nGen_LUX prints

nGen_LUX has been released a short while ago and we are seeing more and more prints popping up on social media. Here are a few we have gathered from our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram followers (click on them to go to the original posts immediately):

https://twitter.com/HAWK3DPROTO/status/973259191682035713

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1986901601640558&set=gm.584854291853675&type=3&theater

 

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgDMgbrFeSn

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf83hhXHDqJ

 

 

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. 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.

It is now available in 5 awesome colors:

nGen_LUX 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. 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. Believe us when we say that the photos don’t do the prints real justice…

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. It can be printed with the very same settings as nGen.

Click here to go directly to our webshop. For a bit more information, click here.

See our recent prints made with nGen_LUX:

Project Unicorn. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/project-unicorn/

 

Candy dispenser. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/candy-dispenser/

Stacker at Optima

Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade. It has been said many times before and one can see by the way they are built these machines were made with professional use in mind. colorFabb is the distributor of Stacker in the EMEA region for quite a while now and in today’s blog we highlight the use of the Stacker at one of our customers: Optima Staaltechniek, a Dutch company specialized in CAD drawing, steel renovation and project management. It has now branched out to 3D printing as well.

O3D Printing | Logo

Optima is a company that was founded in 1997 and has been known for its reliability and knowledge at all aspects of its business. Optima 3D, the printing arm of the company, stems from a small but specialized machineshop where constructions were and are fabricated for trucking, bagage handling and various smart constructions for the building industry. Optima currently has a Stacker S4 running in their shop to produce prototypes and small series of products for their customers. We talked to Rob Beemster, owner and founder, about the choices he made regarding 3D printing.

 

Why 3D printing?

Rob: “In the search for a higher level of technology and building a better environment the decision was made to start developing a way of building machine – and other parts through added manufacturing”

Why choose Stacker?

“The Stacker machine was selected, amongst others, because of size, multiple printer heads and utilization of materials that we deem necessary for our product range.”

What is it that you produce on the Stacker?

“Optima 3D manufactures a range of half products for the marine, agriculture and machine industry.”

What are the current experiences with the Stacker printer?

“Added to our various other machines Stacker is utilized for the somewhat bigger-, multiple – and parts where supports need printing.”

What materials are you using and why?

“In general we print with colorFabb’s range of co-polyester filaments and with XT-CF20 in particular. Its surface finish, stiffness and accuracy are the main avantages. For the big prints we use PETG. Strong prints that need to be heat resistant are usually printer with colorFabb_HT.”

Visit Optima’s website (Dutch)

 

 

 

Optima Staaltechniek is a a perfect example of how 3D printing brings added value to a company that needs reliability and quality delivered to its customers. The match of the Stacker printer with our range of functional co-polyester is a perfect all-in-one solution.

The Stacker S2 and S4 are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. 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.

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 5 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!

Candy dispenser

First world problems arose at the office when candy was lying around freely. First world solutions were found by printing a candy dispenser. Of course it has to stand out anywhere and we just so happened to have the right filament for the job: nGen_LUX

Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2636622 (no candy included)

Originally designed by HelioxLab, we found it necessary to adjust the reservoir a bit to contain more candy. Because more is always better when candy is involved [citation needed] . For the most parts we used nGen_LUX and for the reservoir regular nGen Clear. All parts were printed on the Ultimaker 2+. The settings used were:

Layerheight: All parts except reservoir were printed at 0.2mm – which already results in a stunning surface quality with nGen_LUX. The reservoir was printed at 0.5mm and with 150% material flow. For the print speed we used the standard nGen speed for the nGen_LUX parts and once again the reservois was the exception; we used 75% of the standard nGen speed for that one.

Printing temperatures were uniform for the entire print. Printing at 240⁰C with the print bed at a comfortable 75⁰C

Yes, printed at 0.2mm layer height.

We used three of five nGen_LUX colors currently available: Star Yellow, Nature Green and Regal Violet.

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. 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.

It is now available in 5 awesome colors:

nGen_LUX 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. 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. Believe us when we say that the photos don’t do the prints real justice…

 

 

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. It can be printed with the very same settings as nGen.

Click here to go directly to our webshop. For a bit more information, click here.

 

 

Another very cool print we made recently with nGen_LUX is Project Unicorn. Click the image below for the story behind that print!

Action sensor

When sports meets 3D printing… We have all seen those exciting images during sports games that are repeated over and over: that very cool angle just behind the goal or up close with the ball. Those images need to be captured. French company Action Sensor specializes in making the cameras and mounts for this very application.

As per Action Sensor’s comments:

“This camera installed on the top of the basketball basket records and tweets automatically (or moderated to be adapted to the player, sponsor, …) the most interesting few seconds of the Basket Ball games, when the team scores (automatic ball detection, automatic recording).

Thanks to nGen based on Amphora AM3300 and nGen_Flex based on Amphora FL6000, both brand materials from Eastman Chemical Company, durability in harsh environment can be achieved. First system has been installed more than 6 months ago and is working daily since.”

The parts connecting the aluminum profile are made with nGen_FLEX, which is perfectly suited to resist to the impact of the ball without breaking. Rigidity has been finetuned thank to the infill ratio.

These parts have been printed on Ultimaker 2+ (nGen_Flex and nGen) and Prusa i3  (nGen) in no time thank to the good and fast printability of both filaments.

You can find more information about the Action Sensor on their website:

http://www.action-sensor.com/

 

About nGen

nGen 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.

It was launched over two years ago and 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, our blog about co-polyesters or our most recent blog revisiting this filament.

Recently we added 6 bright transparent colors to our nGen portfolio, bringing the total to 23 colors. All these colors are available now in our webshop and ship from stock. Click here to go directly to our webshop.

 

About nGen_FLEX

nGen_FLEX was our very first step into flexible filaments. Our main focus before had been rigid and stiff materials, but we found that we should add a functional filament to our portfolio that met the needs of our users. Our co-operation with Eastman Chemical Company has lead to the release in the fall of 2016 of nGen_FLEX – made with Eastman Amphora FL6000.
nGen_FLEX is a semi-flexible filament with a Shore A hardness of 95. This enables users with the Bowden tube printer (like Ultimakers, for instance) to print with this filament without an effort. Of course the user can influence how flexible a print should feel by adjusting infill and perimeter settings. nGen_FLEX is temperature resistant to about 130C. That means 3D printed objects can be steam sterilized at 121C which is a great asset for medical / laboratory environments.
nGen_FLEX is made for those who are seriously looking for a engineering grade semi-flex material, capable of withstanding high temperatures, good chemical stability and result in tough parts fit for real world use. With nGen_FLEX you won’t need to compromise too much on printing speed and the need for specialized flex-extruders is elminated. After the launch we received a lot of acclaim for the filament:
“ with @ColorFabb – prints very easily, on @Ultimaker bowden even!” – Joel Telling
“Very impressed by the flexibility of the filament and its ability to be printed without special extruders.” – Michael Teeuw
“Works quite well for low density parts.” – Matthew Gorton, Printed Solid
“Looking good, great shine!” – Steve Cox
You can find more here. Visit our dedicated landing page for more information:
nGen_FLEX is currently available in Black, Dark Gray and Clear. Click here to head directly to our webshop.

Project Unicorn

Born Just Right’s mission is to build creative solutions that help kids with differences live a more enjoyable life. It all started with Jordan Reeves, who was born just right. She is the lead innovator and official ambassador of BJR. We have been in touch with the great team of Born Just Right for a while now.

As it happens, Jordan has a super hero alter ego: Girl Blaster. And as we all know, every super hero needs a super device. Girl Blaster’s is called Project Unicorn, a custom prosthetic that can shoot glitter and which was printed with PLA/PHA Lila. BJR was so kind to send us one and that got us thinking. What if we made another one? We just had the right material for this print: nGen_LUX:

 

 

The original:

Project Unicorn is a great project and a fantastic print. No one here has dared to shoot the glitter yet and we leave the use of it to the super heroes of this world.

We used three printers for this project: Prusa i3 MK2, the Ultimaker 2+ and the Stacker S4 for the largest part. On all printers we used a 0.2mm layer height and we used our standard nGen settings.

We printed at 240⁰C with the bed at 75⁰C

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. 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.

It is now available in 5 awesome colors:

Star Yellow, Diamond Black, Nature Green, Regal Violet & Champagne Gold

 

For this print we used mostly Regal Violet and Champagne Gold. And this very print will be shipped to the US soon for Jordan to see and use it herself!

 

 

Born Just Right was founded by Jen Lee Reeves, Jordan’s mother. She believes giving kids design knowledge empowers them to create their own solutions.  The focus of Born Just Right is on 3 outcomes:

  • Raise awareness about the power of design.
  • Identify and support inclusive designers & brands.
  • Support and grow a design community for kids and parents to help foster learning.

Jen works closely with Sam Hobish, designer and 3D printing wizard who made Project Unicorn a reality. The part was printed with our very own PLA/PHA Lila.

Jordan, Project Unicorn and Born Just Right have recently been featured in some worldwide publications:

colorFabb is proud partner of BJR! Make sure you follow the work of Born Just Right on social media:

And if you really want to stand out from the crowd, check out their shop.

nGen Transparent Colors

This season has nGen written all over it. Right after our very successful launch of the long awaited nGen_LUX last week are adding new colors to our “regular” nGen portfolio. And they are all transparent colors!

In the past two years we have had quite some demand for transparent colors in the nGen range. As from today we offer the following colors:

Twisty Vase by TimLParis: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1371418

The colors are added to a rich mix of 17 colors, bringing the total to 23 colors of nGen filament you can choose from as from today! With nGen Transparent colors you can print objects that have a great shine and stand out from the crowd, even from far away.

nGen 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.


Poly Bracelet by 3dfactorytlv: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:415835

It was launched over two years ago and 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, our blog about co-polyesters or our most recent blog revisiting this filament.

Our brand new nGen transparent colors are available now in our webshop and ship from stock. Click here to go directly to our webshop. Samples will be available end of next week.

Faceted Bowl and Vase by billbo1958: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2230232

 

Also available: nGen_LUX, our brand new luxurious high-end filament. Read more about what makes this filament so special here.

5 Years colorFabb: nGen_FLEX revisited

We launched our first filament range, PLA/PHA, in February 2013. In this short, limited series of blogs we look back at some of the materials released in the past five years. Earlier we wrote about woodFill and nGen and colorFabb_HT. This fourth and last installment looks back at nGen_FLEX.
Printed, flexible tubes. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/flexible-tubes/
nGen_FLEX was our very first step into flexible filaments. Our main focus before had been rigid and stiff materials, but we found that we should add a functional filament to our portfolio that met the needs of our users. Our co-operation with Eastman Chemical Company has lead to the release in the fall of 2016 of nGen_FLEX – made with Eastman Amphora FL6000.
nGen_FLEX is a semi-flexible filament with a Shore A hardness of 95. This enables users with the Bowden tube printer (like Ultimakers, for instance) to print with this filament without an effort. Of course the user can influence how flexible a print should feel by adjusting infill and perimeter settings. nGen_FLEX is temperature resistant to about 130C. That means 3D printed objects can be steam sterilized at 121C which is a great asset for medical / laboratory environments.
nGen_FLEX is made for those who are seriously looking for a engineering grade semi-flex material, capable of withstanding high temperatures, good chemical stability and result in tough parts fit for real world use. With nGen_FLEX you won’t need to compromise too much on printing speed and the need for specialized flex-extruders is elminated. After the launch we received a lot of acclaim for the filament:
“ with @ColorFabb – prints very easily, on @Ultimaker bowden even!” – Joel Telling
“Very impressed by the flexibility of the filament and its ability to be printed without special extruders.” – Michael Teeuw
“Works quite well for low density parts.” – Matthew Gorton, Printed Solid
“Looking good, great shine!” – Steve Cox
You can find more here. Visit our dedicated landing page for more information:
nGen_FLEX has seen some fantastic applications in the past 18 months since we launched it. Below are some of the prints we have posted about before:
 
Our former intern Niels van Valburg built his entire internship around nGen_FLEX and his goal was to design a chair that was easily printed. The result was the FLEX_Link, which is still on display in our office. And yes, you can sit on it! Read more about the FLEX_Link here – you can even download the handy IKEA style manual to make your own!
colorfabb_ngen_flex_mass_portal_slipper
Printing a slipper. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/slipper/
Everyday objects can easily be replicated, either as a prototype or a replacement like the examples below:
water_cap_and_flex_tap
colorfabb_ngen_flex-handlebar-grip

Handlebar grip: https://learn.colorfabb.com/handlebar-grip/

 

 

colorfabb_ngen_flex_dark_gray-5

Oil funnel. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/oil-funnel/

 

One of our most ambitious (and fun!) prints was Daniel Norée’s Open RC F1 car which we upscaled to 250%. The upcoming release of nGen_FLEX back then inspired this print since we were looking to make good use of the tyres that needed to be printing. Be the judge yourself:

 

The entire F1 car was printed with co-polyester filaments. You can read the original post here.

Printing the wheels did work out so well, we even printed the wheels of a fully functional skateboard with it:

 

 

Another added advantage of nGen_FLEX is how well it works with nGen, for instance:

Pliers (click image for the gif to play). Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/pliers

 

Coupler (click image for the gif to play). Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/coupler/

 

nGen_FLEX is currently available in Black and Dark Gray, but as from next week (early March 2018) we will also add the Clear option to our portfolio. Click here to head directly to our webshop.

 

 

All blogs and articles about our fifth anniversary can be found by clicking here.

nGen_LUX is here

It’s finally here… We proudly present our brand new filament nGen_LUX.

Custom design by colorFabb

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.

Polygon Vase by Antonin Nosek (EDGEdesign): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2755758

 

Carved Stone Vase Pair by davvyk: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2181381

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.

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.

Printed at 0.2mm

Vase by Kristaps Politis (KRISP3D): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2519263

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

Adviced 3d printing temperature: 220-240C
Adviced 3d print speed: 40-70 mm/s
Advised Heated bed: 75-85C

Villa Desk Plant Pot by David Payne (Qrome): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2779537

 

Colors

We initially launch 5 colors, with more to come in the next few months. The colors we selected to begin with are:

Champagne Gold

This pale shade of gold reminds of the subtle and unmistakably beautiful color of champagne. It’s elegant and classy and will add instant luxury to any 3D printing project.

Diamond Black

Stylish and luxurious, our Diamond Black looks like diamond dust has used during the production of this filament. A beautiful black is combined with a rich shade of sparkles, resulting in the ultimate black filament.

Regal Violet

Violet is the color of majesty, luxury and extravagance and thus perfectly suited for nGen_LUX. Make your prints stand out with a lustrous, rich cherry like violet – perfectly suited for making the most amazing final parts.

Star Yellow

A bright yellow gold, with loads of sparkly goodness that seems to be forged inside a star. A highly visible color that looks great from afar and even better up close. This might be the brightest yellow gold we’ve seen in a filament.

Nature Green

Green means positive. Green means life. Green means nature. Bring an extraordinary and unique look to your creations. This shade of green is a mix of the most amazing emerald green and decent amount of what looks like fairy dust.

As mentioned there will be more colors coming up! Stay tuned.

nGen_LUX is available for ordering now. Shipping starts on Monday February 26th. RRP is € 66.07 / € 79.95 (excl / incl VAT) for 750 grams of filament.

Click here to go directly to our webshop.

 

Tips & Tricks

Build platform

nGen_LUX gives the best results on a heated build platform, 75C to about 85C is usually needed for proper adhesion to a glass plate. Optionally users could decide to use products such as 3DLac to improve adhesion.

Printing on a cold bed is possible for small to medium sized parts but not advised for large parts which will be prone to warping.

 

Cooling

Too much cooling will create brittle parts with bad layer-to-layer adhesion. Therefor we recommend starting with 50% cooling. It’s always best to print with the least amount of cooling to get the best possible layer-to-layer adhesion.

 

The brand new nGen_LUX fits perfectly in colorFabb’s portfolio that consists of both functional and aesthetical filaments.  Pictures can say more than a thousand words, but prints made with nGen_LUX have to be seen!

nGen_LUX was announced during the TCT in Birmingham last year. Originally planned for release in November 2017 we had to postpone the release to ensure a high quality filament. The audience at the show was unanimous with praise when they saw the printed parts we had there. Best reaction of them all: “This just looks too good!”

nGen_LUX is based on our trusted bestseller nGen. We have been testing the filament in our print lab on the most popular printers in the market right now: the Prusa i3, both the Stacker S2 and S4, the Lulzbot TAZ 6 and Mini, the Robo R2 and C2, the Ultimaker range of printers and the Mass Portal Pharaoh. Rest assured that if your printer works with nGen (and most of them with a heated bed do) you can achieve the stellar results we have seen so far.

Origami Vase by Kristaps Politis (KRISP3D): https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2500119

 

Robot arm

Who doesn’t like robotics? We printed our own robotic arm last year and it is always great to see our filaments converted into cool prints like robotics! Enter Carl van Heezik, teacher and researcher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He wanted to design a robot that looked like a real industrial robot and should function as an inspiration for students and makers, especially since it can be made for about 10 euros!

The robot has 3-degrees of freedom, enough to pick up bouncing balls. Most industrial robotic arms have 3 additional degrees of freedom to orient the gripper at the correct angle. For spherical shaped objects this is not needed.

You can download the STL files here. Carl also created a series of videos to explain the process, the first one below:

The three instruction videos he has made, are now online. The first video is a demo of the robot, the second shows the assembly of the gripper and the third shows the assembly of the arm.

Carl exlained how he got into 3D printing: “The price level of rapid development tools like 3D printing and CNC milling has come to a point where everyone can afford it. 3D printing technology has evolved rapidly during the last decade. Especially the advancements in materials, such as the filaments from companies like colorFabb, make 3D printing interesting. For students, educators and startups there is free professional design software, like Autodesk Fusion 360, which I used for this design. You will only appreciate 3D printing if you explore its possibilities and limitation.”

Carl is very clear about his material choice, our nGen: “Several years ago I visited the colorFabb factory where I talked to some engineers and was impressed by their knowledge about polymers. nGen was introduced as a new filament and I got some samples. I used it to print some old designs and noticed a drastically improved result.”

He lists the following advantages of nGen over other materials he tried:

  • It does not have the nasty toxic smell of ABS
  • It has better material properties than PLA
  • The consistent quality make for predictable results
  • Printing on a PEI bed results in good adhesion and no tools needed to remove the print

For the parts he used the following settings:

We thank Carl for sharing his work and using our nGen filament in such an awesome way!

 

nGen has proven itself to be a very versatile material that can be used for a lot of applications, visual prototyping being one of them! It has become our default, all-round filament for printing all sorts of prototypes and prints just have to look damn good!

nGen is an all-round filament which has many advantages over PLA. The temperature resistance is over 80 degrees C and it works on most printers with a heated build plate.  nGen is a low-odor, styrene-free material uniquely suited for 3D printing enthusiasts, particularly those who need the flexibility to print within a wide processing temperature range.

With nGen you will have good flow properties through the printer nozzle—even at lower temperatures than some other polymers require. These properties make nGen more workable at a wider breadth of temperatures, producing reliable results and resulting in less waste. You can find more information on our dedicated landing page.

Ever since launching in november 2015 (and later in a big way during the CES Show early 2016), nGen has been a bestseller and a material that has been adopted by users worldwide very rapidly. In a recent survey we have seen it is regarded as one of the most popular materials in our portfolio. This is not without reason. For instance, nGen Black has nothing but solid 5 star reviews.

nGen is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM3300. It is part of our range of Amphora based filaments. Other grades are: engineering grade colorFabb_XT, high temperature resistant colorFabb_HT and semi-flexible nGen_FLEX. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here or check the table below how the rigid filaments compare to ABS and PLA:

 

#5yearscolorfabb

During this month, February 2018, we celebrate our fifth anniversary by giving every fifth spool you order in our webshop for free. Click on the banner below for more info:

We also run a contest: post your favorite colorFabb print online, tag us and use hashtag #5yearscolorfabb and maybe you will win a value pack with 16 spools of our filaments! Again, more info by clicking the banner below:

All blogs and articles about our fifth anniversary can be found by clicking here.

5 Years colorFabb: woodFill revisited

We  launched our first filament range, PLA/PHA, in February 2013. In this short, limited series of blogs we look back at some of the materials released in the past five years. The first entry is about woodFill.

Our first special filament was woodFill. In our first year of existence we had a great filament, PLA/PHA, in the market and we were already looking for more filaments to be added to the portfolio. Someone asked us a very serious question: “Why don’t you make a wood filament?” We thought: “Why not?” Granted, we weren’t the first, but the filament world was still young and with our compounding partner FKuR, located in Willich, Germany, we went to work.

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…)

The very first woodFill print… ever

The 3D Printing Show was an amazing experience. As luck (or mad negotiation skills) would have it, we were placed right at the entrance. As anyone who has ever printed with woodFill knows, the material really smells like wood when printing. And that was exactly what the visitors smelled when they entered the show floor.

As heard 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.

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 (can your printer print PLA? If yes, you can print woodFill. If no, buy a new printer) 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 (but not all, at all) great examples of woodFill creations:

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/

 

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

 

Replicas of historic church figures. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/excellence-woodfill-3d-printing/

 

Some printed examples on the Lulzbot Mini: https://learn.colorfabb.com/woodfill-lulzbot/

 

After woodFill we expanded the range with bambooFill (since discontinued) and corkFill (still available). Both great materials, but woodFill will have a special place in our portfolio as our first special filament.

woodFill is available in our webshop and through our reseller network. We offer both 600 grams and 1800 grams (XL) spools.