Copy mode: a bronzeFill story

In the south of the Netherlands and neighboring regions we have the carnaval tradition. Worldwide known for the Brazilian variety, the version known to us is a different affair. It is an annual festival, celebrated widely, of Catholic origin in which people go wild and party one more time before Lent. It is a tradition chiseled into the fabric of society. It features mocking of establishment amongst other things, represented by clowns, demons and jesters.

The original statue

A local carnaval society needed a copy of a statue they use annually. The best way we found was to scan it, print it with bronzeFill and post-process it.

The scanning was done by local specialists at Hagenaars. This engineering company from nearby Roermond was founded in 1994 and specializes in 3D scanning solutions, amongst other things. They bought the first FARO laser scanning equipment in 2007 and this meant that 3D scanning and measuring became the main focus of this small family owned company. Their engineering background gives them an advantage over competitors since their customer base is more technical minded. You can visit their website here (Dutch only) and give some specific attention to their project page.

Scanning in progress…

With the .stl file generated we went to work and printed a copy on the Ultimaker 2+. (Before you ask, we are not allowed to share the .stl) Settings used:

Layer Height: 0.2mm
Speed: 30mm/s
Temperature: 215C
Material Flow: 106%

After that, the crucial phase of post-processing commenced.

The model was first sanded and polished. After that, we post-processed (and give it the old patina look) by using a mixture of salt, vinegar and ammonia. To achieve accelerated aging, add salt to the vinegar until the salt does not dissolve anymore and the vinegar is saturated. The Lulzbot team already did an extensive blog about this, which you can read here.

Post-processing these kind of prints require a lot of work and effort, but the results are rewarding and quite good, if we say so ourselves and the model aged quite nicely.

bronzeFill was our first truly special filament, launched over 3 years ago and still one of our most popular filaments. The added weight and unique aesthetic properties have made this an extremely popular material. Last year we published quite a bit about bronzeFill,  like the enormous Octolamp, the museum worthy Greek helmet and the stellar fountain pen.

If you want to have more information on how to print with bronzeFill, visit our handy tutorial: How to print with bronzeFill

If you are looking for more tips and advice regarding post-processing bronzeFill and our other metal filled filaments, we have a nice collection of articles collected on our site.

Interested in bronzeFill? It is readily available in our webshop as 750 grams and 1500 grams spools.

3D Scanner

Combining several technologies is what we love here at colorFabb. 3D Scanning, smart phones and a little thing called 3D printing (you may have heard about it). We even combined two vastly different materials, namely colorFabb_XT and PLA Economy.

Today’s featured print, straight from our print lab, is Dave Clarke’s $30 3D scanner:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1762299

This scanner won the Pinshape 2016 Top Functional Design award, and rightfully so. Congrats, Dave!

You can spend a lot of money on accessories for your smart phone, but why not print a fully functional scanner? We will give the scanner and the results a spin soon, but for now we have the scanner printed:

You can find the full tutorial for this model here.

We printed on one of the Ultimaker 2+ in our print lab. For the housing parts we used PLA Economy Black with 0,6 nozzle on 0,2mm layerheight.
The technical parts and phone holder we printed with  colorFabb_XT Clear with 0,25mm nozzle on 0,1mm layerheight.

PLA Economy was launched November 2016 and it has been a big hit ever since. Only now we are catching up with the demand for this new and great filament! We have been printing quite a lot with our new PLA Economy line. A few examples are:

We have been testing this material for the better part of the summer and have found this filament a great alternative those customers who need a lot of PLA. We are initially releasing PLA Economy in four colors: White (RAL 9010), Black (RAL 9005, Red (RAL 3020) and Silver (RAL 9023). This PLA grade has been tested extensively and is being produced and shipped by the same colorFabb team you are used to so you know we are not compromising on quality. You can rely with this filament on the same high standards that colorFabb is known for. It is available only on 2.2kg spools.

PLA Economy is an addition to our range of PLA/PHA, which is available in 30 colors (and on 750 grams spools).

As said, the technical parts were printed with colorFabb_XT. We launched colorFabb_XT over 2 years ago at the London 3D Print Show together with Eastman Chemical Company. Eastman is our material partner for co-polyesters. colorFabb_XT is made with Amphora AM1800 and has a unique formulation for 3D Printing that features excellent properties : High strength and very high toughness, Odor Neutral processing, High Tg / improved temp. resistance, Styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance, BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation. It will allow the user to produce 3D printed functional products in a safe way.

Both colorFabb_XT is made with Eastman Amphora™ 3D polymer AM1800. With Amphora, items can be created that are more functional, more durable, more efficient, and attractive.

Our filaments available in our webshop and through our network of distributors and resellers worldwide.

http://colorfabb.com/storelocator/