Printing with colorFabb XT-CF20 - UM2

[Labern 774]

Note the change to flow.

The piece I showed him with a bracket piece for the UMO Shroud, thus why he advised 100% infill.

 

Are you sure this is not just a plot to get you to buy more filament

[Artiz 27]

 

Note the change to flow.

The piece I showed him with a bracket piece for the UMO Shroud, thus why he advised 100% infill.

 

Are you sure this is not just a plot to get you to buy more filament

 

tis probably true... when I tried 100% it was far too much and I had to keep pausing the print to get rid of all the access... at 75% infill its pretty much solid anyway.

I do think an increased infill helps though...

When you back off on the flow it tends to produce tails and minute holes which then just seems to get worse... if you leave it you then start to get poor overall layer adhesion.

Its definitely a fine tuned balancing game you have to play with this material but if you get it right the end print can be superb... and I don't mean straight off the build plate... I have never had that... I mean after sanding down etc.

This material is definitely not everyone's 'cup of tea' but it is the best so far for making a strong, durable, rigid working part and a speargun really is pushing the limits of current consumer 3D printing... I for one am very impressed so far.

 

 

 

 

 

(apologies for poor quality phone photos)

The accuracy of the print for me is essential... to be able to fit the trigger mechanism perfectly is a revelation (above)... its around 0.2 of a mm accurate. That goes for the 25mm bore carbon barrel too which just slides straight onto the handle assembly which I sized at 24.6mm in my CAD model... nothing else I've tried even comes close to the print accuracy of XT-CF20.

Lastly... I think printing at finer layer heights such as .1, .08 and even .06 offer the best results from this material... it then takes very little sanding down to completely remove all printing lines from your model which in turn produces a finish which is both smooth and incredibly accurate.

If you are looking for fine surface detail for your Gnomes, Wizards and monster aliens straight off the build plate and within the hour then this is definitely not the right filament for you

Edited May 25, 2016 by Guest

[danilius 118]

Thanks for the tip danilius... at risk of sounding obsessive... which I probably am...

 

'Tiz the only way to get things proper reet...

 

the idea behind using 'muck' as you call it enables me to retain consistency regarding my finish. I have to coat/seal/varnish my prints due to the bashing and adverse conditions that a speargun necessarily/normally endures.

 

Then you are sorted. With UHU stic if you apply it to a hot bed, you get a nice smooth - but not glass - finish. As it is, when gluing parts together you want a roughish surface anyway, to get a greater surface area for the glue to adhere to.

What glue do you use, BTW?

[LePaul 323]

Well 100% for a thin bracket piece versus what you are printing....two very different situations.

I am just hoping I can get the bridging to work a bit better with those settings.

[Artiz 27]

this stuff for clamping parts together accurately/precisely...

and this mad stuff...

seems to work like an acid melting the plastic... strange thing is that it evaporates after a few seconds when you spill it... certainly seems to work instantaneously though.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Guest

[Artiz 27]

Well 100% for a thin bracket piece versus what you are printing....two very different situations.

I am just hoping I can get the bridging to work a bit better with those settings.

 

I recently got a new large reel of XT-CF20 and had to build a DIY reel holder which really improved the way my UM2 extended printed this material in particular... and especially the way the material flowed... my conclusion being that even the slightest friction on the reel was having an effect... try checking yours LePaul... just in case.

[danilius 118]

this stuff for clamping parts together accurately/precisely...

and this mad stuff...

seems to work like an acid melting the plastic... strange thing is that it evaporates after a few seconds when you spill it... certainly seems to work instantaneously though.

 

Thanks for that. Will give that a whirl!

[Artiz 27]

Anyone else seen/tried this....

 

[LePaul 323]

Well a few thoughts....

ColorFabb is also pretty stringent on the diameter of their stuff.

As for impact, temp and other stuff....I'm not sure.

I would be really curious about other settings (that we have all struggled with her) asides print temp and speed. Retractions, distance, etc etc

[Artiz 27]

Will you coat the printed parts with anything? I have found that the carbon fibers absorb water.

 

After a couple of dives with the gun I noticed that my cellulose primer was wearing off and starting to go white in some of the main wear areas... only slightly but clearly detaching from the sanded print surface... cellulose or spirit based products don't appear to last or stick particularly well to the printed XT-CF20 material... although that is after being submerged in the sea for extended periods I should add.

This polyurethane product is to date a far superior coating as well as a glass finish to the buildplate side/bottom of the print... better still you don't actually need to sand these highly accurate surfaces down either if you are joining two of your parts together using the polyurethane bond (above) which in turn makes your joints virtually invisible.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Guest

[AndreasDesmedt 0]

Is there anyone that fixed the issue with the blob being on the nozzle all the time while printing this filament?

I'm sick of this filament. Everytime I have a +1h print it drops blobs into the print, crashes and skips steps. I've tried different temps, different speeds, different retractions but nothing seems to help.

[AndreasDesmedt 0]

Is there anyone that has a fix for the filament that sticks to the nozzle? When printing my nozzle is full of filament and drops it right into the print, later crashing into it and skipping steps. Making this filament unusable for prints longer then 1h

[Catlord 17]

Hi, 
I'm struggling with this filament to obtain reliable pieces, mostly with layer bonding.

here's a summary of what I have read here  :

- No retractation 
- No fans for layer adhesion
-- no combing

- print speed 50mm/s
- T° range 250/260°C

- bed T° 70°

 

 

About the print speed, I'm very surprised because I have read somwhere else that a slow speed is a key parameter for this filament. 
Source

The mat finish surface is amazing ,do you know other filament that gave same finish appearence ?

[Labern 774]

There are many other filaments that have carbon fiber in them and some glass fiber ones.

I find the best are Nylon based ones. Easier to print with really strong layer adhesion. You just need to store it in a dry container and dry it before use.

XT-CF20 doesn't really have good layer adhesion but I normally print at 30mm/s to help make it stronger.

Most filled filaments give a really nice finish and the colorfabb nGen lux looks really good, hiding the layer lines if you dont mind paying for it. 

[LePaul 323]

I did a video on ColorFabb XTCF20 recently, perhaps this will help you some?

 

https://youtu.be/vfV6oP5baOw

[Catlord 17]

On 9/3/2019 at 3:35 PM, LePaul said:

I did a video on ColorFabb XTCF20 recently, perhaps this will help you some?

 

https://youtu.be/vfV6oP5baOw

Thank you Paul, I have had already gone into your videos 😉

I found another tip : if I try to print several different pieces, it finish in mess. 

one piece at a time seems to be the way to go (for me)

I ran into another problem : on the small printed part, it seems that there is a fusion . ahave a look at the top part of this benchy :
 

 

 

 

Print T° 255 °C

print head E3DV6

speed 50mm/s

no combing

no retractation

no fans

layer heigh 0.2 mm

 

I tried at 250°C => same problem on the top part

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Catlord

[Turan 0]

Guys hello,

 

Is anybody still here? I really have hard times printing this material with creality cr-10s. We write gcode for printing but I don't know maybe this material is not fit for that machine!

[gr5 2,181]

56 minutes ago, Turan said:

Guys hello,

 

Is anybody still here? I really have hard times printing this material with creality cr-10s. We write gcode for printing but I don't know maybe this material is not fit for that machine!

 

Please be more specific.  For example:

1) Is it warping off the bed?

2) Is it underextruding?

3) Is it clogging completely?

 

You need the bed to be at 70C.  If your printer doesn't have a heated bed then this will be very difficult to print.  You need a ruby nozzle (for example see 3dsolex.com everlast nozzles) as the carbon fiber will wear out the tip of your nozzle in just a few hours.  You need hardnened steel extruder gears (e.g. see bondtech) as the carbon fiber will wear out (smooth) the extruder splines (or gnurled pattern depending on feeder type) and ruin your feeder.

[Turan 0]

3 hours ago, gr5 said:

 

Please be more specific.  For example:

1) Is it warping off the bed?

2) Is it underextruding?

3) Is it clogging completely?

 

You need the bed to be at 70C.  If your printer doesn't have a heated bed then this will be very difficult to print.  You need a ruby nozzle (for example see 3dsolex.com everlast nozzles) as the carbon fiber will wear out the tip of your nozzle in just a few hours.  You need hardnened steel extruder gears (e.g. see bondtech) as the carbon fiber will wear out (smooth) the extruder splines (or gnurled pattern depending on feeder type) and ruin your feeder.

 

Thanks

 

Different kind of problems actually. sometimes over extruding (this is problem while printing plate with a hole). Sometimes underextrusion, and etc. Actually, since we wrote gcode we did not use cura and this also makes proble, You know we should print with 2 mm/s print speed!! more than that makes problem. This 3d printer actually I think cannot print these kind of materials. Are those wearing important and have effect on the printing really?

[gr5 2,181]

If you print at 2mm/sec then you are probably not pushing the filament very hard but yes the CF can destroy your feeder.  Fortunately feeders are easy to replace.  The symptom will be that it underextrudes when you go back to PLA.

 

If you push the filament hard then the filament is slipping and the CF is grinding down the feeder gear.  But if you print at only 2mm/sec then your feeder should last forever even with CF filament.

 

A lot of materials don't do well if you print too slow.  They get too hot.  The nozzle temp for colorfab XT is supposed to be around 250C.

[Turan 0]

3 hours ago, gr5 said:

If you print at 2mm/sec then you are probably not pushing the filament very hard but yes the CF can destroy your feeder.  Fortunately feeders are easy to replace.  The symptom will be that it underextrudes when you go back to PLA.

 

If you push the filament hard then the filament is slipping and the CF is grinding down the feeder gear.  But if you print at only 2mm/sec then your feeder should last forever even with CF filament.

 

A lot of materials don't do well if you print too slow.  They get too hot.  The nozzle temp for colorfab XT is supposed to be around 250C.

Yes. I don't know actually what is the problem. I believe that printing this material with this low quality machine (cr10s) is not resonable actually.

[Turan 0]

Actually I use colorfabb xt-cf20. Is layer height important? should it be more or less? I home someone used this material with the same 3d printer that I could learn from him!

[Catlord 17]

16 hours ago, Turan said:

Guys hello,

 

Is anybody still here? I really have hard times printing this material with creality cr-10s. We write gcode for printing but I don't know maybe this material is not fit for that machine!

Hi,
Is your CR-10 stock or did you make some upgrade on it ? 

If it's stock, don't waste your time : 

XT-CF20 needs to be printed around 250 /260 °C and your bowden tube will start melting causing clog and troubles. I use an E3DV6 hotend on an ultimaker original and it works pretty well (I'm chaning the extruder, the original one is not adapted)

 

 

[Turan 0]

2 minutes ago, Catlord said:

Hi,
Is your CR-10 stock or did you make some upgrade on it ? 

If it's stock, don't waste your time : 

XT-CF20 needs to be printed around 250 /260 °C and your bowden tube will start melting causing clog and troubles. I use an E3DV6 hotend on an ultimaker original and it works pretty well (I'm chaning the extruder, the original one is not adapted)

 

 

Thank you so much! You did it before right? What do you mean by stock? We bought it and no upgrade? Ir is creality cr-10s. I don't know but I am going to hate i!

I printed around 250 with 70 heated bed. It printed a few samples good but then ....

Edited November 26, 2019 by Turan

[Catlord 17]

10 minutes ago, Turan said:

Thank you so much! You did it before right? What do you mean by stock? We bought it and no upgrade? Ir is creality cr-10s. I don't know but I am going to hate i!

I printed around 250 with 70 heated bed. It printed a few samples good but then ....

 

Ok lets begin then :)

 

Stock mean you didn't make any upgrade on your printer. you didn't change the bowden tube by a quality one (like capricorn), you didn't change the hot end.

 

XT-CF20 needs to be printed with a T° between 250 and 265/270°C depending of your hotend. This IS NOT COMPATIBLE with a CR-10 stock.

have a look at the following video .

/!\ BEWARE ! THIS IS NOT A FIX TO YOUR PROBLEM /!\

 

 

 

It will explain you a few tips about your hotend. 

For my part, I didn't made this hotfix: I take care of my hotend and check it every 2 weeks.

 

As you can see, in your hotend, the bowden tube is going down till it touch the nozzle. A bowden tube starts degrading at 245°C, it becomes flexible and dilate itself. the pressure made by your extruder on the filament starts to deform the bowden tube around the nozzle.
It causes clogs and underextruding and BIG CLOGS.

The only way to print at more than 240°C with a CR-10 like printer is to use another hotend: a "full metal hotend". There are 2 brands well know: Micro swiss (that have hotend compatible directly with CR-10/ender3) and E3D .
There are also clones of corse.

 

- If you want to print at more than 240°C, change your hotend

- if you want to print hard filament (like Carbon, wood, marble,...) use a hardened nozzle (like Xtra nozzle from E3D, ruby, reinforced steel nozzle,...) or byuy tons of brass nozzle and change it every 500gr printed. (proceed to check and adapt this value)