The sky is the place to be this summer… We’ve already shot some new drone footage and are heavily into RC planes (with some exciting news to come soon!). The sky, however, is a pretty big place and there is plenty to explore beyond the stratosphere. Enter SpaceX and its continuous news grabbing headlines with one succesfull launch after the next and, granted, some unsuccesfull ones. To honor them we decided to print the Falcon 9 rocket since our trusted Saturn V was feeling a bit lonely at the office.
Printed to scale
The Saturn V was printed by Korneel Bullens four years ago and it has survived multiple trade shows, one office relocation, a curious dog and the occassional cleaning accident. Now it’s time to extend the space port here at colorFabb with SpaceX’s famous Falcon 9.
Inspired by the latest Falcon 9 Crew Dragon launch we decided to print a model in the same scale as the Saturn 5 so we can get a great sense of scale between the two rockets.
The Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s highly succesfull two-stage rocket. Click here to have a good view on all sides of this rocket.
We combined files from two projects into one build:
The “Falcon 9 Model” by Anthony Williams (link here)
With some quick internet research we figured out the scale for the Falcon 9 and adjusted all the parts in the slicer software. Now, as printed, the Falcon 9 stands a proud 109cm but seems small compared with its 1960s classic brother the Saturn V which measures 180cm (rocket alone).
Unfortunately we had to scale down the Dragon M3 model too much for all the fine detail to be properly displayed. The model by An Duong is very detailed and would be best printed without scaling down. An Duong also offers an even more detailed version DRAGON – MS
Today is December 3rd and traditionally this date is known as 3D Printing Day. It was declared 3D Printing Day by 3D Hubs last year and this year again, so technically we can speak of a tradition.
There will be events all over the world at 3D Hubs. Check them out here. Last year we had an open house day on December 3rd which was fairly well attended. The people who visited us and toured our factory & print lab even saw an early version of the material that was to become nGen_FLEX a full 10 months before it was officially released!
Actually, as you read this our R&D team is working hard testing new materials and making sure the future of 3D printing materials is at least as exciting as it has been in the past four years.
This year we will not have an open day (no use ringing our doorbell – we will not open the door), but instead we have collected some of the coolest prints of the year. Some of them made by us, other prints made by others. We see a wide variety of awesome prints coming by every day on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and what you – our users – send us by email. This is by no means a complete list and we will highlight the most astonishing prints of the year at a later date, but we found that these astonishing showpieces deserved another moment in the spotlight…
From our own print lab, the trick of this print was in the post-processing. Ever since releasing our first metal filled filament, bronzeFill, in 2014 we have received a lot of requests about post-processing these special materials. We finally caved in and set one of our print engineers Jos to work to print the rocket, sand it, polish it and to write about it. You can find the full blog here, but before you read it just look at the image above and wonder if this really looks printed…
“Per aspera ad astra” as they say in Latin. Who said we can’t be pretentious? O, we do love our rockets… One of the biggest eye catchers ever is the Saturn V rocket printed by Korneel Bullens. We had this collossal print (600+ pieces, 3500+ hours of printing on 4 Ultimakers and over 2.5 meters high – thank you very much) on our stand during the AM Show in Amsterdam in June of this year. Korneel is one of our most enthusiastic users with an extremely active 3D Hub here in the Netherlans. Entirely printed with nGen, our all-round co-polyester, made with Amphora™ AM3300 polymer by Eastman Chemical Company. Korneel printed the Toyota Engine with colorFabb_XT earlier and rumors have it that he is working on another ambitious project with colorFabb filaments…
You can read the full blog on the Saturn V rocket here.
colorFabb gift box
Design: custom made by Tony Short
It’s the little things that count. Things like running into one of our users at the TCT Show for the first time. Especially when that user is Tony Short and he has brought a gift! Tony’s background in typography and love for 3D printing (and especially our special filaments) have resulted in this fantastic gift box, based on our very own logo! The box is still a very much admired (and coveted) object in our office. Made with woodFill, bronzeFill and copperFill it was post-processed by Tony. You can find all the details in the blog we wrote about it a little while a go.
Published only yesterday by the Stacker team, this print measures 57.5mm high and was printed on their Stacker S4. Famed for its four nozzles to accommodate small series production, you can also use one nozzle on this versatile printer to create one highly detailed and impressive print like this Medieval Castle. The material of choice is, like the Saturn V rocket, nGen, an excellent material for highly detailed prints like this one. We printed this castle ourselves earlier this year, but the size that the Stacker team achieved is just downright impressive.
colorFabb is the exclusive distributor for Stacker in Europe. Get more information here or get a quote here.
Printing transparent…
Earlier this year we already posted about how to print transparent with colorFabb_HT and recently we came across Daniel Norée’s tweet where he showcased his results. The transparent block was printed by Robert from 3DVerkstan. You know 3DVerkstan as our distributor in the Nordic region, as well as the Baltics. Printing clear products mainly relies on two key aspects: extruding enough material and getting enough heat (energy) into the new material. Optimal settings can lead to some very clear and transparent parts straight from the printer and it seems that Robert has found those optimal settings. You can find our full blog on transparent printing here.
Note: an earlier version of this blog ommited the part where we give credit to Robert from 3DVerkstan and created the impression that Daniel Norée printed this transparent block. Thanks you Daniel for pointing this out and sorry Robert!
Steve Cox’ printing with bronzeFill
Whenever Steve Cox is printing something with bronzeFill, we pay attention. Why? Look at the image above and you know. His work is always exciting and stunning. His work with bronzeFill can be considered a standard in printing and polishing. Steve’s enthusiasm about printing and his prints are contagious and we are always happy when we run into him during shows. We were even allowed to borrow the statue you see during the TCT Show! We have written about Steve’s work before, which you can find here and here.
This comes as no surprise. We love our F1 car. Designed by Daniel Norée (yes, he of the transparent printing earlier) we increased the size with 250% and started printing with all our co-polyesters: nGen, colorFabb_XT, colorFabb_HT, XT-CF20 and the then brand new nGen_FLEX for the tires. The design by Daniel, the materials by colorFabb and printed on the Stacker S4 result in one of our most ambitious print projects. The result is stunning. We leave it to the video below to show the result:
As said, those are just a few of the many great prints of 2016 so far. We love seeing them coming by on social media and by email. Keep sharing them!! We keep printing ourselves as well. You can find regular updates on this very site: https://learn.colorfabb.com/category/featured-print/
Also, don’t forget to check out our collection of tutorials from time to time to get the best results printing with our filaments.
That’s it from colorFabb HQ for now. We hope you enjoy 3D Printing Day this year.
Happy 3D Printing Day and keep sharing your work!
– Team colorFabb
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.
One of our most active users, Korneel Bullens, approached us earlier this year with the idea to print this huge undertaking, designed by Paul Fischer (aka “farscape1”). You can find the full design on Thingiverse:
The images below were taken at the AM Show in Amsterdam in June 2016 where the rocket was featured.
Korneel Bullens has one of the most active hubs on 3D Hubs in the Netherlands and came to us with the idea to print the entire rocket with our, then, brand new nGen filament. In Korneel’s own words:
“When nGen was launched and news reached us of the Additive Manufacturing Europe show which was to be held in the home country of colorFabb, it was clear something big had to be done.. and what better way to celebrate a launch then to print the object where many had failed.. A Saturn V rocket with launch platform and gantry. The model was released to Thingiverse at the end of July 2015 and since then, this is the second actual complete print and build of this immense model. What better way to illustrate the launch of a great new filament then with the launch vehicle that brought us the Apollo Space Program?
nGen was the material of choice because of its flexibility, durability, ease of printing and lack of warping. Since this build consists of both huge parts as well as very small parts, a material that could cope with all these different materials was found in nGen. The total build took over 3500 hours on a total of 4 Ultimaker 2+ printers, 1 of them being a Ultimaker 2+ Extended.”
The entire rocket is printed with colorFabb’s nGen, made with Amphora™ AM3300 polymer by Eastman Chemical Company.
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.
Amphora 3300 has been made into high-quality filament that exhibits advanced overhang ability, excellent looks, and large printing temperature range—empowering large panel of users to create durable and useful items. With the unique combination of a low processing temperature and an elevated temperature resistance, nGen can quickly print creations that are functional, durable, efficient, and attractive.
We have released an initial portfolio of 17 varieties (16 colors and one clear filament) in both diameters.
After the AM Show, the Saturn V rocket got a home in our office:
On the Ultimaker forum Joel Mongeon posted his version of the gCreate rocket ship, printed with nGen. In his words:
A spaceship printed and painted for my toddler who loves “wockets”!
This is the gCreate rocket that can be downloaded here: http://www.gcreate.com/#!3d-model—gcreate-rocket/c1k6o
Printed with Colorfabb nGen. I cut off the tip of the rocket and used a hot tool to round it off. I then used a lot (maybe too much) XTC 3D to smooth the layer lines and add strength to the print. Finally used some shiny metallic paint and a layer of shellac to seal the deal.
