Cloud Gate

After last week’s Willis Tower we are highlighting once again one of Chicago’s landmarks: Cloud Gate, aka “The Bean”. Designed by Anish Kapoor, and turned into a 3D printing model by Ben Sauerwine, today’s featured print was made by Cloud3D using our special filament steelFill. Both printing and post-processing was done by this young 3D print bureau. How? Find out by scrolling down…

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:684126

The goal was to replicate the original Cloud Gate as good as possible and steelFill came the closest in regards to the materials on offer. Especially after post-processing the shine would resemble the Bean the best.

The print was made on the Prusa i3 MK2 using the following settings:

  • Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
  • Layerheight: 0.1mm
  • Printspeed: 20mm/s
  • Perimeters: 4
  • Infill: 20%
  • Scaled to 150%

The print came of right away from the support material (also steelFill) and left a nice and smooth surface on the print.

 

Next step: Sanding

Different grids of sandpaper were used in the following order: 80-180-240-600 waterproof-800 waterproof-1200 waterproof. After sanding Cloud3D started polishing with a steel polish. When that was done it was time for the high gloss clear coat.

Last step was polishing the paint.

 

Of course every great print needs a pedestal, even a small one. For this our woodFill was used and to give it a more premium feeling, it was panted with interior wood laque.

With cyano acrylate glue the two parts were glued together.

Make sure to check out Cloud3D’s website to see their work and what they can offer you!

 

About steelFill

steelFill is the latest in our range of special metal filled filaments, being launched in 2016 after bronzeFill and copperFill (both in 2014) and brassFill (in 2015). Our special filaments are PLA/PHA based with actual metal particles in them (we do not disclose exactly how much), giving them a unique look and weight (up to 4 times as heavy as a regular print).

With special filaments like steelFill you can make objects that don’t look like plastic for a change. The trick is to have the right post-processing tools to do so. We have collected a nice collection of blogs and articles regarding post-processing of our special filaments: click here to find them all.

Another handy tutorial is our “How To Print With…” article regarding steelFill:

The high steel content of the steelFill material makes this filament quite abrasive to brass nozzles. Although it wasn’t used with this print, we always recommend using hardened steel nozzles or the Olsson Ruby Nozzle when printing abrasive filaments like steelFill.

steelFill is available in our webshop and ships daily, worldwide and from stock.

 

 

Full disclosure: one of the founders of Cloud3D, Sven Hacken, is also a colorFabb employee.

Inverted bucket steam trap

Our metal filled filaments have great aesthetic characteristics. They look awesome when printed, even stunningly beautiful when post-processed, but one aspect that you cannot see – but all users agree on – is the added weight of the filament. This makes a great filament to create visual prototypes that also need that added weight. Like the inverted bucket steam trap we recently printed:

Inverted Bucket Steam Trap based on the 3D model by Tamas Cserto
Design: https://grabcad.com/library/inverted-bucket-steam-trap-1

Printed in steelFill, copperFill and bronzeFill, this cross-sectioned model beautifully shows the inner workings of an inverted bucket steam trap.
It’s screw threads are fully functional straight out of the printer so you can assemble it whilst showing the different aspects or even change out parts on the fly.

The metal filaments have a nice aesthetic and give the parts a genuine feel both in terms of added weight as well as the look and feel of the parts. Note however that this is not a functional part, working in real life, but a visual prototype.

We printed this model on the Ultimaker 2+ with Ruby nozzle (which is recommended for steelFill) on 0,10mm layer height.

One of the aspects of steelFill is that it has magnetic properties. steelFill is the latest in our range of special metal filled filaments, being launched in 2016 after bronzeFill and copperFill (both in 2014) and brassFill (in 2015). You can find some post-processing tips here.

We have also written handy tutorials on how to print with these special filaments:

The high steel content of the steelFill material makes this filament quite abrasive to brass nozzles.  Therefore it’s recommended to print with abrasive resistant nozzles. For the nozzle we chose the Olsson Ruby nozzle 2,85mm 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 XT-CF20, but also our steelFill.

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

colorFabb’s metal filled filaments are available online.

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.

Robot Action Figure

Robot Action Figure steelFill

For a little while we’ve been testing The Olsson Ruby, a truly very special nozzle. With a real gemstone at the tip of the nozzle this is one of the most abrasion resistant nozzles made. As expected it fits right into the Olsson heater block which makes it easy to swap between other nozzles.

The olsson ruby

We’ve been running two of our abrasive filaments XT-CF20 and steelFill to see what these nozzles are made of. The temperatures we’ve used during printing have been very similar to regular brass nozzles, so it seems no big temperature difference are expected using The Olsson Ruby.

In this case we printed the Robot Action Figure designed by le Fab Shop for the 2014 Paris Maker Faire. Print quality looks great with nice details and good layer adhesion.

We’ll be printing a lot more with The Olsson Ruby in the next few weeks to really put it through its paces. If you’re interested in more information on The Olsson Ruby project visit the 3D printing forum.

#steelFill Iron Man

Earlier this week we launched our brand new metal filled steelFill 3D printing filament. One of the most obvious choices to print was the Iron Man helmet by Geoff. W, a design that has been used in combination with our bronzeFill and copperFill in the past.

steelfill_soon_available

Iron Man Bust (Repaired, flattened) by Geoff. W:  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:571321

Printed on the Mass Portal Pharaoh ED and post-processed by manual and machine polishing.

steelFill is available now: http://colorfabb.com/steelfill

Find out more about how to print with steelFill: https://learn.colorfabb.com/how-to-print-with-steelfill/

steelfill_soon_available-4

steelFill is our fourth metal filled filament, after releasing bronzeFill in 2014, copperFill in the fall of 2014 and brassFill early 2015 with great success. All items are available now: http://colorfabb.com/specials

metal

steelFill canon

Check out the canon printed entirely with colorFabb materials. We have printed this entire canon with steelFill and the basis was printed with one of our other special filaments: woodFill

You can see how to print with steelFill on our tutorial page: https://learn.colorfabb.com/how-to-print-with-steelfill/

 

 

steelfill-cannon-5

Design: by Labern – https://www.youmagine.com/designs/colorfabb-cannon

steelFill is available now: http://colorfabb.com/steelfill

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steelFill: available today

“Steel yourself”
Today we are happy to announce the release of our new metal based filament:
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Iron Man Bust by Geoff.W – http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:571321

Announced at the AM Show in Amsterdam end of June this new specialty material is available as from today.
With steelFill we are adding a fourth metal based filament to our portfolio after succesfully announcing 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.

Print Settings

Probably the biggest difference compared to 3D printing our other metal infused filaments would be our advice to change your regular brass nozzle for a steel or hardened steel nozzle. The steel powder we use for steelFill can affect the brass nozzle after printing enough of this material, for better reliability on the long run a steel nozzle is recommended.

Other settings such as, printing temperature, heated buildplatform, layerheight, cooling and retraction will be covered in our tutorial.

Check out the tutorial: https://learn.colorfabb.com/how-to-print-with-steelfill 

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ColorFabb Cannon – by Labern – https://www.youmagine.com/designs/colorfabb-cannon

Post Processing

After printing steelFill will have nice matte drak gray finish. With similar polishing techniques used on bronzeFill, copperFill and brassFill it’s possible to smooth out the outer surface and expose the metal particles. Now the surface start’s to resemble a dark glossy steel look. SteelFill won’t rust, since the powder is stainless steel.

steelFill is the latest addition to our expanding range of special materials.
steelFill is available now: http://colorfabb.com/steelfill