Colorfabb Woodfill Testing (and a few others)

[KevinMakes 22]

So, a general review on the "woodfill" material...

It is no secret that I am pretty unimpressed by the colorfabb...gimmick type materials...

Why?

Almost all of the desired results from the materials are false, the cfxt20 (carbon fiber filament) contains about 5% more chopped filament fibers than the material from proto pasta... however both material making companies decided it would be a brilliant Idea to quite litterally chop the fibers so small that they are more of a carbon DUST than anything else, which means that there is no structural integrity gained by these materials, if fact in recent tests...just plain old ultimaker PLA (the old stuff) has outperformed all of them. there was a slight increase in rigidity but litterally so infentesimal that it was pointless too record it, On top of that it was extremely brittle/fragile now to be fair my expectations were really low because I under how carbon fibers work in the typical mesh that they are normally used in and I didnt see the carbon fibers really meeting that standard of strength and rigidity. So colorfabb was nice enough to send me a smaple of their... woodfill? who knows what it really is (bamboo, pine...) because the sample didn't actually say anything about what it was or why they were sending it... kind of an odd business plan. If I was sending out free samples of something I would give them a little introductory paper to introduce the material give a few stats about it send them a twitter/instagram./ facebook link to share what the recipient of the material decided to do with it, that way they are selling to others...buuuut no...I got a clear plastic bag with a roll of random filament...not complaining...just laughing at the lost potential.  

So on to the testing, i use a 1.2 mm nozzle so most people are just going to discount these results.

Rigidity

1.) CF-XT20

2.) PLA (Ultimakers stuff before the most recent revision)

3.) CF Woodfill

Surface Abrasion resistance

1.)PLA (Ultimakers stuff before the most recent revision)

Tied for 2nd

CF Woodfill

CF-XT20

Shape Retention

PLA (Ultimakers stuff before the most recent revision)

CF Woodfill

CF-XT20

Print Cleanliness

PLA (Ultimakers stuff before the most recent revision)

CF Woodfill

CF-XT20

Heat resistance

CF-XT20

CF Woodfill

PLA (Ultimakers stuff before the most recent revision)

Now to explain some of these results...

The tests were simple jig bend tests (similar to a small scale english wheel, the heat resistance was a bit of a wasted test because the test was with a heat gun and a weighted bend test so no real hard evidence results, the abrasion test was a 5 lb weight with a sharpened center punch slid across the face of the test parts, the shape retention was seperate from the rigidity because there were different results that (in my opinion) were important, print cleanliness is all about stranding, Stringing, uniformity in density, flexibility in settings etc to me if it is something else to you well...yeah test it yourself...haha

Additional random facts

first of all the cfxt20 made no efforts to retain its shape after about 20 deg bend, it crumbled away (for lack of better terms) at the point of stress

The settings I used were the the best of my ability the best possible printing settings (I tried a lot of different settings especially with the cfxt20 because I refused to believe that the material was really that bad even though it logically makes sense)

In closing, the cfxt20 is more of a gimmick than a practical filament, my suggestion to colorfabb in the future would be to use some sort of method of filament creation which allows the fibers to be a bit (lets be real...a lot) longer, because that is the essence of how carbon fiber is so strong so they might as well put ground up spaghetti noodles in the filament. The wood-fill material is cute, not really stain-able as I had hoped, but a good start to a more biodegradable recyclable world and fun to play with and it made my office smell nice while printing.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Guest

[Labern 775]

I agree that CF-20 is a gimmick, not all that easy to print with either on a smaller nozzle. My selling point was the matte black / charcoal look. I don't paint stuff and shiny black didn't suit the parts I wanted.

Interesting results though

There was a company making continuous fibre filament but think it was only for their machine and it's still just going to be as strong as your layer adhesion.

[DidierKlein 729]

The woodfill you got was dark or light?

light = woodfill fine

dark = bamboofill

To me the wood filaments are more for decorative stuff, but good to know the results of your tests.

I must say i was a bit disappointed by the CF-20 also, now i'm not sure if it comes from bad settings but i found that it broke quite easily (compared to regular PLA)

[neotko 1,417]

I just got a small test roll from mymat of carbon nylon that on paper has the best strength resistance I seen and can resist 100C. Ofc the downside it's nylon (drinks water) and needs a minimum of 250C at 30mm/s 1.5 layer to print. I'll try to make a post about the quality but it's a small piece of filament. Another downside it's 70€ for 750grms or so.

[neotko 1,417]

Oh also (please fix the edit of posts) there's a company that has file a patent to make carbonnanotubes filament. Probably will cost an eye...

[neotko 1,417]

Other company really interesting it's polymax. They are getting pc filament this october that it's PC with the chemical company of Bayer behind and 240-260C heat printed atuff that could resist 110C and transparent. Also they have a 'wood' woodless filament that it's basically a foam with wood appearance.

[Labern 775]

Colorfabb now also have corklay. Also another gimmicky filament but has a nice looking finish. Looks like it hides layer lines well.

[KevinMakes 22]

The woodfill you got was dark or light?

light = woodfill fine

dark = bamboofill

I must say i was a bit disappointed by the CF-20 also, now i'm not sure if it comes from bad settings but i found that it broke quite easily (compared to regular PLA)

 

in that case it was the woodfill fine it smelled a little like piine or cedar so that kind of led me to believe that it wasnt bamboo.

[KevinMakes 22]

I just got a small test roll from mymat of carbon nylon that on paper has the best strength resistance I seen and can resist 100C. Ofc the downside it's nylon (drinks water) and needs a minimum of 250C at 30mm/s 1.5 layer to print. I'll try to make a post about the quality but it's a small piece of filament. Another downside it's 70€ for 750grms or so.

 

I would honestly be interested to see a nylon/carbon composite.

[KevinMakes 22]

Oh also (please fix the edit of posts) there's a company that has file a patent to make carbonnanotubes filament. Probably will cost an eye...

 

fix the edit?

[KevinMakes 22]

Colorfabb now also have corklay. Also another gimmicky filament but has a nice looking finish. Looks like it hides layer lines well.

 

Do you have a sample? a link? I may be interested in it if it is legitimately cork.

[KevinMakes 22]

Awesome feedback guy! I posted this initially because I believe there should be some open discourse about the materials and their highs and lows and my findings with the various materials I will be testing in a business enviornment. This wasn't necessarily meant to bash colorfabb or anything in fact I am working on getting set up with a u.s. based supplier and ordering 8-10 2.2 kg rolls a month of their PLA/PHA. So don't get the wrong Idea. I just want to Clear any magical mist that is obscuring the cold hard facts behind these gimmick/fad materials.

[Labern 775]

http://colorfabb.com/corkfill

No I don't have a sample , just got an email after reading this thread

[stephang 4]

I spoke with a Colorfabb 3D printing engineer and he told me that the corkfill is slightly elastic. But I think only a review can give further information about this stuff.

[KevinMakes 22]

Maybe I should speak with colorfabb sales and see if they will send me some to review. lol

[LePaul 331]

Maybe I should speak with colorfabb sales and see if they will send me some to review. lol

The way you bash them, I would expect them to bill you

[KevinMakes 22]

Maybe I should speak with colorfabb sales and see if they will send me some to review. lol

The way you bash them, I would expect them to bill you  

I posted this initially because I believe there should be some open discourse about the materials and their highs and lows and my findings with the various materials I will be testing in a business enviornment. This wasn't necessarily meant to bash colorfabb or anything in fact I am working on getting set up with a u.s. based supplier and ordering 8-10 2.2 kg rolls a month of their PLA/PHA. So don't get the wrong Idea. I just want to Clear any magical mist that is obscuring the cold hard facts behind these gimmick/fad materials.

[KevinMakes 22]

At least everyone would know that it is an honest unbiased review.

[LePaul 331]

The way I read it, and I could be getting the wrong impression, was you felt ColorFabb made gimmickly filaments. Which seemed to mean everything they make.

I've been raving about their PHA/PLA stuff for weeks. I have had a great experience with this stuff after not so much luck with Ultimaker Blue PLA and MatterHacker Pro series.

Now if you are narrowing down your opinion to the Fill-series stuff, I would agree those are a much more complicated filament to work with. I've ready many threads here about the Carbon Fil stuff, literally killing the print nozzles. The wood, bronze and copper filaments seem to have varying levels of success.

[peggyb 171]

I love the metal filaments, in a way most of the filled filaments, because the layers are hardly visible anymore and the look and feel (weight) of the object is much better. Not so much 'a plastic' anymore.

[KevinMakes 22]

I love the metal filaments, in a way most of the filled filaments, because the layers are hardly visible anymore and the look and feel (weight) of the object is much better. Not so much 'a plastic' anymore.

 

I noticed that too one of the things that I love about the filled material is that the abrasive appearance is pleasant earthy and more of a natural look than the cold lines of standard material.

[KevinMakes 22]

The way I read it, and I could be getting the wrong impression, was you felt ColorFabb made gimmickly filaments.  Which seemed to mean everything they make.

I've been raving about their PHA/PLA stuff for weeks.  I have had a great experience with this stuff after not so much luck with Ultimaker Blue PLA and MatterHacker Pro series.  

Now if you are narrowing down your opinion to the Fill-series stuff, I would agree those are a much more complicated filament to work with.  I've ready many threads here about the Carbon Fil stuff, literally killing the print nozzles.  The wood, bronze and copper filaments seem to have varying levels of success.

 

hmmm well I guess as the thread states it is for woodfill and a few others, I am acutally using about 32 rolls of pla pha a month so I think you may have missed the part where I said that I actually like the pla pha materials... lol

[skinny-kid 65]

I recently printed with a roll of Bronzefill with great success.

Printed items at .2 mm at 210 and 40 mm speed on Olson block set up with .4 mm stainless steel nozzle, bed at 50.

Doing finish work with patina stains and solutions has been fun with this stuff.

I just received Copperfill and Corkfill and will be printing with them within the next week and will let you know how it goes.

[qmaker 29]

Wow PeggyB, did you print that without supports of any kind?

Generally speaking, would most people agree that these materials are suited best for relatively small simplified prints?  I would like to do a very detailed large print, but feel that the material might not be able to do it.

My one test with copperfill left me wondering about the tradeoff between overall print quality and the metal like feel.  I think it has its place, I guess its just a matter of choosing the right material for your final result.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Guest

[peggyb 171]

This one was printed with support, total weight about 500 grams, no retraction because i didn't want the heat to creep up the tube.

First print failed after 11 hours (brass filament, predicted 20 hours, 0.1 layer height, 0.4 nozzle) Changed the nozzle to 0.6, layer height 0.2, print time 12 hours, came out great.

When you look at the text details, they are really good, so it will be fine to print smaller pieces as well. For this type of printer the nozzle size is most important to keep in mind. If the details are smaller then this size you have to choose another way.