The Olsson Ruby nozzle

Recently we announced the winners of our Design Challenge. The idea was to send us functional designs that we would print with PA-CF Low Warp, our engineering grade and nylon based filament. The PA-CF Low Warp is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. PA-CF Low Warp excels in tensile and impact strength and allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient mechanical properties.

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. ColorFabb recommends to using wear resistant nozzles, such as the Olsson Ruby nozzle.

Last week, Swedish 3D specialist 3DVerkstan – our distributor in the Nordic countries contacted us. They were more than happy to provide the five winners of the challenge with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle, which would be added to the the 2 spools of PA-CF Low Warp they were already getting.

The Olsson Ruby nozzles

A fantastic gift and a very useful one as well. The winners, who were contacted about this, were very grateful and they can expect the nozzles with them soon. Thank you, 3DVerkstkan for providing these nozzles!

In a world where 3D printing users require more functional and exotic filaments, we try to keep up with the demands. Although we aim to make sure our filaments work on as many printers as possible, we know that not all materials are a good fit for every printer. Abrasive materials like PA-CF Low Warp, XT-CF20, steelFill and to a lesser extent glowFill wear out the standard brass nozzles too fast.

In the words of Daniel Ljungstig, CEO of 3DVerkstan: “The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. He designed it to be able to print extremely hard materials for scientific research at Uppsala University in Sweden.”

We have seen quite some benefits over the regular brass nozzles that are the current industry standard: The ruby nozzle retains the excellent heat conducting properties of brass, while being extremely resistant to wear. This means that you can print your standard materials as usual, but also very abrasive materials such as PA-CF Low Warp, XT-CF20 and steelFill. Daniel Ljungstig adds: “In addition to this, many of our test users have reported an improved surface quality compared to standard nozzles.” 

The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. You can visit the website here.

It is a well established fact by now that our new PA-CF Low Warp filament is all about functionality. We developed this filament with only one goal: to make sure a lot of users have the ability to print high quality printed parts. Even on a cold bed. PA-CF Low Warp is, due to its stiffness and strength, a perfect material for replacement parts and custom made parts.

The PA-CF Low Warp filament is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints.

PA-CF Low Warp allows continuous use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. Most high heat resistant materials will be difficult to print and require heated chambers and / or heated platforms to keep parts from warping the bottom layer. PA-CF Low Warp shows a very low tendency to warp, even at ambient temperature platform.

Eager to get started? Click here to get the basics on how to print with PA-CF Low Warp.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock. We currently stock spools of 700 grams, but as from late next week large spools containing 2kg of material will be available as well.

You can also opt to get a unique bundle package, containing one spool of PA-CF Low Warp and the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in our webshop.

Garden Sprinkler

January 10th: Updated with images of the finished part

This is a print we have made before and one that is an excellent example of how well overhangs are handled with PA-CF Low Warp, our new nylon based carbon re-inforced engineering filament. The Garden Sprinkler by Daniel Norée is a great design to showcase our filament with.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2077154

We scaled the sprinkler to 200% scale to show the awesome ability to print overhangs. Not only does this high-end filament print very well on a wide range of printers (find out how to print), but it shows excellent properties like strength, low warp and also overhangs. Only this morning we featured the ability to have great looking prints and with the ability to print challenging overhangs we know we have released a filament that is perfectly suitable for the professional user who needs a high quality filament that performs!

The formulation has been modified to reduce the uptake of moisture by half compared to PA6 and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less sensitive to moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

We printed similar to previous posts on the Ultimaker 2+ using an Olsson Ruby nozzle. Print settings used were 260C hot end temperature with a 50 degrees C bed temp and at 0.3mm layer height.  Fan cooling is set to 70% and used 80% of the original speed, this gives plenty of time for cooling and results in very crisp overhang geometries.

Daniel Norée is well known for his Open RC project (where we printed a large version of his F1 design), but he has more than 120 designs on Thingiverse – under his handle barspin – very functional and cool ones among them.

The PA-CF Low Warp is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. This tailormade formulation of polyamide features the mechanical properties of a PA6. Tensile strength was measured at 77,99 MPa and impact strength (notched) was measured at 5,44KJ/m2, test specimens both printed on Ultimaker 2+, 260C 0.1mm layerheight with 100% infill.

The finished part looks amazing!

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

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.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

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.

Single Gauge Pod

Our brand new PA-CF Low Warp filament is all about functionality. That means it also has to look Good (yes, that is a capital G). It is a perfect material to make parts that are used in an industrial environment, like the Single Gauge Pod by oldmatedave:

Design by oldmatedave: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1832214

We printed, similar to prints we posted about yesterday, on the Ultimaker 2+ using an Olsson Ruby nozzle. Print settings used were 260C hot end temperature with a 50 degrees C bed temp and at 0.3mm layer height. If you want to know more about printing with PA-CF Low Warp, click here.

The PA-CF Low Warp is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. This tailormade formulation of polyamide features the mechanical properties of a PA6. Tensile strength was measured at 77,99 MPa and impact strength (notched) was measured at 5,44KJ/m2, test specimens both printed on Ultimaker 2+, 260C 0.1mm layerheight with 100% infill.

The formulation has been modified to reduce the uptake of moisture by half compared to PA6 and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less sensitive to moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

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.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

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.

Printing with PA-CF Low Warp

Earlier this week we launched our brand new, functional filament PA-CF Low Warp. The PA-CF Low Warp is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. This tailormade formulation of polyamide features the mechanical properties of a PA6. Tensile strength was measured at 77,99 MPa and impact strength (notched) was measured at 5,44KJ/m2, test specimens both printed on Ultimaker 2+, 260C 0.1mm layerheight with 100% infill.

We have been testing a lot with this filament, with our focus on functional parts. On Tuesday we published a video where we printed a wall mount with cable hanger:

J1772 Wall Mount with Cable Hanger by BenTheRighteous

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2446369

We printed on the Ultimaker 2+ with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle. Settings used for this print were: 0.3mm layerheight, 260C, 50C bed, 30/40 mm/s speed.

Today we have posted a new video, once again printing on the Ultimaker 2+ with an Olsson Ruby Nozzle:

This is an adapter to make carbon blasting the intake valves on a Mini Cooper R56 / N14 much easier. Normally you have to custom make you own, and that can be very difficult. This replaces a $90 adapter made by Mini. The design we used was made by Geofox.

We printed with 22% infull, 0.3mm layer height on a glass plate and used 3DLac and a brim on a cold bed.

With PA-CF Low Warp functional prints can be made on most printers.

The formulation has been modified to reduce the uptake of moisture by half compared to PA6 and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less sensitive to moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock.

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.

This nozzle, soon on your printer!

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.

Abrasive filaments

In a world where 3D printing users require more functional and exotic filaments, we try to keep up with the demands. Although we aim to make sure our filaments work on as many printers as possible, we know that not all materials are a good fit for every printer. One of the reasons can be that some filaments wear the standard brass nozzles too much.

This summer our printlab sees a lot of testing with the Olsson Ruby nozzle, a nozzle which works especially fine with our abrasive filaments like XT-CF20 and steelFill.

Full credits for the designs at the end of the post

We printed with the brand new 0.6mm and 0.8mm Olsson Ruby nozzles on the Ultimaker 2.

The Olsson Ruby nozzles we printed with provided to us by its manufacturer and very own distributor for the Nordic Region: 3DVerkstan, based in Stockholm. In the words of Daniel Ljungstig, CEO of 3DVerkstan: “The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. He designed it to be able to print extremely hard materials for scientific research at Uppsala University in Sweden.”

 

During our test printing the mask we have seen quite some benefits over the regular brass nozzles that are the current industry standard: The ruby nozzle retains the excellent heat conducting properties of brass, while being extremely resistant to wear. This means that you can print your standard materials as usual, but also very abrasive materials such as XT-CF20 and steelFill. Daniel Ljungstig adds: “In addition to this, many of our test users have reported an improved surface quality compared to standard nozzles.” 

The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers. You can visit the website here.

 

About the filaments…

XT-CF20

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.

colorFabb’s XT-CF20 is available in both 750 grams and 2.2kg spools. Click here to see the availabilty.

steelFill

With steelFill we are added a fourth metal based filament to our portfolio after succesfully releasing bronzeFill in 2014, copperFill later that year and brassFill in early 2015. As with these other filaments, the key is post-processing and you can use similar techniques as with our other special metal based filaments.

You can find the full tutorial on how to print with steelFill here.

Iron Man Bust by Geoff.W (not printed with the Ruby nozzle, by the way) – http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:571321

As with XT-CF20, steelFill is available in our webshop and through our network of distributors and resellers worldwide.

 

The designs

3D printed bike dropout right by colorFabb: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:892442
OpenRC F1 250% Front Upper BOM by colorFabb: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1834126
Misumi Aluminium Extrusion 2020 profile (scaled) by Beverageexpert: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:280318
SteelFill anvil by Steve Cox (original post)
Mother’s Day Sculpture by MakePrintable: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1541512

The nozzles were generously supplied to us by 3DVerkstan, our distributor and partner in the Nordic region and manufacturer of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle. For more information about the nozzle, contact 3DVerkstan: info@3dverkstan.se or visit the Olsson Ruby website.

steelFill

Back in June 2016 we announced steelFill to the world. In September we launched steelFill officially. Today we have printed an aptly themed object with steelFill : the Man of Steel logo.

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:246349

Modelled by Filippo Panza, this design is based on the current Superman series and quite appropiate for our steelFill.

With steelFill we are added a fourth metal based filament to our portfolio after succesfully releasing bronzeFill in 2014, copperFill later that year and brassFill in early 2015. As with these other filaments, the key is post-processing and you can use similar techniques as with our other special metal based filaments.

You can find the full tutorial on how to print with steelFill here.

This part was printed on the Makerbot Replicator 2 with a 0.2mm layer height at 210 degrees C. steelFill is an abrassive filament and not kind to the standard brass nozzles.

For the nozzle we chose the Olsson Ruby nozzle 1.75mm version. the ruby nozzle retains the excellent heat conducting properties of brass, while being extremely resistant to wear. This means that you can print your standard materials as usual, but also very abrasive materials such as steelFill but also our XT-CF20.

The Olsson Ruby is a high-tech nozzle with a carefully designed ruby tip, which makes it have unique properties. The ruby nozzle is designed by Anders Olsson, inventor of the popular Olsson Block that is also part of the Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printers.

This nozzle was generously supplied to us by 3DVerkstan, our distributor and partner in the Nordic regiona and manufacturer of the Olsson Ruby Nozzle. For more information about the nozzle, contact 3DVerkstan: info@3dverkstan.se

There will be a separate blog about post-processing this piece later on. You can find more prints made with steelFill, which have been post-processed, here:

Yeah, we like our superheroes…

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

Mirror holder

Sometimes you need a practical item for in and around the house. Like when you need a holder to hold the mirror. Luckily there is 3D printing. With a custom design we printed two mirror holders with XT-CF20.

cycle-bottle-cage-2

We introducted XT-CF20 early 2015, containing 20% carbon fibres with colorFabb_XT.

Due to the abrasive nature of XT-CF20 we always used hardened steel nozzles to print this filament. In recent weeks, however, we have been extensively testing with the Olsson Ruby nozzle, provided to us by 3DVerkstan, our distributor in the Nordic region and producer of these new nozzles. You can find the Death Gun mask here and Robot Action figure here for examples printed with this new nozzle that will be released later in November. For further information, you can contact 3DVerkstan.

cycle-bottle-cage

During our test printing the mirror holders we have seen quite some benefits over the regular brass nozzles that are the current industry standard: The ruby nozzle retains the excellent heat conducting properties of brass, while being extremely resistant to wear. This means that you can print your standard materials as usual, but also very abrasive materials such as XT-CF20 and steelFill.

nozzle

As you can see we have had fantastic results with this new nozzle which, combined with the stiffness of the material, offer great functionality in everyday use. We printed the mirror holders on an Ultimaker 2 at 0.2mm layer height.

XT-CF20 is available now in our webshop (and take advantage of the colorfabb4you discount code to celebrate our fourth anniversary!)

Dodecahedron with XT-CF20

A few weeks ago we printed a Rhombic Dodecahedron Derived Figure with nGen Light Blue. You can find the original post here. We use this model, made by Fred Bartels, a lot lately to test our filaments with. The print we want to share today is the same dodecahedron, but printed with XT-CF20.

dodecahedron-xtcf20

Design by Fred Bartels: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:539489

We introducted XT-CF20 early 2015, containing 20% carbon fibres with colorFabb_XT.

Due to the abrasive nature of XT-CF20 we always used hardened steel nozzles to print this filament. In recent weeks, however, we have been extensively testing with the Olsson Ruby nozzle, provided to us by 3DVerkstan, our distributor in the Nordic region and producer of these new nozzles. You can find the Death Gun mask here and Robot Action figure here for examples printed with this new nozzle that will be released in November.

As you can see we have had fantastic results with this new nozzle.

We printed the dodecahedron on an Ultimaker 2 at 0.1mm layer height.

XT-CF20 is available now in our webshop.