Custom crutch grips

With varioShore TPU‘s first anniversary coming up in a few months we are glad to see that this unique material has found a steady following. Users from all over the world find new applications for our innovative 3D printing filament with active foaming technology. Researches at the Manchester Metropolitan University, together with PrintCity, have investigated the possibilities of custom crutch grips made with 3D printing.

A printed custom grip, made with varioShore TPU. All images by the researchers, re-used with permission

The article written by Elen J. Parry, Joshua M. Best and Craig E. Banks investigates the viability of digital technology, circular design approach and making bespoke parts. During their research to make a custom crutch grip the material of choice was varioShore TPU.

Read the full article here.

 

The paper investigates the viability of using digital technologies, including 3 dimensional laser scanning, reverse engineering techniques and additive manufacturing in order to create bespoke, on demand, customised accessories through re-usable materials to enforce a circular design approach. Crutch users with arthritis are identified as a patient user group who’s needs are not met by current solutions.

Rendering of a bespoke crutch grip

The researchers have demonstrated that 3D printing is an appropriate method of fabrication to provide bespoke and rapidly manufactured low-cost solutions. As per the paper:

… the total timeframe to complete digital scanning and file creation is approximately 20 min. Additive manufacturing can be leveraged 24/7 with the customised crutch grip rapidly fabricated within ∼10 h, with only material costs of £4.92/∼US$6.15/∼Є5.65. 

 

A finished crutch grip

The researchers opted for varioShore TPU as it was “the most optimal” of the materials tested: “The density of the material can be varied by adjusting the temperature and material flow rate. An increase in temperature and reduction in flow rate causes active foaming, reducing the part density. Through iterative experimentation, a set of printing profiles has been determined to deliver variations of density, allowing the creation of a highly customisable accessory.”

 

The success criteria decision matrix used for the paper

“In considering materials, Varioshore TPU offers interlayer adhesion that is significantly better than comparable materials.”

 

As support material Breakaway by Ultimaker was used, although these materials were not designed to work together.

Conclusion of the proof-of-concept study is that additive manufacturing is a valid low-cost method to make custom crutch grips, but “the findings are highly transferrable, and the same workflow could be applied to multiple crutch or walking stick variations.”

The study was made in co-operation with Manchester Metropolitan University and PrintCity (the university’s digital manufacturing centre)

 

About varioShore TPU

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.

varioShore TPU is available now in Black and Natural and ships daily, from stock and worldwide.

 

varioShore TPU Black

Now available: varioShore TPU Black.

Design by Flying Ginger (link), remixed by colorFabb with inscription

With the launch of varioShore TPU in October last year we added a new flagship product to our ever expanding portfolio of high quality 3D printing filaments. Initially launched in a single neutral color, varioShore TPU can now also be ordered as a black filament. We recently ran a poll on both Twitter and Facebook and our users clearly chose black as our next varioShore TPU color:

 

What is varioShore TPU?

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.

This part is an excellent demonstrator for varioShore TPU material. The ergonomic grip of the bike handle really is perfect to demonstrate the haptic experience of a foamed TPU material. It’s very different from a regular TPU material, much softer surface and better grip.

3 main advantages

varioShore TPU is flexible in more ways than one:

  1. This material is not limited to one shore hardness, but with the right print settings you can have multiple shore hardnesses – even in one print!
  2. We used our LW-PLA technology in this filament as well to reduce weight significantly. Although the weight reduction of varioShore TPU is not as significant as LW-PLA, the weight of the overall print is noticable and can make the difference for prints where weight matters.
  3. Prints that need a soft touch, like handle bars for bikes or shoe soles are no problem anymore with varioShore TPU.

 

“It really is a fantastic development… Incredible innovation.” – Steve Cox

“Another astonishing FDM material development from the colorFabb team.” – Richard Horne

“Another amazing product by colorFabb!” – Bart Tangermann

 

Click here to head directly to our webshop. Shipping starts in week 8 of February.

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.

 

 

varioShore TPU is available now!

varioShore TPU is the latest innovative 3D printing filament by colorFabb and is now available. Our varioShore TPU is flexible in more ways than one!

Printing handle bars is a great application due to the soft touch characteristics of varioShore TPU.

varioShore TPU is available now. Click here to go directly to our webshop!

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.

We sent several spools to beta testers and this is what they had to say about it:

“It really is a fantastic development… Incredible innovation.” – Steve Cox

“Another astonishing FDM material development from the colorFabb team.” – Richard Horne

“Another amazing product by colorFabb!” – Bart Tangermann

 

Lubrizol co-operation

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.

Main features

The main features of varioShore TPU are:

Variable shorehardness

This material is not limited to one shore hardness, but with the right print settings you can have multiple shore hardnesses – even in one print!

Reduced weight / density

colorFabb used the technology previously used in their light weight LW-PLA in this filament as well to reduce weight significantly. Although the weight reduction of varioShore TPU is not as significant as LW-PLA, the weight of the overall print is noticeable and can make the difference for prints where weight matters.

Soft touch surface

Prints that need a soft touch, like handle bars for bikes or shoe soles are no problem anymore with varioShore TPU.

It is, in short, a filament that is flexible in more ways than one. colorFabb initially offers one variety: a very neat natural filament without colorant on spools with 700 grams of filament. For settings, tips and tricks we refer to the product page on the colorFabb website.

Retail pricing is € 41.28 excl. VAT (or € 49.95 including VAT) per spool.

varioShore TPU is available as from today from colorFabb and ships daily, worldwide and from stock. With the release of varioShore TPU, right on the heels of Laser Marking PLA, colorFabb remains on the cutting edge of material development for 3D printing.

 

Tips & Tricks

At colorFabb we have a well-equipped 3d printing studio with many popular 3d printers. Our varioShore TPU has been tested using various 3D printers, which has resulted in the following recommended settings.

Adviced 3d printing temperature: 190C-250C

Adviced 3d print speed: 20-30 mm/s

Advised Heated bed (if you have one, not strictly necessary): 20-40C

Cooling fan: Use the least amount of cooling when maximum foaming is required. For better overhang performance use 50-100% cooling.

We advise our users to use standard TPU settings as a base setting for developing your own pre-sets.

Make sure the distance between nozzle and platform is not to small, especially if the material is being foamed while printing, the pressure will need to be released from the hot-end to prevent clogging and feeder issues.

Material summary

Name: colorFabb varioShore TPU

Diameter Tolerance: ± 0.1 mm

Density: 1,2-1,3 g/cm3

Availability: Right Now!

 

Awesome designs used in this blog

OpenRC 1:10 RC Truggy Rims AirLess by 123CUT (link)

Ergonomic bike handle grips (flex/tpu) by Flying_Ginger (link)

Handle for 1966 HD M50S by barspin (link)