Van Mierlo

At colorFabb we are proud of the partnerships we have. One of the success stories we are particularly fond of is our co-operation with Van Mierlo Technische Handelsonderming. Like colorFabb Van Mierlo is a technical service company creating added value in their products to meet their customers’ needs.

 

About Van Mierlo

Van Mierlo is a highly respected name when it comes to technical solutions. In the south of the Netherlands it owes its reputation to the quality, service and reliability it delivers. They supply their customers with an extensive range of products and solutions for, among other things, the metal industry, non-food sector and high-tech industry.

In 2013 van Mierlo BV celebrated its 50-year anniversary. This demonstrates the confidence that their customers have in them. As a preferred supplier of one of the largest organizations in the high-tech industry, Van Mierlo has a great deal of knowledge and experience with regard to the delivery of tools in the semicon industry. This makes Van Mierlo unique in this market. 

 

The tool cart inlay

Everybody’s needs regarding their tool box is very specific: the tools, the layout, the size… Van Mierlo saw 3D printing as the perfect opportunity to create custom made tool cart inlays. These tool cart inlays offer their users maximum flexibility to have all the tools they’ll need at their disposal.

 

A toolbox inlay, specifically for a UV light (design by Van Mierlo)

Whether safely storing measurement tools in a Quality Control department, needing a specific tool combination for each specific assembly station on a production line or being a maintenance engineer in need of certain tools at any given time.

Finding the right printer and material to create the inlays, Van Mierlo found the perfect combination of Stacker 3D printers and colorFabb’s PLA Economy filaments.

 

Last year we printed our own tool cart inlays. Check out that blog here!

At Van Mierlo the project started years ago. Working closely with colorFabb’s engineers they looked for the perfect solution in terms of hardware and materials. Starting with one Stacker 3D printer, they now have 5 Stackers running 24/7 devouring colorFabb filament. The amount of filament they have used so far stretches from colorFabb’s HQ to Berlin. How about that?

 

When creating an end product reliability is key. Measured over the past year and a half, the uptime of four Stackers was over 90%.

 

 

The tool cart inlays that Van Mierlo offers are a great example of how colorFabb’s application development has helped them finding the right printer and material to make this possible.

 

ABOUT PLA ECONOMY

PLA Economy is available on 2.2kg, 4.5kg and 8kg spools only. It is very well suited for the maker who needs quality filament at an affordable price. It is a perfect material for large volume and small series production, made with the guaranteed colorFabb quality that we are known for.

PLA Economy is now available in six of the most popular colors. ColorFabb PLA Economy is not a standard PLA. It has been modified for better layer adhesion and flow properties to get better performance over other basic PLA filaments. Because it’s made with the same processing technology used for other premium colorFabb products, this PLA Economy will be just as reliable.

Not sure if our big spools fit on your printer? Check out the dimensions here or print XL your own spool holder!

 

ABOUT STACKER S4 XL

Stacker is becoming the standard in industrial grade 3D printing, based on the technology and experience of the S2, S4 and S4-XL printers. The Stacker range of printers is the ultimate production platform within FDM for large scale and small series 3D printing.

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 7 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.

 

 

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!

Sand casting

We have written several times about using 3D printing for investment casting, but we also see an increased use of our filaments for sand casting. It is a metal casting process where sand is being used as the mold material. With around 60% of all metal castings being made with sand casting, it is a very interesting technology for 3D printing.

Design by Slogaholik (Grabcad link)

The sand casting process employs techniques that produces shaped parts of nearly any design, including very large parts and those with internal passageways. The process is referred to as sand casting because the mold that contains the cavity into which metal is poured is made of compressed or compacted sand. The mold cavities and gate system are created by compacting the sand around models called patterns, by carving directly into the sand, or by 3D printing.

We have printed one halve of a pattern for the sand casting process, here using PLA Economy Silver on the Stacker S4 XL. The pattern is used to form the cavity in sand in which metal can be poured afterwards.

The total printing time was 4 days and we used 3.1kg of material for this print, using a 0.8mm nozzle, 0.16mm layer height and 13% infill every 2 layers.

ABOUT THE FILAMENT

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. Our filaments are readily available from our webshop. You can use the standard PLA settings if your printer has these pre-defined and these should work fine.

You can also opt for the PLA Economy Value Pack: order four spools as a value pack which lowers the costs per spool immediately.

Buy PLA Economy  Buy PLA Economy Value Pack

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. It has been one of colorFabb’s most popular filaments ever since launching 3 years ago.

 

ABOUT STACKER 3D PRINTERS

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. 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 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.

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.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

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 6 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.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Rolling Jack

With a lot of 3D printing tools at our disposal it becomes easier (and more fun!) to print large, multi-material prints. As a visual prototype we printed this rolling jack with various materials in our print lab on the Stacker S4 XL.

Design by Sevatar (Grabcad link)

We printed on the Stacker S4-XL with a 0.6mm nozzle for an optimal balance between speed and quality. It took quite some time to print this one:

  • Main body: 70 hours – 1kg material used
  • Other silver parts: 65 hours – 850 gr. material used
  • Black parts: 20 hours – 280gr
  • White parts: 12 hours – 140gr
  • Handle: 2,5 hours – 30 gr.

The rolling jack is entirely made out of PLA and we used various PLA grades from our portfolio where they would fit best, aesthetically:

All these materials are available in our webshop and ship from stock! All parts of the rolling jack were glued together with Loctite glue, which is now also available in our webshop! Check out the accessories we currently offer by clicking here.

 

ABOUT STACKER 3D PRINTERS

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. 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 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.

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.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

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 6 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.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Jerrycan

Real size prototyping can be a problem on most desktop 3D printers. With build limits of 30cm squared, at best, the size of the print needs to be small – or one has to start chopping up the print and assemble it later. With the Stacker S4- XL one can print prototypes in their real size, like this jerrycan:

Design by Langgeng (Grabcad link)

The 10 liter jerrycan took 77 hours to print on the Stacker S4-XL and consumed 1kg of filament. For the filament, we used our Color on Demand Traffic Red, RAL 3020.

About Stacker 3D Printers

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. 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 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.

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.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

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 6 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.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

 

About Color on Demand

With Color on Demand we have already matched hundreds of colors. We have published the RAL references (over 100 already) online which can readily be ordered. But we can match more than only RAL colors. Some customers send us physical references, others send us well-known color references like CMYK, Pantone or other standards which we then try to match as close as possible.

RAL 3020 is one of the brightest and most stunning reds in our portfolio

With Color on Demand we re-invented the way makers can choose colors. No longer you are bound to the colors that have been pre-selected by filament manufacturers anymore. Now you can order the color you actually need and want.

We have already matched over 100 RAL colors, which can easily be ordered online. Click here to see our collection. You can order as from one 750 grams spool! If we have not matched your favorite color, request it by using our online form. Starting from a 2kg spool we match the specific color you want, based on RAL, other well-known color references or a physical reference.

With Color on Demand you can say “yes” to that print job which needs a specific color or a look you have been waiting for. Stun your colleagues, family or other makers with your prints. You could already print one-of-a-kind designs, now you can also make them look unique!

Check out more recent Color on Demand prints by clicking here. Make sure you read our color disclaimer. Want to know more about Color on Demand, check our our FAQ page.

Surfboard fin

3D printing has been used for prototyping since the dawn of mankind. Literally. We have found that with certain prototypes weight is of the essence and with our brand new lightweight filament LW-PLA we have solved the problem of many prototypers: weight reduction. A great example of this is this in-house designed surfboard fin, part of a bigger project. Weight was of the essence and we needed the part to be as light as possible.

As you can see, the weight has been reduced significantly. It is not the weight of the world in absolute terms, but with print jobs where every gram matters, like these foam core parts LW-PLA is the solution for a lot of users.

We printed this surfboard fin on the Stacker S4 with 0.2mm layer height, 250C and 40% flow.

Curious how the print with LW-PLA? Learn more here!

LW-PLA is the first filament of its kind using an active foaming technology to achieve lightweight, low density PLA parts. At around 230C this material will start foaming, increasing its volume by nearly 3 times. Users can decrease material flow by 65% to achieve lightweight parts, or use the expanding properties to effectively reduce print time by using big layer heights or single extra thick perimeters.

“ColorFabb came up with something really special and in my opinion a real game changer.”  – Bart Tangermann

Read Bart’s review of LW-PLA here.

Decreasing flow means using less filament. Therefore users can expect to print 2-3 times more parts using LW-PLA compared to a regular PLA spool. LW-PLA prints in a fantastic matte looking surface finish and is very easy to post process. Any oozing or stringing artifacts rub right off and the surface is easily sanded for a smooth finish.

LW-PLA is available in Black and Natural and is available now. We ship daily, worldwide and from stock.

“We need challenging materials, we need to work with or find ways around the limitations and allow more people to experiment with exciting developments like this foaming PLA.” – Richard Horne

Read Richard’s review of LW-PLA here.

 

Coffee tray

Growth of a company can be measured in a lot of different ways. Economists and historians will debate for years what the best way is, but at colorFabb we measure it by the size of our coffee tray. Whenever someone in the office goes for a coffee, courtesy dictates that he or she will bring coffee for all of the colleagues. As from this week, our coffee tray was upgraded significantly to allow for all our coffee to be brought into the office and passed around at once:

In-house design by our intern Aron Smolenaars

This print was made with our PLA Semi-Matte Black and due to the size (33 x 37cm) we required a bit more than the standard desktop 3D printer. The Stacker S4 is a great printer where we could use of the bigger-than-average build platform.

Long hours at colorFabb to develop, produce and ship the best possible 3D printing filaments mean an equal amount of coffee to be consumed at the office. Carrying it around is limited by the heat of the cups, the lack of multiple limbs and opening doors. Hence the coffee tray which is already enjoying its third iteration.

Previous designs, starting with 3 cup holders, then 8 and now 16…

The coffee tray, seemingly whimsical, is a great example of how 3D printing can offer quick solutions for everyday work space challenges. Like burnt fingers.

When developing our semi-matte PLA (available in black and white) we’ve been looking for a solution which doesn’t involve fibers to achieve a less glossy surface finish. We did not want to loose the ease of use our PLA and keep print settings and parameters as close to regular PLA setttings. For a full matte finish our XT-CF20 and PA_CF Low Warp do the trick, but they need a hardened steel nozzle to print with. PLA Semi-Matte Black (and white) will bring a new aesthetic quality to our range of PLA filaments.

Our semi-matte PLA filament eliminates the glossy appearance seen on most PLA 3D prints. The highlights on the surface will be less visible, resulting in an overall cleaner and much higher quality look.

PLA Semi-Matte Black contains no fibers and prints at regular PLA temperatures and settings. The material is as reliable and easy to work with as any other PLA type material.

 

PLA Semi-Matte Black and White are available from stock and ship daily, worldwide.

 

About Stacker

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. 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 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.

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.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

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 6 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.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Palette 2 Pro

Late last year we got the Palette 2 Pro on loan as a test unit and printed not only our own logo, but also the Multi-Color Mosaic Keychain by Mosaic Manufacturing as a test:

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3245701/files

We printed on the Stacker S4 with a 0,6mm nozzle and printed this key chain in 3h 7min. It has 19 color changes (splices). As for the colors, we used 4 colors that were matched in our Color on Demand program:

Palette 2 (pre-order)

The Palette 2 Pro was loaned to us generously by the Mosaic team and does its job extremely well. Although not cheap it will definitely solve a lot of problems for users, especially ones with a single nozzle printer. Check out their website!

With Color on Demand we re-invented the way makers can choose colors. No longer you are bound to the colors that have been pre-selected by filament manufacturers anymore. Now you can order the color you actually need and want.

We have already matched over 100 RAL colors, which can easily be ordered online. Click here to see our collection. You can order as from one 750 grams spool! If we have not matched your favorite color, request it by using our online form. Starting from a 2kg spool we match the specific color you want, based on RAL, other well-known color references or a physical reference.

With Color on Demand you can say “yes” to that print job which needs a specific color or a look you have been waiting for. Stun your colleagues, family or other makers with your prints. You could already print one-of-a-kind designs, now you can also make them look unique!

Check out more recent Color on Demand prints by clicking here. Make sure you read our color disclaimer. Want to know more about Color on Demand, check our our FAQ page.

Our Color on Demand experience room, still under construction, with all the RAL colors we matched… so far.

Stacker XL for investment 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. 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. We have posted about this process before and will explore it in more depth here.

This was an endurance test for our Stacker S4 XL: one full week of printing. We started the print on Friday August 3d and removed the print from the platform this very morning, August 10th.

The support structure was removed very easily, despite it having a large flat surface area which connects with the model. The support structure released in one piece, after carefully prying the support structure away from the model. The setting used were:

  • 0.2mm layer height
  • 0.4mm nozzle
  • approx. 2.5kg of filament

This casing for a gear box was designed by Muralidhar M and posted on Grabcad on November 17th, 2016

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.

 

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.

We recently printed another weeklong print, made on the Stacker XL:

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 printers 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).

The Stacker S4 XL has a bigger build volume than its smaller siblings and other advantages:

 

  • Huge Build Volume 610 x 610 x 610mm (24 x 24 x 24″)
  • Closed loop servos for ZERO lost steps
  • Compatible with Stacker’s Direct Direct drive extruder
  • Four Print Heads for 4X print speeds
  • High Precision Linear Motion
  • Amazing Print Quality
  • Works with almost any Filament

 

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!

5 years at the TCT Show

This year it’s the fifth consecutive year at the TCT Show, one of the highlights 3D printing shows for us and, we’re sure, in general. We love coming back to Birmingham every year and introduce the latest and greatest we have to offer. This year we focus on the Stacker 3D printers and our recently launched Color on Demand service. In the past we have launched nGen_FLEX, nGen_LUX and other great materials at the TCT Show. Drop by at stand C48!

 

Below are some impressions of our previous stands (inside jokes added – you had to be there):

 

TCT 2014 aka the first year with colorFabb_XT and the finest hotel Birmingham had to offer:

 

TCT 2015 aka the year where we featured XT-CF20, the Stackers and coffee was spilled:

 

TCT 2016 aka the year with the race car and we introduced nGen_FLEX:

 

TCT 2017 aka the year when we announced nGen_LUX:

 

During the week of the TCT Show in 2018 we offer a 15% discount on all our stocked spools of filaments in our webshop. Use coupon code TCT2018 in our webshop to get the discount immediately:

Discount does not apply for Color on Demand, samples, printers, services or parts – only the spools of filaments that are normally offered as being in stock. Not in stock and being stocked again soon? No worries, you will get the discount.