varioShore TPU infill

Last year we launched our new flagship product: varioShore TPU. It is a 3D printing flament which is flexible in more ways than one. Even after release we keep testing filaments in our printlab to see what the best practice is. One thing we keep testing amongst others is varioShore TPU’s infill and have opted for the gyroid infill.

We used Cura’s gyroid infill setting on the Ultimaker S5. The gyroid structure, aside from having a nice wave-y pattern, ensures an even distribution of strength throughout the model. It belongs to a class of mathematically minimal surfaces, giving the same strength as a hexagon infill, but with less material.

“A gyroid is a naturally occurring structure which be found in butterfly wings and even within membranes inside cells. In 2017, MIT researchers discovered that when graphene was shaped into a gyroid structure, it had exceptional strength properties at low densities. They then discovered however, that the crucial aspect of this was actually the gyroid structure itself, and that other materials such as plastic could benefit from this.” ~ Source: Matt’s Hub

 

The print settings used on the Ultimaker S5 were:

  • 0.2mm layer height
  • 25 mm/s print speed
  • 70% material flow
  • 240C nozzle temperature

varioShore TPU allows users to vary the density of the material by adjusting temperature and material throughput (speed & layerheight). At temperatures between 200 and 250C the materials will start to expand to roughly 1.4-1.6 times its original volume. This means the material can be printed at low flow rates (60-70%), to compensate the active foaming, which in return gives very soft printed parts. Between 190-200C the material can be printed without foaming, resulting in different haptics and harder prints compared to foamed samples.

 

 

For this development colorFabb partnered with Lubrizol Engineered Polymers, a leading global producer of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), used in everyday consumer and industrial applications, with a strong global manufacturing and supply network.

Lubrizol Engineered Polymers’ expertise in TPU chemistry was key to provide a customized TPU with a wide range of processing temperatures and adequate melt viscosity, meeting the requirements during extrusion and printing. A wider range of thermal stability and melt rheology allows an extended upper range of printing temperatures to maximize the range of densities achieved through colorFabb’s unique filament foaming technology.

The result is a filament with a base TPU of 92A, which will work with most standard extruder set-ups for both Bowden and direct drive systems.

We’re not done yet with varioShore TPU. You can expect more news soon.

 

 

Longboard Wheels

In recent months we have added quite a few new materials in our webshop. To showcase two of them we have combined them into one functional print. We used Iroprint F80213 by Huntsman and our brand new Tough PLA to print longboard wheels.

The Street Wheels for Longboard were designed by Zenjota (link)

The two components are printed seperately and assembled after printing:

 

Iroprint F80213 features good abrasive resistance amongst other key features. In this case the tire feels grippy and offers dampening due to the infill and shore A85. It is a polyether-based Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) with shore A85. Key features, aside from the abrasive resistance, are high elasticity, cut and scratch resistance and good low temperature performance. Being polyether-based, it offers a good hydrolysis resistance. Developed by chemical specialist Huntsman, Iroprint F80213 stands out in our range for delivering prints with a mat finish, resulting in a high-quality touch and feel of the final object.

Iroprint F80213 by Huntsman is one of the materials which settings can easily be accessed in the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura.

The inner rim is printed with colorFabb Tough PLA. We decided for a 100% infill to achieve maximum stiffness with this material and at the same time toughness. The part was printed at 230c and 0.2mm layerheight.

Our Tough PLA is a custom blend which retains the ease of use of PLA but adds serious toughness to the material. As a result the material is a lot less brittle than regular PLA filaments and has a higher impact strength.

The recommended printing temperatures are 210C-230C and 50-60C heated bed temperature. The print speed can be set to 40-50 mm/s. For better overhang performance we recommend using slower outer perimeter speed, 20-30 mm/s.

We release Tough PLA in two colors: black and white, which are available now and ship from stock.

Machine clamp

As we have seen before, 3D printing can be used in many production companies to create machine clamps. By using the right filament (and printer) it is easier, faster and cheaper than ever to optimize a production line so it suits your needs. Whereas 3D printing already has proven itself to shorten the prototype stage during product development, in production it can also bring down time to market and costs, while also adding more flexibility in the process.

This machine clamp was designed by our colorFabb team as a demonstrator during the recent Brabantse Metaaldagen, a tradeshow for the metal industry where we had a stand to demonstrate the added value of FDM/FFF 3D printing for various industries.

The clamp was printed on the Ultimaker 2+ using our PA-CF Low Warp with 100% infill. Print settings:

  • Printing temperature: 260C
  • Print speed: 35mm/s
  • Heated bed: –

We printed with a 0.2mm layer height.

Check out our handy tutorial How to Print with PA-CF Low Warp!

About PA-CF Low Warp

PA-CF Low Warp was launched a little over a year ago. It is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. PA-CF Low Warp excels in tensile and impact strength and allows continues use at 120°C while retaining sufficient mechanical properties.

The material can be printed on desktop FFF 3D printers, which have a temperature range of at least 260°C on the hot-end and the ability to mount an abrasive resistant nozzle. The formulation has been modified to reduce uptake of moisture and it also takes about 4 times longer to reach the saturation point compared to unmodified PA6. This makes PA-CF Low Warp less affected by moisture then most other nylon filaments available in the market.

 

 

The material shows good results when printed at ambient temperature, or cold bed. The advised processing temperature for this material is set between 260C and 280C. You can find more information about the printability of PA-CF Low Warp on our dedicated landing page.

A special point of attention is the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers. In general these fibers will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than unfilled filaments. ColorFabb recommends to using wear resistant nozzles, such as E3D hardened steel nozzle or Olsson Ruby nozzle.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now and ships on spools containing either 700gr of 2kg of filament. Click here to go directly to our webshop.

Christmas Tree

With Christmas around the corner it’s only apt we follow suit with the rest of the world and print a Christmas tree. We chose the design by idig3D for our Christmas print. For the material we chose nGen Green Transparent.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1913982

Earlier this year we released no less than six transparent nGen colors:



nGen is of course our go-to filament and available in many colors. It is a true all-round material suitable for most day to day 3D printing activities. At the core of its reliability is the special chemical make-up of the Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer, which results in a good melt stability. From pellet to filament to 3D print, nGen retains its material properties very well, meaning more stable results with less waste of time and material.

The Christmas tree was printed on the Ultimaker S5 with a 0.8 AA core nozzle and with a 0.4mm layer height. Nozzle temperature was 240C and the bed temp at 80C. We used the spiral vase mode.

nGen works extremely well on the Ultimaker printers. Find out more on the standard settings we recommend here. But one could make life even easier. Only yesterday we posted that nGen (under it’s raw material name AM3300) has been added to the Ultimaker Market Place, making printing with the right settings even easier!

Learn more about printing nGen on the Ultimaker 3 and S5 here.

nGen AM3300 in Ultimaker Market Place

Not long after we announced that XT-CF20 was added to the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura 3.6 in addition to Color on Demand PLA and woodFill we are happy to tell you that nGen now also is a part of the Market Place. Sort of…

Twin RC waterjet by Ewolve

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2752198

The Ultimaker Market Place makes it easier for users of the Ultimaker 3 and S5 to use pre-set profiles for third party filaments which have been tested by both the filaments manufacturers and Ultimaker themselves to achieve the best possible user experience.

Important: To choose the optimal nGen settings in the Market Place head to the Eastman entries and choose AM3300, the base material for nGen.

Three years ago, by the end of 2015, we released a new all-round material called nGen, next Generation, based on Eastman Amphora AM3300. We believed then (and still do) that this filament was a next step for 3D printing materials. It was our goal to bring a filament to the market that has functional properties, looks astonishingly good and prints like a dream.

Printed with nGen Red on the Ultimaker S5 with 0.15mm layer height.

nGen has been a hit ever since. This is not without reason. It is true all-round material suitable for most day to day 3D printing activities. Its chemical make up ensures a very consistent quality. An advantage over PLA is its elevated temperature resistance: 80 degrees instead of 45 degrees, so even in hotter climates (or a hot summer day) the material holds up extremely well. Below is a comparison chart of several of the Amphora based filaments compared to commodity materials like ABS and PLA.

You can read more on our dedicated landing page or our blog about co-polyesters.

nGen is an amazing material which enables users to create parts with gorgeous detail and the benefit of long term stability. Don’t just take our word for it. Below are some of the reviews that our users posted in our webshop:

“Its just the perfect Filament for me!”

“Printing as easy as PLA, but with better material properties.”

“nGen is very predictable and strong.”

“nGen is always my “go to” filament. It just prints beautifully. It’s strong, handles heat well, reliable, and just looks great.”

“… prints like butter 🙂 and the finish is absolutely perfect.”

“The material has good print bed adhesion, low warping and low shrinkage. Easy to print.”

Beyond our initial goals to create a filament that prints well and holds up to every day 3D printing tasks we have since found out more properties of the filament, giving it a great advantage. For instance, we recently came across a business case where a printed object made with nGen has been under water in the ocean for 16 months! And it did not loose its functional properties!

And you can get highly detailed prints as well:

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Model balustrade. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/detailed-balustrade/

Although nGen is a true star in our portfolio, it doesn’t feel too good to perform a supporting role from time to time. Literally. In combination with colorFabb_XT nGen filament can also be used as a breakaway support. Complex designs like the drill case below do need support material and we found that nGen did a great job in that department.

Drill case. Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/drill-case/

Another great material it works extremely well with is our nGen_FLEX:

Pliers (click image for the gif to play). Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/pliers
Coupler (click image for the gif to play). Original post: https://learn.colorfabb.com/coupler/

It is not only materials nGen plays well with. It also performs extremely well on a wide range of printers. And with the addition of AM3300 to the Ultimaker Market Place in Cura 3.6, printing with nGen is easier than ever.

Presents

It’s less than three weeks before Christmas and this is the first of several Christmas themed prints we will post. Today we feature nGen_LUX, our high quality and luxurious looking filament. We printed presents, but let’s be honest: the filament is a present of itself.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2704360

These presents were printed with all nGen_LUX colors we have: Regal Violet, Nature Green, Diamond Black, Star Yellow and Champagne Gold. We used both the Prusa i3 MK2s and Ultimaker 2+. Layer height is 0.2mm and infill 10%. We used at 0.4mm nozzle on both printers and set the print speed at 40mm/s.

nGen_LUX is ideally suited to make presents and give to a loved one. Especially during the holidays when your prints need a little extra something to stand out under the Christmas tree (we printed that one as well, but that’s for a later blog).

 

nGen_LUX is a unique development based on our best selling co-polyester nGen, made with Eastman Amphora AM3300 3d Polymer. The excellent clarity of the base AM3300 makes this material uniquely suited for the extremely rare pigment used in nGen_LUX. It is our new standard in how a 3D printed object can look. It is the filament for the users who wants to bring something extraordinary their work. It is the filament that needs to give that added value.

At colorFabb we are always looking to meet our customer’s needs and offer filaments with added value. The aesthetics of nGen_LUX allow for a new step in production and prototyping, especially for cosmetics, packaging, interior parts, electronics housings and many more applications.

The “Lux” not only stands for luxurious – which is definitely the look of the prints – but also refers to the unit of illumination used worldwide. And light is what makes this filament truly special. The material uses diffuse reflection to scatter light in all directions. For the eye it’s nearly impossible to spot layering, even at 0.2mm layerheight. nGen_LUX allows users to print visually appealing models without the need of post processing. nGen_LUX features all the characteristics of our regular nGen: good chemical stability, elevated temperature resistance (85C) and thus allows users to print creations that are functional, durable, efficient and attractive.

nGen_LUX is the first special filament based on nGen and the second one in our range of co-polyesters after XT-CF20, our carbon fibre enforced filament based on colorFabb_XT.

 

Quick facts

Material: colorFabb nGen_LUX

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.05 mm

Density: 1.2 g•cm-3

Glass Transition Temperature: 85C

Adviced 3d printing temperature: 220-240C
Adviced 3d print speed: 40-70 mm/s
Advised Heated bed: 75-85C

Click here to go directly to our webshop.

 

Ultimaker Market Place

Updated: XT-CF20 has been added as well!

We are proud to announce that two of our filaments have been added to the Ultimaker Market Place. By adding both Color on Demand  ( PLA )  and woodFill to the market place it is easier than ever to start printing with the right settings on Ultimaker printers. How? Download the latest version of Cura (3.6) and add the profiles as detailed in the short video below:

https://youtu.be/h_5mp_TK5zw

Our filaments have always been tested on Ultimaker 3D printers ever since the beginning. In fact, the very idea of colorFabb started with an Ultimaker Original and it was the first printer we tested on back in 2012. Fun fact: that printer is still in our print lab. We have added more printers to our test lab ever since and have made sure that every major Ultimaker release was added to it as well: The Ultimaker 2, 2+, 3 and S5 are all part of our standard range of printers to ensure our filaments work as flawless as possible on these highly popular Dutch printers.

We’re joining an ever expanding range of premium material brands in the market place.

Update December 14th: We are happy to announce that XT-CF20 has been added to the list as well. Simply add the profile the same way as described above to make functional prints that need extra stiffness.


CARBON FIBER IS ABRASIVE: A special point of attention is the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers. In general these fibers will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than unfilled filaments. Therefore we  recommend to use hardened steel nozzles for this material.

Will more materials be added? Probably in due time. But rest assured that, as mentioned above, we have tested all of our materials on the Ultimaker printers at our disposal. One can also choose Ultimaker materials as a starting point (like CPE settings for our colorFabb_XT and CPE+ for colorFabb_HT). We also share the settings of most of our materials on dedicated blogs, like:

Still not sure if you’re on the right track? Contact us at support@colorfabb.com so we can help you further!

TinkerToys

One of the greatest benefits of 3D printing is that one can print unique, individual parts instead of having to produce a single part in mass production which has to appeal to everybody. Because realistically, only a few things appeal to everybody. Customization can be applied to anything from functional parts to prosthetics and from gadgets to prototypes. We recently visited TinkerToys in Leipzig, Germany who apply this huge advantage to toys.

From design to print, made possible by Tinkertoys even in the smallest hands

We were greeted by Jonas Willen, responsible for production and with the team since November 2014. He offered us some insights in regards to their way of working and how they use 3D printing in such a great way.

TinkerToys was founded in 2014 and has a goal and this goal is to show children what creative potential is within them. They have developed their own software, the Digital Construction Kits, with which they can playfully create their own toys as 3D models on a touch screen. The software is made as such, that kids as from 6 years old can work with it.

Designing, the easy way

 

Marko Jakob, one of the founders of TinkeToys, says: “We want to show children that you can do more with digital media than only watch YouTube videos or play video games. The digitalization of the world also offers incredible possibilities and we want to show children the possibilies of the creative process at an early age.”

The software can also easily be used on tablets in your home! You can download the apps for iOS and Android for free!

 

The self designed models can then immediately be printed on several printers, mostly Ultimakers. As a material, TinkerToys has commited to only use bio-based materials and print almost exclusively with colorFabb’s PLA/PHA.

Jonas explains: “For TinkerToys, it is important that the toys are made of a sustainable material. Furthermore, Colorfabb PLA with the addition of PHA allows us to print connectors, so the toys can move. For example, our mascot TimTinker can move all his body parts and the cars can move their tires.“

Another element is how well our filaments works with the Ultimaker line of printers. It is no secret that we have quite a lot of Ultimaker printers in our print lab to ensure that our filaments run as flawless as possible on these printers.

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.

With over 15.000 printed unique toys so far, the TinkerToys staff of 9 ensure that high quality prints end up with the small designers and bring their dreams to life.

TimTinker – TinkerToys’ mascot

Want to know more? Contact TinkerToys (info@tinkertoys.de) or visit their website (German)

 

Sander Strijbos (colorFabb) and Jonas Willen (TinkerToys) in the Leipzig store

 

Darth Revan

Earlier this year we launched PLA Semi-Matte Black as an addition to our regular PLA colors we have been offering for years. 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. We came across a design of Darth Revan by COLOR3DJP which was a perfect match for this high quality aesthetical material.

Design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2699572

We made this print on the new Ultimaker S5 with a 0.14mm layer height and standard PLA settings. It took approximately 3.5 days to print.

Darth Revan has been a fan favorite ever since being introduced in The Old Republic video game. Star Wars figurines and 3D printing have been going hand in hand ever since the first Star Wars fan got his or her hands on a 3D printer. This bust is a great addition with a very nice finish.

When developing our semi-matte PLA 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. The brand new PLA Semi-Matte Black will bring a new aesthetic quality to our range of PLA filaments.

If you’re looking to upgrade your 3D printed projects to the next level, our PLA Semi-Matte will do the trick.

Left: PLA Economy Black / Right: PLA Semi Matte Black

This filament 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 is available now. Click on the image below to go directly to our webshop:

XL spools and samples are available as well.