pla/pha Archives - Learn ColorFabb

Mimphonium

After last month’s #MadeWithcolorFabb contest we will dive a little bit deeper into the story behind the month’s winner: the Mimphonium. This is a very cool, UK based project by Domenico Marseglia. We were intrigued by the fact that quite a bit was printed with PLA/PHA Standard White Let’s go into the details.

What inspired him to start with this project? We asked him and Domenico was gracious enough to share his thoughts.

How it all began…

“The original inspiration was a project someone else came up with in the early days of the Raspberry Pi. It was made from a child’s toy with some solenoids that hit the notes from behind. I thought it was great, but I could do better. In particular, the solenoids made a horrible clattering noise. I thought about the moving coil meters we had at school, and I came up with my version that you can see in the photo below. The two big let-downs were my woodworking skills and the cost of a glockenspiel to get the metal bars from. The two big breakthroughs were another project I saw where the notes were cut from copper pipe, and my employer buying a 3d printer for prototyping work. Then, over a series of trial and error refinements, I came up with the design you see today.”

The first iteration

Visit the Mimphonium website here.

The printed parts

Domenico continues: “I have a website under construction. I think the best bit for you would be this page (click here). This shows that it is not just the final product that is 3d-printed, but some of the tools I used to make it are also 3d-printed. I think the coil winder is another sub-project in its own right. I think this reflects a more serious side of the current usage of 3d-printing. The parts made form PLA have their limitations in terms of end-user products, but they are often more than good enough for assembly fixtures.”

Mounting the coil on the coil winder

The printer

He has an Ultimaker 2, upgraded to 2+. After the upgrade it works especially well with our signature (and long time favorite) PLA/PHA Standard White. “I just use the default values for everything except the hammer heads. In that case I use 100% infill to make them heavier.”

The project is still on-going and we will follow for sure.

Follow the Mimphonium project on Twitter!

We saw a lot of great entries during the #MadeWithcolorFabb contest. The Mimphonium eventually won, but it had worthy oponents. You can find all the winners here.

About PLA/PHA

PLA/PHA was the very first material released by colorFabb seven years ago. Starting with almost twenty colors, the portfolio eventually expanded to thirty colors (some of them about to be discontinued). The unique blend of PLA and PHA bioplastics made it a one-of-a-kind filament for users looking for a 3D printing filament that processed well on various printers and was of high quality. It was the basis of colorFabb’s success.

Our high quality PLA/PHA filaments ship daily and from stock.

PLA/PHA has always been a favorite amongst colorFabb users. With our focus on expanding our portfolio some colors will be discontinued. You can find these on our clearance sale page (click here).

Clearance sale

Nothing lasts forever…

In the past few years we have been adding and adding filaments to our portfolio. And then we added even more. At this point we have, also thanks to our Color on Demand program, thousands of products in our system. Mostly filaments. But not all filaments are equally succesfull and some of them need to make space for new innovations. That’s why we are currently having our largest clearance sale in our seven year history. Go to our Sales page on the webshop to see what filaments will be gone forever soon.

Why?

Why get rid of all these bright and fantastic colors. To be quite honest: economy and efficiency. We have a lot of great filaments that sell really well. The filaments chosen to be part of the clearance sale simply do not sell well enough to keep in stock. With every filament we asked ourselves questions that needed to be asked: Is Warm Red too close to Traffic Red to justify its existence? Is there any real demand for colorFabb_XT Pink or Purple? Although stunning, was there every really a market for nGen Transparent? All these questions were answered and tough decisions were made.

Are they bad filaments? No, absolutely not. They have been produced according to the same high standards as our other filaments and we stand with the quality of the materials we ship. We listen to the market and said market has made a choice. Demand is simply too low to keep them in stock. That is not to say there is no demand for them at all, but with an ever increasing portfolio of various filaments we have to make decisions. And we like our decision to be rational and fact-based.

So…? If your favorite material or color is among these pre-selected colors, you can now order in bulk to make sure you have plenty of stock to keep you printing for the time being. We have dropped the pricing significantly so the initial investment can be kept at a minimum.

But I really need this one filament!?! Custom production can be arranged, but an MOQ will apply for this, usually as from 25kg per material/color. Check with our team for the options.

And if I need only one spool? If it is PLA you are in luck. With our Color on Demand service we can produce a spool of PLA in RAL for you. Click here for the options. Color on Demand does not extend yet to other materials.

And when it’s gone? It’s gone. It is a clearance sale after all. We do not plan to have these products in stock again. There are more materials on the horizon (*stares at horizon*).

Below is a list of the materials which will go out of stock:

PLA/PHA Magenta (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Chocolate Brown (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Fluorescent Green
PLA/PHA Light Brown (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Greenish Beige (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Yellow Transparent
PLA/PHA Olympic Gold (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Olive Green (SOLD OUT)
PLA/PHA Warm Red (SOLD OUT)
nGen Pink
nGen Purple
nGen_LUX Star Yellow
nGen_LUX Nature Green
nGen_LUX Regal Violet (SOLD OUT)
nGen Yellow Transparent
nGen Orange Transparent
nGen Red Transparent
nGen Blue Transparent (SOLD OUT)
nGen Green Transparent
nGen Violet Transparent
colorFabb_XT Purple
colorFabb_XT Pink
colorFabb_XT Dark Green
colorFabb_XT Orange
colorFabb_XT Yellow (SOLD OUT)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR SALES PAGE

3d printing clearance sale colorfabb colorfabb_xt ngen ngen_lux pla/pha sale

Benchy test print on the Stacker S4 XL

Earlier this week our first Stacker S4 XL arrived in our warehouse:

The Stacker S4 XL, next to the regular S4 and the S2. Spool box for scale.

As Stacker’s European distributor we had been eagerly awaiting this beast of a machine. The Stacker S4 XL is the latest offering in the Stacker portfolio. It is next generation industrial grade 3D printing, based on the technology and experience of the S2 and S4 printers. Featuring unique closed loop servo motor system and a massive 61cm build space (in all directions), the Stacker S4 XL is the ultimate production platform within FDM for large scale and small series 3D printing. You can find more technical specifications in our catalogue.

Of course we had to try the latest addition to our print lab for a test and we combined the latest addition (the printer) with our very first filament: PLA/PHA. As the first print we chose JUN, the Jungle Queen visual benchy by vandragon_de – whose has an exceptional collection of ships in his Thingiverse account.

For these prints we used a 0.4mm nozzle on all 4 nozzles and a 0.16mm layer height – using standard PLA settings on the printer. It took 6 hours to print the ships.

PLA/PHA is our signature PLA filament which we exactly launched 4 years ago this month. The added PHA makes our grade of PLA tougher and less brittle than generic PLA grades in the market. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) is like PLA a bio-polyester, so our unique blend is still 100% biodegradeable. This material is available in 30 colors. During the summer of 2018, if you buy 4 spools of PLA/PHA, you only pay 3! Use BUY4PAY3 as the coupon code when checking out.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2811241

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 5 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. We recently published two blogs about Dutch companies Optima and Mifa and their use of Stacker 3D printers.

The Stacker S2 and S4 are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This Minneapolis, USA, based manufacturer produces highly reliable printers and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page (S4 XL will be added soon).

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. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

3d printing colorfabb functional pla/pha prototype stacker s4 xl

Football trophy

It is the season of gift giving and one of the more peculiar traditions in the Netherlands is to be creative with how to present the actual gift. Simple gift wrapping paper does not suffice anymore and people go at great lengths to make something special of the gift. A request came into our print lab to print a football trophy with a hollow ball on top so the present can fit in.

So we went to work:

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:439592

Designed by BadDevices this football trophy makes for a truly special gift for all football fans. And football (soccer for our North American readers) is still part of the Dutch DNA, despite the abysmal performance of the national team of late.

We went full PLA for this print! For the ball we used PLA/PHA Standard White and PLA Economy Black on the Ultimaker 3 with a layer height of 0.2mm. For the standard we utilized the Stacker S4 and used PLA Economy Silver, again printing a 0.2mm layer height.

3D printing proofs once again to have a lot of diverse applications. Investment casting, model making, museum pieces, pens, head phones, chairs, signs, housings, lamps and gifts!

The materials we used…

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.

3d printing colorfabb football trophy pla economy pla/pha stacker s4 ultimaker 3

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

PLA Economy

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:

3d printing colorfabb economy pla intern petg economy pla/pha ship ultimaker woodfill

Use of 3D Printing in Investment Casting

Last year we learned that 3D printing was used to drastically shorten time and costs in investment casting. Dutch company CIREX B.V. is an expert in investment casting and is exploring the added value 3D printing can bring to their process together with colorFabb.

We partnered with CIREX to better understand how PLA/PHA performs as a material for patterns. We have written exensively about this filament before. Traditionally investment casting uses wax patterns. These patterns are made using metal molds, making the tooling is an expensive process and can take several weeks.

For small series, or one off products creating a mold is not a cost effective solution for foundry companies. 3D printing on the other hand presents several advantages enabling foundries to make single parts or even small series.

Instead of investing in tooling, foundry companies can choose to 3D print their patterns in a material suited for investment casting. ColorFabb PLA/PHA Natural is a material uniquily suited for investment casting. It’s an easy printing material capable of creating complex shapes with great smooth surface finish and will work with most desktop and industrial type FFF 3D printing machines.

The material decomposes at 600C and ensures a clean burnout leaving behind a clean mold ready for casting.

Almost a year ago we highlighted US based Spectra3D’s work in investment casting, using the Stacker S4 and our signature PLA/PHA. Jerry LePore, CEO of Spectra3D explains why he chose PLA/PHA: “We chose Colorafab natural PLA because it contains no color pigments, prints great and burns out really clean from the mold.” You can read the full blog here.

Cut down on development time

Skipping the tooling development step saves a huge amount of time. Typically this could shorten the time to a first metal casted part by 3-4 weeks. Not being dependent on a third party mold supplier also reduces risk in time sensitive projects.

A wax tree with the printed models

3D printing also allows for faster design iterations, a first printed pattern could already be made in several hours depending on the size of the part. This makes it possible to iterate on the design multiple times even within a single day.

The material cost of printed patterns is around €30,- p/kg. Parts are generally printed with the least amount of material needed, which saves print time and material.

Checking out the burnout of PLA/PHA Natural, breaking the mold to inspect pattern for residue. Patterns printed on the Stacker S4, 0.2mm layer height at 20% infill.

3D Printer & Material combination

The Stacker 3D printer was used for this test case. It prints incredibly reliable with PLA/PHA and is able to print parts accurate and consistent. Printing with multiple nozzles cuts down on series production time, 2x faster for the Stacker S2 and 4x faster for the Stacker S4 compared to a single nozzle FFF 3D printer.

The Stacker S2 and S4 can be set-up for small series production, or single large part printing. Mounting up to 4 toolheads on the x-carriage gives the user higher output, but reduces the build volume. The alternative is to mount only a single toolhead and take advantage of the entire buildvolume of the S2 or S4.

Products larger then the build volume of the Stacker can be split into multple parts and assembled after printing. Using pins align the parts is a good method to ensure the assembled model is accurate.

The Stacker S2 and its larger sibling the Stacker S4 is an industrial grade FFF 3D printer. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make it a versatile printer. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

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.

About CIREX

The history of the current CIREX starts in 1947. In the physics laboratory of Philips in Eindhoven, an experimental wax model foundry was set up. From these beginnings CIREX has developed as a development partner and producer of high-quality precision castings in steel, produced according to the “lost wax” process. CIREX has built up a good reputation and recognition among international customers.

You can find more information about CIREX’ rich history on their website.

colorFabb Case Studies

This blog is a first in a new series of how colorFabb filaments are used in different industries – some old, some new. We will collect these case studies as downloadable PDFs on our website: Click here.

3d printing case study cirex colorfabb industrial investment casting lost wax natural pla/pha stacker

3D Matter

In the past four years we have been active in the world of 3D printing, we have seen a lot of filament brands coming up. We understand only too well that it is often hard for users to choose the right filament for their respective applications. Luckily there are now review sites like filaments.directory (where colorFabb is the most tested and most awarded brand). One step further goes 3D Matter. With their platform Optimatter, 3D Matter thoroughly tests filaments from all over the world and makes comparisons. Recently they released a list of, what they see, are the best filaments of 2017. Needless to say they test a lot of filaments and for convenience sake 3D Matter has split the results up in 9 categories.

You can read the full test results here.

Of all the filaments tested, colorFabb came out on top or near the top in the 5 categories it participated in (not all our filaments were tested in all categories). Given all the quality brands in the world of 3D printing, we are very proud of the results!

Category: Ease of printing

Winner: PLA/PHA

Our very first material is still, over four years after launching, a favorite as an easy-to-print filament. PLA is already seen as an easy to print material in general and it is also still the most common in 3D printing. To come out on top is an honor, to say the least.

Graph courtesy of 3D Matter

When we launched our portfolio of PLA/PHA early 2013 (with currently 30 colors available) our aim was to make a less brittle and easy to use 3D printing filament for visual prototyping. We are happy to find that after four years it is still very well regarded.

Category: Visual quality

Winner: copperFill

When we released woodFill as our first special filament, we wanted to make something truly special. Not the first wood filled filament in the world, but it was a truly special filament. Within a few months we released a truly unique filament: bronzeFill and within half a year we came up with a new variety: copperFill. This very copperFill was found by 3D Matter to be the filament with the highest visual quality.

Graph courtesy of 3D Matter

Containing 80% of copper by weight, copperFill truly shines when properly post-processed. Our copperFill has been developed for aesthetical purposes and been a hit since the launch in the fall of 2014. It is a perfect material for, for instance, busts and statues, like this bust of Teddy Roosevelt:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:274086

After copperFill we launched brassFill and steelFill to our product line of metal filled filaments.

Category: High temperature

Runner-up: colorFabb_HT

It is a tough category, but we still came up in the top 4. colorFabb_HT was launched a year ago as the third filament in our range of co-polyesters. After colorFabb_XT and nGen we found that the market was in need of a high temperature resistant filament. colorFabb_HT has a glass temperature of over 100 degrees C and has proven to be a favorite of the high-end professional users.

colorFabb_HT is enabled by Eastman Tritan™ copolyester technology and 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.

Category: Affordable

Runner-up: PLA Economy

colorFabb has never been positioned to be the cheapest filament around. All in-house development, the best raw materials, high quality and our aim to have top after sales support comes at a price. However, we aim to keep the price as low as possible. Last year we listened to your calls for a more economical filament to be available from us and in November of 2016 we launched PLA Economy. We are glad to read that we have made the top of the affordable filaments tested by 3D Matter, especially since we know this is a field which is already well served in terms of the quantity of different filaments and brands that are available.

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. PLA Economy is very well suited for the maker who needs quality at an affordable price. It is a perfect filament for large volume and small series production, made with the guaranteed colorFabb quality that we are known for.

Category: All-round

Runner-up: nGen

What is an all-round filament? There is no such thing as a filament that can do everything and has all the characteristics that everybody needs for every application and print. At 3D Matter they asked themselves: “If we don’t know what we are going to print, what material would we like?” And we are happy to read that nGen is one of the filaments that come out the best.

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.

All filaments are available in our webshop or through our network of distributors and resellers worldwide.

3d matter 3d printing colorfabb colorfabb_ht copperfill ngen optimatter pla economy pla/pha result test testing

PLA/PHA Natural

Eager followers of our Twitter account have noticed that we have been printing quite a bit recently with PLA/PHA Natural in recent weeks:

And there is a good reason for this. PLA/PHA is our signature PLA filament which we exactly launched 4 years ago this month. The added PHA makes our grade of PLA tougher and less brittle than generic PLA grades in the market. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) is like PLA a bio-polyester, so our unique blend is still 100% biodegradeable. This material is available in 30 colors, but today we focus on the one without a color: PLA/PHA Natural.

Due to the work of Spectra3D we have found that our filament is perfectly suited for investment casting. You can read our previous blog on Spectra3D’s work here.

Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out.

The results are phenomenal if we say so ourselves and we took ourselves to the task to print technical parts for investment casting ourself. Check out the results:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1643878

These engine block parts are a great design and you will see more of this design soon… (and that’s all we are going to say about this).

Another part we printed is intended for steel casting:

Design: https://grabcad.com/library/steel-casting-2

Both parts were printed on an Ultimaker 2 with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer height, resulting in a flawless surface quality.

In the past years, after the initial launch of our line of PLA/PHA filaments, we have released many other 3D printing filaments, like woodFill, bronzeFill, colorFabb_XT and one of the bestselling filaments: nGen. For a full timeline, click here. It is good, however, to go back to where it all started and find applications for the filament that started it all.

PLA/PHA Natural has been a favorite of professional designers ever since we launched it four years ago and has been a bestseller since. Our PLA/PHA range has received very good reviews over the years.

It has proven to be an extremely reliable filament for prototyping and investment casting.

PLA/PHA Natural is on sale this week. Get your spool now at a discounted price and find out the benefits of this filament soon on your own printer! Click here to go to the product page.

In the meantime, we keep printing…

3d printing colorfabb functional investment casting natural pla/pha technical parts

I Am 3D Hubs

A few weeks ago 3D Hubs invited us to attend the opening of their new office. As you know, we have been working together with 3D Hubs for quite some time now. All 3D Hubs members are entitled to a discount when ordering from colorFabb.

3D Hubs has its home in Amsterdam and Amsterdam is in the DNA of 3D Hubs. We thought it would be fun to make a variation on the I Amsterdam logo that you can find for real on the Museum Square in the heart of Amsterdam. We adjusted it a bit, we played with it a bit and the result is quite nice:

You can download this very design from our Thingiverse page and print one yourself.

For this print we used bambooFill for the base plate, nGen Red for “I am” and PLA/PHA Standard White for “3D Hubs”. To make it completely Dutch, we printed all the parts on the Ultimaker 2. This print is a perfect example to use various materials from our portfolio together to create the best result!

3D Hubs is of course the platform that connects 3D printers worldwide and offers it as a service to the ones without a 3D printer. One of the primary forces in 3D printing today, 3D Hubs has seen a stellar growth in the past few years with a few succesfull investment rounds, a necessary move to a bigger office in the heart of Amsterdam and a role to educate the world about 3D printing. Read, for instance, their clear article on what 3D printing is.

We are a proud partner of 3D Hubs and are looking to work together with 3D Hubs and its members in 2017 even more!

For the remainder of the year, because it is colorFabb’s fourth anniversary, we continue our Buy 4, Pay 3 promotion. Use coupon code colorfabb4you on our website to get the fourth spool you order for free! Some conditions apply though: cheapest spool is for free and samples and PLA Economy are exempt from this part of the promotion. Since it is less than two weeks before Christmas, don’t forget to order in time!

3d hubs 3d printing bamboofill colorfabb iam3dhubs ngen pla/pha ultimaker

Investment casting

An exciting new way of using 3D printing we encountered recently is its use in investment casting. Anyone who has been following 3D printing related posts on Twitter must have encountered Jerry LePore’s work on the Spectra3D account and his daily updates on the work he is doing with his printers. Never too shy to share his workplace (of which many reader of this article will be extremely jealous) he summed up the printers he has: “Makerbot Rep 2’s – MB 5th Gen- MB plus- Craftbots- Creatorbot 3D pro- Fuusion F306- Uprint Plus & and our pride and joy Stacker.”

More recently Jerry has been posting a lot about prints which are used for investment casting. Before we delve into that further, we want to give Jerry the chance to introduce himself: “I started in 3d printing 3 years ago Jan 2014 with a MB Rep 2 with the purpose of making things that people needed. In the years since we now have 15 printers of various capabilities.”

He continues: “I started using colorfabb filament early 2015 and havent turned back since. We believe in using high quality filament for our clients needs. We have used all of colorFabb’s filaments across the board. I joined Spectra3D Technologies (website) located in Asheville, NC in January of this year and took the role of CEO. We started and are a reseller of various 3D printer lines and this past June we decided to offer 3D printing services. We print various Cosplay props, pinball game themed parts among other things.”

Last summer, Spectra3D was contacted by Marshall Miller from Flowserve to print patterns for investment casting. Flowserve is a worldwide supplier of pumps, valves and engineering solutions. It’s a global player and a publicly traded company which is active in 55 countries and with over 18,000 employees.

Spectra3D now prints Valve Bodies, Ball Valves, Pump Housing and Impellers, etc. for Flowserve. As per Jerry’s words: “We chose Colorafab natural PLA because it contains no color pigments, prints great and burns out really clean from the mold. Currently we are going through 25 +/- rolls a month of Colorfabb Natural.” Spectra3D is supplied with our filaments by our distributor Printed Solid, based in Newark, Delaware. Jerry, as well as many more customers of Printed Solid, call his customer service top notch. Matthew Gorton, Printed Solid’s owner, has been working with us for over 3 years now and has been using colorFabb’s filaments even longer. His knowledge, passion for 3D printing and high service level are well-known in the 3D printing community. And, of course, Printed Solid’s signature gummy bears that ship with all orders…

Flowserve then pours the castings in various metals, like titanium and CF8M stainless.

Taking a step back: What is investment casting? Investment casting, the basics of it, is already an ancient manufacturing technique sometimes described as lost-wax casting.

Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out. As said by Jerry, his preference goes out to the colorFabb signature PLA/PHA natural due to its ease of use and its functionality for this application.

What started thousands of years ago with beeswax has now evolved to patterns made with 3D printing. The printed pattern is coated with ceramic, then the printed pattern is burned or melted out and the metal poured into remaining shell leaving a complete casting.

Below are a few examples of the prints made by Spectra3D for investment casting.

Jerry uses the Stacker printer for the big prints, a very versatile printer for small series production and large prototyping. As he says, it’s his “pride and joy.” This US made printer the only truly industrial grade 3D printer that’s affordable. The printer, made with industrial components, the PLA/PHA filament and the age-old application make this a perfect case for 3D printing in the real world, where it adds value in the chain of production.

Below you can see the result, courtesy of Marshall Miller at Flowserve:

This is once more an example of FDM 3D printing evolving from a hobby market to practical, functional and real life applications where hardware, software and materials matter to bring a product to the customer or, in this case, use 3D printing as a valuable additional to the chain of production. In this case, the material is our very own PLA/PHA which has been a hit in its natural, colorless form ever since its launch 4 years ago, allowing for flawless prints and

Follow Jerry’s work and the Spectra3D account on Twitter.

For more information on Spectra3D, visit their website here or contact them directly.

You can find more about Flowserve on their highly informative website or contact Marshall Miller, supplier development manager for the Americas at Flowserve, directly for more information: marmiller@flowserve.com or +1 214 808 4823

This is the second part in what we hope will be an ongoing series of blogs about companies using colorFabb filaments in unique and exciting ways. Last week we published about AKLIH, the Slovenian design company who use our woodFill filaments for their products. If you are interested in being part of this feature, or know a company who would be suitable, please contact us at sales@colorfabb.com

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