant on spools with 700 grams of filament. For settings, tips and tricks we refer to the product page on the colorFabb website.

Retail pricing is € 41.28 excl. VAT (or € 49.95 including VAT) per spool.

varioShore TPU is available as from today from colorFabb and ships daily, worldwide and from stock. With the release of varioShore TPU, right on the heels of Laser Marking PLA, colorFabb remains on the cutting edge of material development for 3D printing.

 

Tips & Tricks

At colorFabb we have a well-equipped 3d printing studio with many popular 3d printers. Our varioShore TPU has been tested using various 3D printers, which has resulted in the following recommended settings.

Adviced 3d printing temperature: 190C-250C

Adviced 3d print speed: 20-30 mm/s

Advised Heated bed (if you have one, not strictly necessary): 20-40C

Cooling fan: Use the least amount of cooling when maximum foaming is required. For better overhang performance use 50-100% cooling.

We advise our users to use standard TPU settings as a base setting for developing your own pre-sets.

Make sure the distance between nozzle and platform is not to small, especially if the material is being foamed while printing, the pressure will need to be released from the hot-end to prevent clogging and feeder issues.

Material summary

Name: colorFabb varioShore TPU

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.1 mm

Density: 1,2-1,3 g/cm3

Availability: Right Now!

 

Awesome designs used in this blog

OpenRC 1:10 RC Truggy Rims AirLess by 123CUT (link)

Ergonomic bike handle grips (flex/tpu) by Flying_Ginger (link)

Handle for 1966 HD M50S by barspin (link)

Laser Marking PLA

In our effort to bring you the most innovative materials, we release a brand new 3D printing filament today: Laser Marking PLA.

Laser Marking PLA contains a laser-sensitive additive optimized to work within a 980-1064 nm wavelength. The material has been tested successfully with a Nd:YAG- and fiber lasers. Laser marking PLA will not work with CO2 lasers. A proper laser is required to use this filament.

Laser Marking PLA is available now and ships from stock! (Click here!)

Our latest filament innovation makes laser markings more stunning than ever! One great application can be to create mementos and souvenirs, or give your 3D print an extra touch with a very special message:

Another great application is to create bar codes and QR codes, as well as other unique product information on items that were produced in a limited series. It gives your products a more professional and distinguished look:

 

The material features all the benefits you already know from a regular PLA material. Ease of printing on many platforms, no warping when printing large parts and very good fine detail 3D printing. Laser Marking PLA is our first step into laser marking materials for FDM printers and are interested to know what our community needs are with regards to these materials.

Laser Marking PLA is available in a light grey color to start with, close to RAL 9018 but not an exact match.

(An actual representation of laser marking)

Our unique filament has various advantageous over conventional marking technologies:

  • Markings are permanent, waterproof, wear and heat resistant, lightfast and resistant to chemicals,
  • Flexibility in marking designs,
  • No pre or post-treatment required.

Laser Marking PLA is available now as 750 grams spools and part of our colorFabb Labs program where we release new innovative filaments that meet very specific needs. Click here to go directly to our webshop.

 

(Not an actual representation of laser marking)

varioShore TPU

Innovation is not a, but the cornerstone of colorFabb. Our brand new filament varioShore TPU is the latest colorFabb development. With varioShore TPU we have created a filament that is flexible in more ways than one:

 

  • Variable Shore hardness

This material is not limited to one shore hardness, but with the right print settings you can have multiple shore hardnesses – even in one print!

 

  • Reduced weight and density

We used our LW-PLA technology in this filament as well to reduce weight significantly. Although the weight reduction of varioShore TPU is not as significant as LW-PLA, the weight of the overall print is noticable and can make the difference for prints where weight matters.

 

  • Soft Touch

Prints that need a soft touch, like handle bars for bikes or shoe soles are no problem anymore with varioShore TPU.

Handle for 1966 HD M50S design by Daniel Norée (Thingiverse link)

varioShore TPU will be available mid-October. Pre-ordering will start soon! Stay tuned for more news…

Ergonomic bike handle grips design by Flying_Ginger (Thingiverse link)

igus

In our effort to offer the widest range of 3D printing filaments possible we are proud to announce that now also offer igus® iglide filaments in our webshop!

 

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

Click here to go to our webshop!

igus filaments range of 3D print materials for simple processing with very good wear values, and filaments with very good friction properties, high strength and elongation, up to chemically resistant materials and those that are suitable for FFF/FDM 3D printing. Igus uses its innovative polymer materials to develop products that provide creative solutions and exceed customers’ expectations while delivering fast, accurate service.

3D print materials from igus are stable and wear-resistant materials made of iglide high-performance plastics. They guarantee a long service life of the individual wearing parts due to an exceptionally high degree of resistance to abrasion.

Their tribologically optimized filaments are up to 50 times more abrasion-resistant than standard 3D print materials. This results in higher levels of effectiveness. So you can produce prototypes and small series more quickly and cost effectively. Printed components can also quickly replace wear parts and reduce downtime periods. At colorFabb we offer now 3 filaments, in both 1.75mm and 2.85mm:

 

iglide® I150-PF filament for 3D printing (webshop)

  • The Tribo-filament that is easiest to process
  • igus® adhesive film is required for a non-heated print bed
  • Very good wear values up to a p*v value of 0.2 N*m/s
  • Good mechanical properties
  • igus® adhesive film is required for a non-heated print bed
  • Flexural strength: 54 MPa
  • Color: White

 

iglide® I180-BL-PF filament for 3D printing (webshop)

  • Excellent wear behaviour
  • Flexural strength: 46 / 33 MPa
  • Color: Black

iglide® I180-PF, filament for 3D printing (webshop)

  • Excellent wear behaviour
  • Flexural strength: 46 / 33 MPa
  • Color: White

 

About Igus

“igus® plastics for longer life”

Günter Blase began igus back on 15th October 1964 in a double garage in Cologne. For the first 20 years, the company worked as a supplier of complex technical polymer components. However, in 1983 Frank Blase established reinforced plastic energy chain systems and injection molded polymer bearings as two distinct product groups and set up a network of sales engineers. These seemingly unrelated products are linked together through the belief in making functionally advanced, yet affordable polymer components and assemblies. Between 1985 and 2016, igus® grew from 40 to more than 2,950 employees distributed between the head office in Germany and 35 subsidiary companies around the world. igus also has representative partners in more than 35 other countries. igus will continue to invest in expansion in the coming years, thanks to the opportunities for growth provided by modern materials.

Mission statement:
igus uses its innovative polymer materials to develop products that provide creative solutions and exceed our customers’ expectations while delivering fast, accurate service.

 

PLA Economy Light Gray

Almost three years after we have launched our PLA Economy range we are happy to announce a new color to one of our most popular products: Light Gray. PLA Economy Light Gray is very close to RAL 7035.

Pre-ordering starts today (click here), September 13th and shipping starts as from Tuesday next week!

Jon Snow bust design by David Östman (Design link)

This print was made on the Stacker S4 XL and took 3 days and 4 hours to make, printing with 0.2mm layer height. PLA Economy is very reliable and works extremely well for long projects!

With the addition of this very nice subtle gray shade we offer our users another much requested color. PLA Economy is available on 2.2kg, 4.5kg and 8kg spools only. It is very well suited for the maker who needs quality filament at an affordable price. It is a perfect material for large volume and small series production, made with the guaranteed colorFabb quality that we are known for.

 

PLA Economy is now available in six of the most popular colors. ColorFabb PLA Economy is not a standard PLA. It has been modified for better layer adhesion and flow properties to get better performance over other basic PLA filaments. Because it’s made with the same processing technology used for other premium colorFabb products, this PLA Economy will be just as reliable.

Settings

A good starting point for the settings is:

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.

PLA Economy Light Gray is available to order now and ships as from September 17th.

Spring Break Sale 2019

Ah, Spring… The season of new beginnings, growth and of course our annual Spring Break Sale. In short this means the following discounts right now in our webshop:

And the great thing? We lowered our prices already so you don’t have to use a coupon code!

Usual small print: These discounts cannot be combined with other discounts, do not apply to samples or hardware and accessories and is valid until June 3rd 2019.

Since the discount only lasts for a limited time this is your chance to stock up on your favorite filaments!

Important notice

Due to the upcoming long holiday weekend (Ascension Day) we will be closed on Thursday and Friday. No filaments will ship during these days. All orders placed from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday will ship on Monday June 3rd.

With the current discount, why not try our brand new light weight PLA: LW-PLA? LW-PLA is the first filament of its kind using an active foaming technology to achieve lightweight, low density PLA parts. 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 go to our webshop.

 

Or fan favorite bronzeFill, which turned 5 years young this month! Click on Andreas Mielonen’s ancient Greek helmet to go directly to our webshop.

 

With 10% discount on Color on Demand, this your chance to start printing with your favorite color! You can choose from already matched RAL colors, 100+ options to choose from, or contact us with a custom color request.

The threshold for custom colors has never been this low in the history of 3D filament making. Our new coloring process allows us to efficiently produce starting from a single 750g spool up to any amount you might need. Minimum order quantity for matched RAL colors is as low as one single 750g spool and custom colors will be made starting from a single 2.2kg spool.

You can find out more here.

5 years bronzeFill

Originally posted in May 2019

This week it has been exactly five years that we announced bronzeFill at the Fabcon show in Erfurt. The fantastic material was the first of its kind: our unique PLA/PHA compound with real bronze in it. Straight from the printer parts look almost laser sintered with a matte finish and with a bit of sanding and polishing the bronze particles will start to shine & shimmer unlike any 3d printing filament you have seen before. The weight of the material is something special as well, over 3 times heavier than our regular PLA/PHA.

 

One of the first bronzeFill prints on the Ultimaker Original at Fabcon 2014. Translation from German: 3D Printing with Bronze

The uniqueness of this filament was not lost on our users. The announcement was made in May and we took in a lot of pre-orders. A lot. Finally, once we had produced the first batch and started shipping we were sold immediately.

bronzeFill has been a massive hit ever since that summer five years ago and the one that has been in backorder the most. It is one of those bestsellers which is almost constantly in production. Its continuous popularity is testament to its quality and to celebrate we have collected some of the most amazing prints that we have seen. Mind you, these are only a small collection of all the fantastic prints out there (click on the words “Original post” to go to the blog for more information).

Curious how you can post-process bronzeFill and our other metal filled filaments? Check out our collection of handy tutorials and examples here.

 

Steve Cox

Special mention goes to Steve Cox, who has proven himself to be one of the masters of bronzeFill. He has shared his excellent work over the years. Below a few examples (and we have one in the office as well!)

Original post

 

Original post

 

Awards

Our special filaments are ideally suited for special occasions, like awards. We have printed several ourselves and have seen quite a few popping up online. Below are our examples:

Bio Plastics Award Original post

 

Lodewijk van der Grinten Prijs Original post

 

Scanned and printed carnaval statue Original post

 

Gifts

bronzeFill can also make terrific gifts. The extra weight gives that quality look and feel that normal plastics don’t have.

Tony Short’s amazing colorFabb themed gift box  Original post

 

Rein van der Mast’s fountain pen Original post

 

“It belongs in a museum!”

Even museum pieces, replicas or just awesome prints can be made with bronzeFill.

Andreas Mielonen’s ancient Greek helmet Original post

 

Esteban Pacheco’s epic Octolamp Original post

 

gCreate’s Rocket Ship Original post

 

This is by no means a complete listing of all the amazing prints we have seen, but only a short summary. It has been a fan favorite ever since its launch half a decade ago in 2014 and was followed by copperFill, brassFill (since discontinued) and steelFill in our special filament range.

bronzeFill ships daily, worldwide and from stock (mostly). Click on the image below to go directly to our webshop:

Mosaic Palette

We are happy to announce that as from today we also offer the Mosaic Palette 2 and Palette 2 Pro in our webshop. At colorFabb we believe in a great 3D printing experience and will add more accesories in due time. We only add items we truly believe in and which have been extensively tested by us. Click here to go directly to our accessories portfolio.

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.

Please note the Palette 2 and Palette 2 Pro only work with 1.75mm filament.

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

Multi-color printing, even on your single nozzle printer!

The colorFabb logo, printed with Color on Demand PLA. Original post here.

 

Mosaic keychain, printed with Color on Demand PLA. Original post here.

 

WoodFill – the original

Today’s blog looks back at woodFill, our first special 3D printing filament. Launched back in November 2013 it marked the first step into different materials beyond our standard PLA/PHA filaments. There are already many filaments called woodFill in the world. colorFabb woodFill is the original woodFill.

Achieving amazing results on the Lulzbot Mini: https://learn.colorfabb.com/woodfill-lulzbot/

A bit of history

True story: We produced the first test run of filament late October 2013, put it on the printer and… it worked! Flawlessly! This was mere days before we were off to the 3D Printing Show in London, early November 2013. With the few spools we had we printed a lot of examples, put them in our suitcases and off we went! (By train, it was still the olden days…) We heard the following many, many times during those 3 days:

“It smells like… wood.”

“That’s because there is real wood in the filament.”

“But how did you get the smell in there?”

“Because there is real wood in the filament.”

We admit, the main component is our signature PLA/PHA, but the wood is what makes the filament truly special.

We started with two variations: woodFill Fine and woodFill Coarse. Problem was that the Coarse could only be printed with a 0.8 nozzle and sales reflected that people were not eager to switch nozzles a lot. Only after a few months we discontinued woodFill Coarse and focused entirely on woodFill Fine. But a few times every year someone informs if there are still some spools of the Coarse left. Although we have seen great results with a 0.4mm nozzle, a lot of users would be more comfortable printing with a 0.6mm nozzle.

Printing with woodFill is rather easy:

Adviced 3d printing temperature:

195-220C*

Adviced 3d print speed:

40 – 100 mm/s

Advised Heated bed (if you have one, not strictly necessary)

50-60C

woodFill has been added to the Ultimaker Market Place. You can easily download and use the settings in the latest Cura version for your Ultimaker printer. These settings have been verified by both colorFabb and Ultimaker to ensure a flawless user experience.

Print+ headphone. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/printplus/

We have literally sent out thousands of woodFill spools all over the world and it has been a solid hit with our customers, old and new. Its ease of printing has really helped, but again: the smell of wood during printing, that authentic woodshop idea has been appealing for a lot of printers. And be honest: the prints look like they have been carved from… wood. Below are some great examples of prints made over the past few years:

Puzzle pieces

 

 

Tony Short’s gift box. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/colorfabb-gift-box/

 

Megafone amplifiers by AKLIH. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/aklih/

 

 

 

 

BioPlastics Award. Base plate printed with woodFill: https://learn.colorfabb.com/bioplastics-award/

 

Design by Labern: https://learn.colorfabb.com/steelfill-canon/

Elephant design  Acorn design Both the elephant and acorn were printed on the Ultimaker 2+ with a 0.6mm nozzle and a 0.2mm layer height. Print speed was 40mm/s with 20% infill and a nozzle temperature of 210C. Part of the acorn was printed with corkFill.

 

woodFill is available at all times and ships from stock. It is a very popular filament and altough it sometimes seems to be out of stock we are always in production and ship as soon as possible. Click on the spool below to go directly to the webshop:

 

Easter egg hunt

The Easter weekend is upon us which means egg hunting season has started. At colorFabb we do our bit and we have hidden some surprises on our website as well. Browse our website to find several discount codes scattered around on the website.

Gone are the days (for now) where we just give a discount or automatically apply it for you. This time you have to look for it, to stay in the spirit of the Easter tradition. We have hidden discount codes of 15%, 20% and 25% on our website so start browsing! The discounts are hidden in our webshop and related pages, but not in our blog or support page.

If you find the code click on it and the code will automatically apply to your order:

 

Our happy digital coupon specialist gladly applies the code for you!

Alternatively you can type the coupon code in the box when checking out. Some terms and conditions do apply:

  • Does not work with other discounts
  • Only applies to spools of filament
  • Discount codes are valid until Monday April 22nd at 23:59 CET

Although the coupon codes can be guessed and does not elaborate code solving, we would appreciate it if you don’t share the discount codes only social media or forums so other people can also participate in the search.

Enjoy the hunt!

P.S. Due to the extended Easter weekend here in the Netherlands, all orders placed during the weekend will ship on Tuesday April 23rd.