Hinge

3D printing is a great tool at the work place and around the house for making replacement parts on the go. It even enables people with the right design skills to customize the needed part to his or her liking. To make it even better, if required. We recently printed a hinge, a replacement part for a double hinged connector.

Custom design by colorFabb

We printed this hinge with PETG Economy on the Ultimaker 3, using the default CPE Engineering Fine settings in Cura.

 

The convenience of replacing

This hinge is one of several repaclement parts we have made in recent years with various materials:

Printing on the Ultimaker printers is easier than ever. Various colorFabb materials can be selected in the Market Place in Cura for effortless printing. Filaments like our Color on Demand PLA, XT-CF20, nGen (under AM3300) and woodFill have their settings pre-programmed for the Ultimakers 3, S3 and S5 printers.

Click here to go to our blog about the Ultimaker Market Place.

 

For the hinge print we used the CPE Engineering Fine setting, which resulted in a great and functional print.

 

Original hinge design

 

The hinge in real life

 

About PETG Economy

PETG Economy is part of our Economy line of commodity filaments: PLA and PETG, available on large spools (starting at 2.2kg) in a limited amount of popular colors.

colorFabb Economy: Large volume, High quality, Low price

 

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.

As with PLA Economy we have extensively tested this filament in our print lab. Both in production and print lab we have adhered to the highest colorFabb quality – this is something we simply do not compromise on.

The idea behind these filaments is to keep it at a very competitive price. Retail price of PETG Economy is € 40 excluding VAT and shipping. This works out to be a little over € 18 per kg for high quality filament.

 

Tips, tricks and settings

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

Advised 3d printing temperature: 235C-255C

Advised 3d print speed: 30 – 50 mm/s

Advised Heated bed: 70-80C

Cooling fan: 75/100% fan cooling for best aesthetics, this gives best performance on overhangs and small details. For best mechanical performance try printing with the least amount of cooling needed, for optimal layer adhesion.

For Ultimaker 3, S3 and S5 settings we recommend the CPE Engineering Fine setting in Cura, like we used for this hinge.

 

Availability

PETG Economy is available from stock and ships daily & worldwide. We offer 5 colors (Black, White, Red, Dark Gray and Light Gray) as 2.2kg, 4.5kg and 8kg spools. Click here for the availability.

nGen_LUX on Ultimaker S5

In December we published that the base material of our widely popular nGen 3D printing filament, Eastman Amphora AM3300, had been added to the Ultimaker Market Place. In the Market Place Ultimaker users can download print profiles for tested filaments. We already added woodFill, Color on Demand PLA and XT-CF20 (more about that here) and were glad to have AM3300 added so the all-round nGen was part of the family as well. Read the full posts below:

Some testing over the Christmas holiday found that the amazing nGen_LUX prints excellent with the AM3300 settings as well! And we could not resist and printed everybody’s favorite scoundrel Han Solo with nGen_LUX Diamond Black on the Ultimaker S5:

Design by Toshi Tne: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/han-solo-bust

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.

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.

Choose AM3300 as your prefered print settings for nGen_LUX

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.

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

Printing with the right settings is easier than ever. Download Cura 3.6 and select the right material profiles to start printing right away. The colorFabb materials have been extensively tested by both colorFabb and Ultimaker, ensuring the best possible experience and results. Now this is something you have been looking for.

Click here to go directly to our webshop.

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.

Ultimaker Market Place

Updated: XT-CF20 has been added as well!

We are proud to announce that two of our filaments have been added to the Ultimaker Market Place. By adding both Color on Demand  ( PLA )  and woodFill to the market place it is easier than ever to start printing with the right settings on Ultimaker printers. How? Download the latest version of Cura (3.6) and add the profiles as detailed in the short video below:

https://youtu.be/h_5mp_TK5zw

Our filaments have always been tested on Ultimaker 3D printers ever since the beginning. In fact, the very idea of colorFabb started with an Ultimaker Original and it was the first printer we tested on back in 2012. Fun fact: that printer is still in our print lab. We have added more printers to our test lab ever since and have made sure that every major Ultimaker release was added to it as well: The Ultimaker 2, 2+, 3 and S5 are all part of our standard range of printers to ensure our filaments work as flawless as possible on these highly popular Dutch printers.

We’re joining an ever expanding range of premium material brands in the market place.

Update December 14th: We are happy to announce that XT-CF20 has been added to the list as well. Simply add the profile the same way as described above to make functional prints that need extra stiffness.


CARBON FIBER IS ABRASIVE: A special point of attention is the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers. In general these fibers will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than unfilled filaments. Therefore we  recommend to use hardened steel nozzles for this material.

Will more materials be added? Probably in due time. But rest assured that, as mentioned above, we have tested all of our materials on the Ultimaker printers at our disposal. One can also choose Ultimaker materials as a starting point (like CPE settings for our colorFabb_XT and CPE+ for colorFabb_HT). We also share the settings of most of our materials on dedicated blogs, like:

Still not sure if you’re on the right track? Contact us at support@colorfabb.com so we can help you further!