Traffic Light

Today’s print is a multi-material print since we like to mix up the filaments we have in our ever expanding portfolio. Our intern Sven Hacken went to work and designed a fully functional traffic light!

Design by Sven Hacken / CLOUD3D: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2826057

And the funny thing is: it works like a charm!

All parts were made on the Ultimaker 2, 2+ and 3. Below is a listing of the materials and settings we used:

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The variety of materials used is exemplary of the work Sven is doing in our print lab. Material of choice for the opaque, rigid parts was PLA Economy. For the transparent parts the obvious choice was our new line of transparent nGen colors and even nGen_FLEX was needed for the base feet.

For the light inside, Sven used a USB camping light (link here).

 

We recently added 6 new transparent colors to our portfolio of nGen filaments:

These six 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. With the right settings you can even print translucent objects to a degree as you can see!

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.

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November 2016. Initially we released four colors: white, red, black and silver. In 2017 we added the always popular Dark Blue, which is similar to our very own Ultra Marine Blue that we offer in our portfolio of PLA/PHA filaments.

PLA Economy offers a great value for your money. One spool consists of 2.2kg of filament for a dirt cheap price of a little over € 35 (ex VAT and shipping). It is a different grade than our range of PLA/PHA, but we guarantee the same colorFabb quality. Our filaments are readily available from our webshop.

The small feet on the bottom were printed with 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.
You can read more in our recent blog post where we revisited nGen_FLEX.

Utility Ship

Here at colorFabb we regularly have interns hard at work in the print lab, creating awesome things. As you may remember, Stephan Schürmann designed and printed a bike during his internship here (and is now about to ship his very own Blackbelt 3D printer!). Earlier this year Niels van Valburg made the FLEX_Link chair. And former current co-worker Jos Deelen worked on the early concepts of the biofoam spool during his internship here. Our current intern is Mike Baetsen and to get him more acquainted with 3D printing and designing he printed the Utility Ship, originally designed by Petersripol:

Original design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2192118

As you can see, we put it in the lobby of our new building right away! Mike used the Ultimaker 2 and 2+ for this print (or various prints, if you will) with various settings. Several items on the boat he designed himself using SolidWorks.

3D printing has always been a great tool for model work and this once again proofs that the best results can be achieved with a variety of materials.

The materials (all colorFabb’s, of course), where:

  • PLA/PHA Standard White for the hull
  • PETG Economy Red
  • woodFill for the deck
  • PLA Economy Black

Mike mentions that he wanted to use a variety of materials (two kinds of PLA, our PETG and a special filament) to see how well they work on the Ultimaker printers as well and of course for the aesthetical aspect.

As showcased in the lobby, together with the Subaru and Chevy engines, printed by Korneel Bullens.

 

 

About the materials

PLA/PHA Standard White

And what a standard it is! We started with this modified grade of PLA almost 5 years ago and this filament remains one of our biggest hits. The unique blend of PLA with PHA make it a fantastic filament to print with on a wide variety of printers.

PLA Economy

About a year ago we listened to you – our users – and brought a more economic version of PLA to the market. This new grade of PLA, with an added impact modifier, has been in huge demand from the moment of release. We developed this new PLA, separate from our lauded PLA/PHA, as a filament for large volume users. Because it’s made with the same processing technology used for other premium colorFabb products, this PLA Economy filament is just as reliable. PLA Economy is available on 2.2kg spools only, delivering a whopping 740 meters of 1.75mm filament and 270 meters of 2.85mm filament.

PETG Economy

Not long after PLA Economy we released PETG Economy this summer. This is our first PETG and has already found a large group of devoted users. colorFabb’s Economy line is developed for users who need a lot of filament. By adding a specifically sourced PETG to our portfolio we are adding more functionality and diversity to our range of filaments.

woodFill

What can be said about woodFill that has not been said already? woodFill was launched exactly 4 years ago this month during the London 3D Print Show and was our first special filament. Other natural filled special filaments have followed, like bambooFill (which we discontinued earlier this year) and corkFill. Our woodFill has been a hit from day one due to easy processing and its fantastic looks. Added bonus is that your print room smells like a wood shop when printing with woodFill.

 

Eager to try our filaments? At the time of writing we are in the middle of our Black Friday discount. Click here for the details. Basically: you get a 25% discount on all filaments! Use discount code BLACKFRIDAY when shopping online.

Sale lasts until Monday November 27th.

 

Looking for a new printer? The desktop 3D printers in our portfolio ship with a 10% discount during the Black Friday campaign. No discount code needed – we already lowered the price! Of course you get a free spool of filament with every printer and for selected European countries we offer free shipping!

 

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Can’t choose? Check out our catalogue:

FLEX_Link by Niels van Valburg

Updated: Now with promotional video (skip to the end)

Our intern Niels van Valburg has completed his chair design project and named it… FLEX_Link. The FLEX_Link is a chair that anyone can make at home! Two weeks ago we already tweeted the assembled chair and Niels now officially present the finished project.

Earlier this year Niels started with us as an intern and for his bachelor thesis he was to design and print a seating object. The most recent blog regarding his updates can be found here. Now the project has finished, let’s give the stage to Niels himself:

 

Hey there!

So this is the final result of my chair design project with nGen_FLEX!

 

Design by Niels van Valburg. Files on Thingiverse and Youmagine

 

“For the past 5 months I have been working on this project. And in case you are wondering, you can sit on it!

To make this I have used an Ultimaker 2+ equipped with a 0.8 millimeter nozzle and a fresh set of LokBuild on the glass plate for proper adhesion.”

“As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, the decision has been made to design and make a chair that is available to the public. That means using materials that are readliy available for everyone, in this case 18 millimeter thick plywood, and combining them with a couple of spools of filament to make an acual product ready for use.”

Niels himself

The connectors are designed with the possiblities of both the material and 3D printing in mind. The flexible material is also used as a way of ensuring that the connections are strong enough, by letting them flex around the wood.

One of the key aspects of this chair is that since it is easy to make, people can customize the design to their own needs. They can make it bigger, or more ergonomic depending on their demands. Also various types of material can be used in combination with the printed parts.

The chair itself has been designed to support a maximum of 150 kilogram using SolidWorks and FEM methods.

Enjoy!

Niels

The idea behind the design of the chair is that anyone should be able to print and assemble it. Niels has uploaded all the necessary files on Thingiverse and Youmagine:

Take particular note of the instruction manual to assemble the chair. It can be downloaded as a PDF and has been done in true IKEA form! Really impressive work, Niels!

 

 

About nGen_FLEX

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.

nGen_FLEX is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymers, a range of co-polyesters developed with Eastman Chemical Company for 3D printing. Amphora co-polyesters are low-odor, styrene-free choices that are uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient and attractive. You can find more information about co-polyesters in the article we published last summer: What we talk about when we talk about co-polyesters.

Update 7-7-2017:

Here is the promotional video:

Chair design update

This spring, Niels van Valburg is our intern here at colorFabb. He is currently working on a design for a 3D printed chair. You can read his previous updates here and here. Below is his third update and progress so far...

Hey there!

It has been a while since my last post, and a lot of work has been done since then. At the time of my previous update I was approaching my midterm presentation, during which I received a lot of feedback to continue my project with.

And that feedback has shifted the focus of the entire design so far. My previous chair was meant to be printed as several big parts that would be connected. And after presenting this the question came up on how much material that would actually cost, and if the chair is meant to be built by other people as well. Which lead to changing the design towards efficient material use, easy printing on desktop machines and also easy assembling. By doing that it becomes possible for people to use their machines to make a simple chair, and see how much is possible with a 3D printer and some filament.

The new design is a chair that consists of 3D printed connectors combined with plywood panels. The sketch on the picture shows a basic impression of how it will look. And one of the cool things about it is that it uses the properties of nGen_FLEX to make the connection to the plywood!

On the pictures you can see several printed tests to see which connection to the wood will be the best. I have also designed several different shapes for the connectors themselves and printed these in PLA Economy to see how printable they were, and how the form itself looks in real life instead of my screen.

And now it is time to start with the printing and assembling process of the entire chair, which will take me about two weeks if everything is going as planned.

So untill next time!

Niels

To be continued…

 

More on the materials

nGen_FLEX

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.

nGen_FLEX is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymers, a range of co-polyesters developed with Eastman Chemical Company for 3D printing. Amphora co-polyesters are low-odor, styrene-free choices that are uniquely suited for 3D printing applications. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient and attractive. You can find more information about co-polyesters in the article we published last summer: What we talk about when we talk about co-polyesters.

 

PLA Economy

We launched PLA Economy in November last year and has been a best seller ever since. We offer 2.2kg filament on a big spool for a little over € 35 (excluding VAT and shipping) at the best colorFabb quality you are used to. We have extensively tested this PLA grade in our print lab. Since this week we offer a fifth color to our portfolio: Dark Blue, which ships now from stock.

Visit our webshop now.

Update from our intern

A few weeks ago we introduced our new intern, Niels van Valburg. You can read the previous post here.

Below is the progress on his project he is working on at colorFabb:

 

Hey there!

So last time I explained a bit about what my project is going to be about. For those of you who have not yet read the previous post, I am doing my Bachelor Thesis project for Industrial Product Design at colorFabb. The idea is to print a chair with nGen_FLEX where the material properties are used to an advantage.

So to give an update on how it is going so far. I started researching how I could use metamaterials to make functional parts without having to assemble them. Metamaterials are materials that are engineered in such a way, that they have properties that they normally would not have. A good example are the colorFabb Pliers!

So I have experimented with different designs, and came up with a solution on how to apply it in my concept so far. In the sketches you can see the result.

Some of the test prints made during this study:

So now the real engineering and printing can begin. I still have to figure out how to connect all the parts of the chair together, but I already have some ideas on how it might work.

So until next time!

Niels

Niels is doing a lot of research with nGen_FLEX.

About nGen-FLEX

nGen_FLEX was developed with Eastman chemical company. Based on their work with co-polyesters nGen_FLEX makes a very compatible material with other Amphora grade materials.

With just the right amount of flex, nGen_FLEX is best described as a semi flexible material. Still capable of being fed through a Bowden tube and printed at regular PLA speeds.

Fast printing
nGen_FLEX is engineered as a semi-flexible materials which allows most users to print at regular print speeds, cutting down build times compared to other very flexible filaments. Also bowden style 3D printers, 1.75mm and 2.85mm, will be able to push this filament through without much trouble.

Temperature resistance
nGen_FLEX is temperature resistant to about 125C. That means 3D printed objects can be steam sterilized at 121C.

Flexible and tough
Printed in single perimeters and without infill or very little objects will feel quite flexible, but printed with multiple perimeters and more infill objects will be very firm and tough. The material is rated at a shore hardness of 95A.

Handy links

Meet Niels, our intern

Today we want to introduce a new member to the team, our intern Niels. Well, we’ll let him introduce himself…

I am Niels van Valburg, and I am a soon to be industrial designer, creator and overall problem solver through design. With 3D printing I can realise my ideas.

For my bachelor thesis I am going to work with nGen_FLEX to print a seating object, like a chair or stool. The end product will be designed for FFF 3D printing!

Through experimenting with different designs and researching the material I want to understand it better in order to make a design for a chair that not only is a next step in 3D printing capabilities, but also showcases the various material characteristics of nGen_Flex.

So I am interested to hear what you think about it!

I am currently going through my own design process at the moment, but feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you think!

Until next time!

Niels

 

This is the first in a series of updates on Niels’  progress. Every few weeks he will publish what he has been doing and share the results.