6 years colorFabb_XT: A Look Back

This week it has been exactly 6 years ago that we launched colorFabb_XT at the 2014 edition of the 3D Print Show in London (remember those days?). With all the new materials, growth of colorFabb (& 3D printing in general) and our relentless goal to keep innovating it is sometimes easy to forget how special this moment was for colorFabb. Not only was this the first time a large chemical company (Eastman Chemical Company from Kingsport, TN) publicly partnered with a filament producer – something which is the norm today – but it also meant shifting our focus to functional materials.

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Our launch event booth at the London 3D Print Show 2014

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Eastman’s Amphora 3D polymers are low-odor and styrene free materials specifically developed for 3D printing. With Amphora based filaments, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

 

“Is Amphora a good material to 3D print? Absolutely – just make sure you have a heated build surface before you order some.”- Fabbaloo’s initial review

 

Platform Jack printed with colorFabb_XT by Intentional3D

 

colorFabb teamed up with Eastman Chemical Company to create colorFabb_XT, made with Eastman Amphora AM1800 3D Polymer. colorFabb_XT’s unique formulation features excellent properties: high strength, very high toughness, odor neutral processing and improved temperatures resistance. With its styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation colorFabb_XT allows the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.

 

After launching colorFabb_XT we launched several other copolyester filaments: nGen, colorFabb_HT, nGen_FLEX, PETG Economy and nGen_LUX. To read more about what the differences are and what the best applications for each material are, check out our blog What We Talk About When We Talk About Co-Polyesters.

 

Toyota engine made with colorFabb_XT by Korneel Bullens

 

With colorFabb_XT we have seen quite some amazing applications: from garden sprinklers to prosthetics (more below). As a functional material goes, it is one of the workhorses of the filament world. It does not end with the print itself. We have received numerous requests about post-processing. Together with Eastman we made a handy secondary operations guide for those who feel their finished print needs more work.

Read: How to post-process co-polyesters

 

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Although we have phased out some colors of the colorFabb_XT product line – with a few still on sale at the time of writing – we still ship the most popular ones daily, worldwide and from stock. Head to our webshop for your daily dose of XT!

 

Previous colorFabb_XT posts

Below are a few of the prints we made with colorFabb_XT over the past years.

Scissor Snake with our colorfabb_XT

Lamp hanger in colorFabb_XT

Garden sprinkler

Drain exit

Micrometer holder

GoPro Bike Mount

Prosthetic design

Upgrading our equipment

Prosthetic prototypes

Car door handle

NEMA 17 4:1 reduction gearbox

Remote control housing

3D printed pennyboard

 

 

 

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:

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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

nGen AM3300 in Ultimaker Market Place

Not long after we announced that XT-CF20 was added to the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura 3.6 in addition to Color on Demand PLA and woodFill we are happy to tell you that nGen now also is a part of the Market Place. Sort of…

Twin RC waterjet by Ewolve

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2752198

The Ultimaker Market Place makes it easier for users of the Ultimaker 3 and S5 to use pre-set profiles for third party filaments which have been tested by both the filaments manufacturers and Ultimaker themselves to achieve the best possible user experience.

Important: To choose the optimal nGen settings in the Market Place head to the Eastman entries and choose AM3300, the base material for nGen.

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.

Printed with nGen Red on the Ultimaker S5 with 0.15mm layer height.

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.”

“The material has good print bed adhesion, low warping and low shrinkage. Easy to print.”

Beyond our initial goals to create a filament that prints well and holds up to every day 3D printing tasks we have since found out more properties of the filament, giving it a great advantage. For instance, we recently came across a business case where a printed object made with nGen has been under water in the ocean for 16 months! And it did not loose its functional properties!

And you can get highly detailed prints as well:

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Model balustrade. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/detailed-balustrade/

Although nGen is a true star in our portfolio, it doesn’t feel too good to perform a supporting role from time to time. Literally. In combination with colorFabb_XT nGen filament can also be used as a breakaway support. Complex designs like the drill case below do need support material and we found that nGen did a great job in that department.

Drill case. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/drill-case/

Another great material it works extremely well with is our nGen_FLEX:

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/

It is not only materials nGen plays well with. It also performs extremely well on a wide range of printers. And with the addition of AM3300 to the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura 3.6, printing with nGen is easier than ever.

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.

nGen on the Robo R2

Today we feature not one single print, but rather a filament on a particular printer. As the title vaguely suggests, it’s all about nGen on the Robo R2 today. When we received the Robo R2 for testing purposes we immediately started with nGen instead of the default PLA. And the results are amazing!

Y pipe connector M20/27 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2045452
Material: nGen Gold Metallic – 0.1mm layerheight

The Robo R2 printer is available at colorFabb as from this week. As recently announced we act as Robo’s distributing partner in the Benelux and you can order the Robo R2 now with a free spool of nGen! We feel that the right combination of hardware and material makes for a great user experience and with the Robo R2 combined with our nGen we have once more found this synergy.

With a printer like the new Robo R2 you have a reliable machine that works flawlessly with our nGen filament, enabling end users to make durable and good-looking parts! The compact, but professional looking printer allows for prints of 20x20x25cm & accepts a lot of different materials. Together with Robo we are currently testing all of our materials on this printer.

 

The Robo R2 is currently available in our brand new webshop and we ship from stock. For € 1399 (excluding VAT) you get a terrific printer with a free spool of nGen filament to make that awesome print right away!

If you are at the TCT in Birmingham this year, do not hesitate to drop by. We are in stand H39 and one of the featured printers is the R2! Visit us to see this printer in action, look at our latest offerings or just have a chat!

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!

Shelf Bracket by Starscream83 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1428665
Material: nGen Red – 0.2mm layerheight

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.

Right Fractured Lateral Tibial Condyle By Hamish Mead https://www.youmagine.com/designs/right-fractured-lateral-tibial-condyle
Material: nGen Dark Gray – 0.2mm layerheight

Batman by LeoDDC https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:352540
Material: nGen Dark Gray – 0.2mm layerheight

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:

 

Air gun adapter

Nozzles need cleaning. It is a fact of 3D printing life. An innovative way to clean nozzles on a 3D printer is to use an air gun. We have air guns in our production facility and use them to keep our operations dust free. To use the air gun to clean the nozzle one would need an adapter to make a perfect fit between the air gun and the push-fit connector of the bowden tube.

As for the material, we used colorFabb_HT – our high temperature resistant engineering grade filament.

The adapter was designed by the colorFabb team for this particular application.

We printed this part with colorFabb_HT Dark Gray on the Ultimaker 2+ with a 0.25mm nozzle. The layer height is 0.06mm and we chose 100% infill for maximum strength and almost airtight threads.

3D printing has allowed for the creation of gadgets, cosplay and other fun stuff, but materials like colorFabb_HT, enabled by Eastman Tritan™ co-polyester technology, allow for truly disruptive uses in day to day life.

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. 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.

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.

Aside from its functionality in practical prints, colorFabb_HT Clear also allows to print near transparent prints. Another feature, as a recent post shows, is the ability to print with extreme detail.

colorFabb_HT is available in our webshop.

Final Fantasy VII Globe

Sometimes it is just fun to print game based gadgets. A request came from one of our colleagues in logistics to print the Final Fantasy VII Globe (or comet, as he says), which he wants to paint afterwards. For this print, which needed a lot of detail, we used nGen, our all-round 3D printing filament made with Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer.

Design by Qwyksylver: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1084401

We printed on the Ultimaker 2+ with nGen Dark Gray and a 0.4mm nozzle. The print took 10 hours and we printed with 40mm/s and a 0.06mm to get the most details out of this print.

Released in 1997, Final Fantasy VII is one of the most iconic games to be released. Popularity never slowed down and this year, during its 20th anniversary there will be a lot of attention for this classic again.

Material of choice is our trusted nGen filament. 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 and is on sale right now! (Sale occurs at the moment of publishing and only for a limited time).

nGen is available through our webshop and our network of distributors and resellers worldwide.

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:

Once our colleague has the painted globe (or comet), we will show you an update of course.

Stacker S4 head storage rail

Updated: scroll down for the version in XT-CF20

The Stacker S4 is a fantastic printer. Tough, reliable and industrial grade. We are the distributor of this US made machine in Europe and have printed many hours on it. One of the big advantages of the Stacker printer is its versatility: You can print 4 prints at the same time or print one big print. But what to do with the other print heads if you don’t need them?

Simple: store them!

Design: http://stacker3d.com/stacker-3d-printer-support/

We printed this part, obviously, on the Stacker S4 with colorFabb_XT Light Gray. We used a 0.12mm layer height which resulted in a 16 hour print.

The head storage allows the use of the maximum print volume with the remaining print heads.

Stacker recently launched the Stacker S2 on Kickstarter. You can read more about this printer here. It is the smaller sibling of the S4 with a smaller build volume and two, instead of four, print heads. The technology is the same as the S4, which has already been tested and tried by the market for almost a year.

Check out the Stacker S2 Kickstarter video below.

https://vimeo.com/205107978

For functional materials in such an application, we do not look any further than our colorFabb_XT.

colorFabb_XT is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM1800. Launched in September 2014, it is a fantastic functional engineering material. With colorFabb_XT we achieved to produce a filament that provides good strength and toughness, as well as certain FDA food contact compliances. It has found a wide audience amongst users looking for extra functionality. With a temperature resistance of 75+ degrees, this filament offers (aside from its high strength and very high toughness) odor neutral processing, a styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation.

colorFabb_XT is available in various colors. We have released it in Light Gray (RAL 7035) and Dark Gray (RAL 7043) as well for the more functional looking prints.

You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here.

Update: April 6th 2017

We made another version, but now in XT-CF20:

Of course this one was printed on the Stacker S4 at a 0.2mm layer height. The matte surface quality is just plain awesome as you can see and the look fits the industrial grade build of the printer perfectly.

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.

XT-CF20 is available online.

Fully printed vise

Back in the day (September last year) we printed a vise with nGen on the Lulzbot Mini. Although nice it still needed screws. Now we have printed a vise that is 100% 3d-printed – no screw or other piece of hardware is needed to hold the individual pieces together. Pieces clip and snap together easily!

We used colorFabb_XT, nGen and nGen_FLEX for this print.

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2064269

The “Yet ANOTHER Machine Vise” is designed by Christoph Laimer a.k.a. TheGoofy from Switzerland. The design was uploaded merely weeks ago, but we found it an excellent model for our various co-polyesters.

We used nGen Yellow, colorFabb_XT Light Blue and nGen_FLEX Black printing this vise.

Remember the “3D-printed Watch with Tourbillon” we printed last year? Same talented designer!

All parts were printed on the Ultimaker 2 and Ultimaker 2+ in our print lab.

 

As Christopher explains on the Thingiverse page:

“Very often people just try to 3d-print common mechanical objects. But the traditional shape of these objects is often not 3d-printable, and if an object was successfully printed, it maybe does not work, or it is not strong enough.

For mechanical objects it is therefore required to adapt the design depending on its future use. If you’re familiar with some CAD-tool, and if your creating designs for 3d-printing. I recommend to think about the special material properties of 3d-printed parts.”

colorFabb_XT is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM1800. Launched in September 2014, it is a fantastic functional engineering material. With colorFabb_XT we achieved to produce a filament that provides good strength and toughness, as well as certain FDA food contact compliances. It has found a wide audience amongst users looking for extra functionality. With a temperature resistance of 75+ degrees, this filament offers (aside from its high strength and very high toughness) odor neutral processing, a styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance and BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation.

colorFabb_XT was our first co-polyester based filament and we followed it up with nGen , which was released a little over a year ago. It is an all-round filament which has many advantages over, say, a PLA. The temperature resistance is over 80 degrees C and it works on most printers with a heated build plate.

nGen is a low-odor, styrene-free material uniquely suited for 3D printing enthusiasts, particularly those who need the flexibility to print within a wide processing temperature range. With nGen you will have good flow properties through the printer nozzle—even at lower temperatures than some other polymers require. These properties make nGen more workable at a wider breadth of temperatures, producing reliable results and resulting in less waste. Visual prototyping has never been better than with nGen.

nGen_FLEX was released in September 2016 at the TCT Show and is our first semi-flexible material. With a Shore A hardness of 95 it is a material that is ideally suited for functional parts. It is not soft and squishy like other flexible materials in the market, but allows for fast printing and printing on 3D printers using a Bowden tube. nGen_FLEX is a material for users looking for an engineering grade flexible filament with a high temperature resistance (over 120 degrees C) and good chemical resistance.

You can read the initial reception of nGen_FLEX here.

You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here.