PA-CF Low Warp

Today we proudly announce the release of PA-CF Low Warp, a carbon fiber infused polyamide material with the mechanical properties of a PA6 and excellent printability because of extremely low warp. This new filament, which will be available for pre-order as from now and will start shipping as soon as tomorrow, is the first material developed under our new partnership with LEHVOSS Group.

The material can be printed on desktop FFF 3D printers, which have a temperature range of at least 260°C on the hot-end and the ability to mount an abrasive resistant nozzle. PA-CF Low Warp excels in tensile and impact strength and allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. The formulation has been modified to reduce uptake of moisture and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point compared to unmodified PA6. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less affected by moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market.

The material shows good results when printed at ambient temperature, or cold bed. The advised processing temperature for this material is set between 260C and 280C. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF low warp is available for pre-order now and will start shipping tomorrow.

Visit our webshop

“The ability to print engineering level materials on any desktop 3D printer is very exciting. In most cases engineering materials can be very challenging to print, but what we’ve seen from our tests on several popular 3D printers is that the PA-CF Low Warp has excellent properties and can even be printed without warping on a build plate at ambient temperature. This is huge value for a material which is known to be difficult to print.”, said Ruud Rouleaux, director at colorFabb B.V.

“We are excited that colorFabb have chosen our materials for their high-performance PA filaments. With our product line LUVOCOM 3F for extrusion based 3D printing we are focusing in high-performance applications. Our materials enable 3D printing to be used not only for the traditional prototyping applications but also for functional parts and series production. Having an improved layer adhesion and reduced warping, coupled with the high-quality filament technology of colorFabb, makes the whole process reliable and repeatable.”  said Thiago Medeiros Araujo, Market Development 3D Printing at LEHVOSS Group.

As with previous materials we have created a dedicated landing page for this filaments, which you can visit here.

About LEHVOSS Group

The LEHVOSS Group, under the management of Lehmann&Voss&Co., is a group of companies that develops, produces and markets chemical and mineral specialities for various industrial clients. Lehmann&Voss&Co., in Hamburg Germany, was founded in 1894.

LUVOCOM® high-performance compounds as well as the 3D printing materials LUVOSINT® and LUVOCOM® 3F extend the range of applications for plastics and ensure that the products produced from them in many industries are able to reliably fulfil their function, even when subject to stringent requirements. The materials with exactly defined properties are based on almost all available thermoplastics and are tailor-made to individual customer requirements.

 

The Olsson Ruby Nozzle – One nozzle for all materials

Due to the abrassive nature of the filament we recommend the use of hardened nozzles for the best performance of the material and printer. For this reason we are offering the Olsson Ruby Nozzles with the purchase of PA-CF Low Warp. You can find the combined offer here.

We have published about the use of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle before and we are very enthusiastic about the use of this filament combined with abrassive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, but also XT-CF20 and steelFill.

The ruby mounted at the tip assures that even the toughest materials will be printable. It was originally designed for printing with a composite of Boron Carbide (B4C), the third hardest known material in the world. Since most of the Olsson Ruby is made from brass, with its excellent heat conductivity, performance and throughput is first-class.

The Olsson Ruby is manufactured, assembled and tested in a high-quality facility in Sweden. This is why 3DVerkstan – also colorFabb’s partner in the region – guarantees the very best quality and tolerances.

As from now you can purchase the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in combination with PA-CF Low Warp in our webshop.

Full design attributions:

Motorcycle brake lever by Mark3D_GmbH

Fully 3D printed modular RC Sailplane by Walt

Torqueboards Mount Pulley Cover by emancarrillo

C – Beam 20/80 by Mindless

72mm exhaust fan for 3d printer to 3″ hose by BloomingtonFPV

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.

Foldable cup holder

Here is a nice print that was designed in-house and specifically to carry multiple cups of our Nespressos without burning our fingers. We know, it’s a first world problem, but a problem nonetheless and 3D printing solved it for us. Our intern Niels (who did the kick ass FLEX_Link chair recently) designed this foldable cup holder, which is already in heavy demand in our office.

Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2423293

We printed it with colorFabb_XT on the Ultimaker 2. Due to the heat of the cups, we needed a material with a higher glass temperature. Since PLA does not meet this criteria. Our range of co-polyesters would be more fitting and we chose colorFabb_XT, using the colorFabb brand colors.

After printing, a small M6 screw was used in combination with a locking nut to hold everything together. The printed parts stack up to a height of 15 millimeters, so a screw of at least 20 millimeters in length should suffice.

This design, due to its compact nature when folded, is an ideal companion during the summer months at festivals or during picnics. You can download the design on Thingiverse to make your own.

We launched colorFabb_XT almost 3 years ago at the London 3D Print Show together with Eastman Chemical Company. Eastman is our material partner for co-polyesters. colorFabb_XT is made with Amphora AM1800 and has a unique formulation for 3D Printing that features excellent properties : High strength and very high toughness, Odor Neutral processing, High Tg / improved temp. resistance, Styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance, BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It will allow the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.

You can find the data sheets and other documentation on our website: http://colorfabb.com/Materials/

colorFabb_XT is available in 14 colors, including clear.

Our range of Amphora based co-polyesters are perfectly suited for a project like this. In 2014 colorFabb teamed up with Eastman Chemical Company to develop unique grades of co-polyesters suited for 3D printing. Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer are a low-odor, styrene-free choice that is uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

So far we have launched four grades, starting with colorFabb_XT in 2014. Late 2015 we follow this up with nGen, our next Generation general purpose filament and a drop in replacement for PLA. A wide processing window and perfect reliability make this filament a very popular one in our portfolio.

A little over a year ago we followed that up with colorFabb_HT, a high-temperature resistant filament that allows for functional engineering projects that need lasting parts. colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology.

At last year’s TCT Show in Birmingham we introduced nGen_FLEX to the market, a flexible filament with a Shora A hardness of 95 allowing for functional and flexible parts to be printed.

More information can be found in the blog we wrote about co-polyesters last summer.

Drain exit

In Western Europe the weather is erratic at best. With leaves ending up in the gutter, we want to avoid that they clutter up the drains. One of our colleagues, Jos,  ended up designing and printing his own drain exit:

Design by Joshyu: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2308895

It is a practical piece, printed on the Ultimaker 3 with colorFabb_XT Dark Gray. It took approximately 12 hours to print this part.

We launched colorFabb_XT almost 3 years ago at the London 3D Print Show together with Eastman Chemical Company. Eastman is our material partner for co-polyesters. colorFabb_XT is made with Amphora AM1800 and has a unique formulation for 3D Printing that features excellent properties : High strength and very high toughness, Odor Neutral processing, High Tg / improved temp. resistance, Styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance, BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It will allow the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.

You can find the data sheets and other documentation on our website: http://colorfabb.com/Materials/

colorFabb_XT is available in 14 colors, including clear.

Our range of Amphora based co-polyesters are perfectly suited for a project like this. In 2014 colorFabb teamed up with Eastman Chemical Company to develop unique grades of co-polyesters suited for 3D printing. Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer are a low-odor, styrene-free choice that is uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

So far we have launched four grades, starting with colorFabb_XT in 2014. Late 2015 we follow this up with nGen, our next Generation general purpose filament and a drop in replacement for PLA. A wide processing window and perfect reliability make this filament a very popular one in our portfolio.

A little over a year ago we followed that up with colorFabb_HT, a high-temperature resistant filament that allows for functional engineering projects that need lasting parts. colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology.

At last year’s TCT Show in Birmingham we introduced nGen_FLEX to the market, a flexible filament with a Shora A hardness of 95 allowing for functional and flexible parts to be printed.

More information can be found in the blog we wrote about co-polyesters last summer.

Replacement pedal

3D printing allows for a lot of applications, DIY repairing being one of them. This weekend we wrote about replacing a part for a laundy dryer, which was printed with colorFabb_HT. Today we have another case, made with colorFabb_XT, which started in our very own print lab!

A couple of weeks ago the pedal of the garbage bin in our printing lab broke. One of the pins that is used as a rotation point broke off. So we decided to model and print it ourselves!

On top: the printed version, below the original broken version.

Printed with colorFabb_XT Dark Gray, this model has been designed in SolidWorks, during which the printing orientation has been kept in mind.

When you print parts for mechanical or functional use, the direction of the printed layers is important in order to maximize the mechanical properties of the print. It also incorporates the original foot pedal, which snaps on nicely. The part itself also fitted to our bin without any problems.

colorFabb_XT is a perfect material for functional prints like this, due to the excellent mechanical and printing properties of the material. The printed parts also show a high glossy finish which can also be used for visual aspects in functional prototypes.

Printed on the Lulzbot TAZ 6 with the standard nozzle on 0,2mm layerheight.  Scroll down for more information on the Lulzbot TAZ 6.

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 14 colors (including clear) and we ship from stock. Order yours now!

 

Lulzbot TAZ 6

Engineers, designers, educators, and makers agree: The LulzBot TAZ 6 is the most reliable, easiest-to-use desktop 3D printer ever, featuring innovative self-leveling and self-cleaning, and a modular tool head design for flexible and multi-material upgrades. With proven 3D printing technology and one of the largest print volumes in its class, the LulzBot TAZ 6 is ready to work.

3D printing is more reliable than ever with the integrated automatic bed leveling system, all metal LulzBot v2 Hot End, and heated PEI print surface.  With the all metal hot end, you can take advantage of the cutting edge market for new materials. Perfect for both large and small objects, the heated PEI build surface keeps your 3D printed objects in place when hot and releases when cool. With Cura LulzBot Edition, you have hundreds of quickprint profiles built in for seamless 3D printing.

The Lulzbot TAZ 6 is now available in our webshop at € 3.025 including VAT / € 2.500 excluding VAT.

Not sold yet? The TAZ 6 was recently reviewed by Richard Horne (RichRap) and Joel Telling (3DPrintingNerd). See their videos below:

You can find Richard’s full blog here.

And of course Joel Telling‘s review:

Richard and Joel have convinced you, we’re sure, but we’ll throw in a bit more:

  • free shipping in Europe
  • 4 (four!) free spools of our nGen filament!

 

Moveo upgrade

A project we have been working on for quite some time now is the Moveo Robotic Arm by BCN 3D Technologies in Barcelona. It is a great project which we already teased in November and December.

Original design: https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com/en/bcn3d-moveo-the-future-of-learning/

Almost a month ago, during the RapidPro in Veldhoven, we showed the functional arm to the audiences of that show:

But this project is far from finished. We have decided to upgrade the robotic arm with some new parts:

The parts we printed on the Stacker S2 are:

Mantis Gripper by 4ndreas (Andreas Hölldorfer – http://chaozlabs.blogspot.nl/)
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1480408

Moveo Adaptor plate for Mantis Gripper by drmaettu
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1783754

Moveo 5th axis body piece to replace current print.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1693444

The Mantis gripper allows for a more versatile grip for the Moveo robot arm and it looks cool. Andreas even has the gripper picking up a full mug of coffee on his YouTube video in his blog:

And that’s exactly what we need here at colorFabb: More efficient ways to get our coffee! Using the Adaptor plate designed by drmaettu we should be able to mount it easily to the Moveo Robot arm.

We will write a final and complete blog post on the entire project soon.

As with the previous parts, we have printed with colorFabb_XT Yellow and Dark Gray.

Our range of Amphora based co-polyesters are perfectly suited for a project like this. In 2014 colorFabb teamed up with Eastman Chemical Company to develop unique grades of co-polyesters suited for 3D printing. Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer are a low-odor, styrene-free choice that is uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

So far we have launched four grades, starting with colorFabb_XT in 2014, which is a fantastic functional engineering material. Late 2015 we follow this up with nGen, our next Generation general purpose filament and a drop in replacement for PLA. A wide processing window and perfect reliability make this filament a very popular one in our portfolio.

In 2016 we followed that up with colorFabb_HT, a high-temperature resistant filament that allows for functional engineering projects that need lasting parts. Half a year ago at the TCT Show in Birmingham we introduced nGen_FLEX to the market, a flexible filament with a Shora A hardness of 95 allowing for functional and flexible parts to be printed.

More information can be found in the blog we wrote about co-polyesters last summer.

You can find our entire portfolio of co-polyesters in our webshop or via our distributors and resellers worldwide.

We printed these parts on the brand new Stacker S2. The S2 is still available on Kickstarter, but only for a few more hours.

colorFabb is proud partner of Stacker and official distributor for the EMEA region. At colorFabb we have been extensively testing with both the S2 and S4 in our print lab with our entire range of filaments. What makes this printer so different from the rest? First of all, it is based on the technology that has made the Stacker S4 such a success.

You can also expect the following:

  • Copy mode for printing two objects at once for 2X print speeds
  • Dual print heads can be offset to prevent the idle head from dripping on the print when not in use to achieve super clean dual material prints
  • Large build volume: 395mm (X) axis, 325mm (Y) axis, 525mm (Z) Axis
  • Built-in mobile base, essential for EDU and work groups
  • Superior print quality
  • STACKER designed and manufactured hot ends and filament drives produce a superior finish, and work with all filaments, including flexible and metal filled
  • Uses 1.75mm filament for high-speed printing.
  • Quick change nozzles in a range of sizes from .25mm to 1mm
  • Comes with a single license of Simplify3D slicing software
  • Includes a sheet of BuildTak print bed surface but will accept glass

Although the Kickstarter pledges will be delivered in May / June of this year, you can already pre-order the S2 through us, as the official Stacker distributor in the EMEA region, or Stacker itself. Delivery of the pre-order printers will be in April. Get your quote now!

 

Stacker S2

In the past 4 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 (as detailed here and here). One company on top of this trend is Stacker from Minneapolis, MN. A couple of years ago they succesfully launched their first 3D printer on Kickstarter. This printer was all about functionality: printing small series or big prototypes – an industrial grade printer for the workspace.

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. The way “industrial grade” is achieved begins with superior engineering and high-quality components, and ends with an Stacker’s innovative new assembly method.

Before the launch of Stacker’s first printer we at colorFabb were already in touch with the Stacker team and we both had the same vision for 3D printing in that it was all about functionality. Our range of filaments, especially the co-polyester range made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer, are a perfect match with Stacker’s range of printers.

Yes, a range of printers. As from yesterday, Stacker’s latest offering is available on Kickstarter. The S2 launched yesterday and was already completely funded within 4 hours after launching. Unlike other 3D printers that were not able to make the cut during the process of fulfilling their Kickstarter obligations, Stacker has already proven itself to bring a reliable printer to the market.

You can see the Kickstarter video here:

https://vimeo.com/205107978

Although the Kickstarter pledges will be delivered in May / June of this year, you can already pre-order the S2 through us, as the official Stacker distributor in the EMEA region, or Stacker itself. Delivery of the pre-order printers will be in April. Get your quote now!

We received our first S2 recently and have been printing non-stop since. One of the projects we have been working on are these prototypes for leg prosthetics:

Design: https://grabcad.com/library/prosthetic-leg

We printed these parts with nGen on the brand new Stacker S2. (And yes, these are the same prints we printed before).

colorFabb is proud partner of Stacker and official distributor for the EMEA region. At colorFabb we have been extensively testing with both the S2 and S4 in our print lab with our entire range of filaments. What makes this printer so different from the rest? First of all, it is based on the technology that has made the Stacker S4 such a success.

You can also expect the following:

  • Copy mode for printing two objects at once for 2X print speeds
  • Dual print heads can be offset to prevent the idle head from dripping on the print when not in use to achieve super clean dual material prints
  • Large build volume: 395mm (X) axis, 325mm (Y) axis, 525mm (Z) Axis
  • Built-in mobile base, essential for EDU and work groups
  • Superior print quality
  • STACKER designed and manufactured hot ends and filament drives produce a superior finish, and work with all filaments, including flexible and metal filled
  • Uses 1.75mm filament for high-speed printing.
  • Quick change nozzles in a range of sizes from .25mm to 1mm
  • Comes with a single license of Simplify3D slicing software
  • Includes a sheet of BuildTak print bed surface but will accept glass

 

As said, we test all our filaments, but we are always looking for more functionality. One of our favorite filaments for this is nGen.

This all-round filament was released a little over a year ago. It is 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 is available in our webshop, through Stacker and our distributor network worldwide.

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

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.

GoPro Bike Mount

Let’s gopro for this one and explore the outdoors. Today’s featured print is a small, but highly functional one. We have printed a GoPro Bike Mount with colorFabb_XT:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:248893

We printed this part with colorFabb_XT Red on the Ultimaker 2 with a 0.6mm nozzle. Due to the quite extreme overhang we slowed down to get the perfect overhang performance.

Such an overhang is not easily achieved, but we managed it with our colorFabb_XT, a material that keeps performing at an awesome level. You can find out how to print with colorFabb_XT in our tutorial or contact support@colorfabb.com for the most optimal settings for your printer!

We even took it for a ride outside!

One of our 3D print engineer’s (Stephan) daily bike ride to the office. Not in real time…

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. Our portfolio of co-polyester based filaments, made with Eastman Amphora polymers, has since extended with the all-round nGen, the high temperature resistant colorFabb_HT and semi-flexible nGen_FLEX. You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here.

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

 

Prosthetic design

3D printing is a technology that is perfectly suited for prosthetic and orthopedic designs. These applications require a high level of customization as well as complex shapes. We have seen this with companies like Mathis Orthopédie and organisations like Enable and 3D Life Prints.

To understand the needs and the challenges ourselves we have chosen to print a design for a prosthetic leg ourselves, using colorFabb_XT Dark Gray.

Design: https://grabcad.com/library/prosthetic-leg

This part was printed on a Swiss made Delta Tower with 0.15mm layer height. The design was altered slightly for better printing.

Please note that this model and print are made as a case study and not intended to be used in real life with a body’s weight supporting it. As you can see in the original design, the part we printed is meant to be the outer shell.

For this purpose colorFabb_XT is an excellent material.

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 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. Our portfolio of co-polyester based filaments, made with Eastman Amphora polymers, has since extended with the all-round nGen, the high temperature resistant colorFabb_HT and semi-flexible nGen_FLEX. You can find more about what co-polyesters are by clicking here.

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

 

Keep checking out this site for the latest news regarding colorFabb news, tutorials and the latest prints from our print lab!