ColorFabb testing Metalfill Bronze

[gothampixel 10]

This look's really interesting....

https://twitter.com/ColorFabb/status/465143178245709824/photo/1

 

[skint 61]

Your a few days too late Check out the Post Your Latest Print thread.

But yes, its looks great. We are all hoping colorfabb are gonna hand us out a few samples soon lol

 

[DidierKlein 729]

They are also beta testing bamboo woodfill

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140512-colorfabb-beta-testing-new-pla-bronze-bamboofill-filament-for-3d-printers.html

Looks pretty cool

 

[profepaco 0]

I am wondering if this material will let heat flows through...

it is what I am looking for...

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/5730-a-part-that-transmits-heat/

 

[Daid 306]

I've actually seen and touched this stuff now (at FabCon)

And, OMG. NOW, GIVE IT. It's great. It's heavy (somewhere around 3x as heavy). And it will be expensive, they didn't tell how expensive it will be. But they most likely will sell smaller rolls due to the weight and price. And, it will most likely take till august for it to be really ready for sale.

Note, it's bronse particles with some plastic (PLA I think) as bonding agent. So it's most likely something lie 70% bronse, 30% PLA. So it's not "full metal printing", but it does look and feel awesome.

I also met the guy behind LayWood, and he has some interesting new stuff as well. (I'll look it up later, I'm too tired right now)

 

[profepaco 0]

so a lot of bronze means heat conductivity.... I hope...

 

[skint 61]

a lot of bronze means $£$£$£$£$£

 

[DidierKlein 729]

70% of bronze is a lot :shock: i would have guessed that they had the same ration as the woodfill which is 30% wood and 70% PLA. It's definitely something i would like to test :geek:

 

[jeremie 13]

Yep but you won't get past the bonding agent temperature... When polished (low temp only then), the thing really shines like it was metal (too bad someone stole their polished ring). Amazingly heavy filament!

 

so a lot of bronze means heat conductivity.... I hope...

 

[woofy 12]

Bronze is not particularly expensive, around 10GBP/Kg in the UK.

The cost will be in the processing needed to turn the bronze into a fine enough powder and get it mixed with the PLA to a high enough quality not to jam our printers. Expect the final price to be very expensive.

 

[ian 32]

I got some samples of that to try this week, at FABCON :-)

It really is amazing !! they had rings printed from the bronze.. you thought it was made of solid metal... and it polishes up as metal... totally amazing !!!!

what ever the price.. colorfabb will sell this stuff like crazy...

Ian :-)

 

[profepaco 0]

I got some samples of that to try this week, at FABCON :smile:

It really is amazing !! they had rings printed from the bronze.. you thought it was made of solid metal... and it polishes up as metal... totally amazing !!!!

what ever the price.. colorfabb will sell this stuff like crazy...

Ian :smile:

 

please, heat a bit one part of the ring and tell us whether the rest of the ring gets hot.

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[foehnsturm 969]

Definitely great stuff! I was lucky to get a sample at FABCON.

Besides the optical appearance, it also feels and "sounds" way more serious than regular PLA. When you bite on it it feels quite metal-like.

Right after printing with 0.4 mm / 0.1 mm layer height / 210 °C.

After some (imperfect) sanding and polishing. Gijs recommended to start with a 240 grade. Polishing was done with special glass sanding paper which I have lying around here.

I'm wondering what color the PLA component is. Natural? Modifying the PLA color might even be a way to change the appearance a little.

 

[woofy 12]

Does anyone have an idea when Colorfabb will release this?

 

[skint 61]

Looks great, would love to try it.

I wonder if Colorfabb have done any extensive testing on the bronze particles wearing any of the parts that they come into contact with, doubt it.. but...

Cant wait to try it. The polished part really does look metallic, and so different from the non polished part.

 

[foehnsturm 969]

Appearance depends heavily on lighting conditions like any reflective surface.

I'll go and get some polishing tools.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

I love the difference after sanding and polishing

I think it's planned for august 2014 if i recall well

 

[Daid 306]

Does anyone have an idea when Colorfabb will release this?

 

They said most likely august.

 

[colorfabb 3]

I'll go and get some polishing tools.

 

wooohoa!! That looks really great Markus, nice polishing already. Especially the first ring looks fantastic! Let us know what polishing tools your going to get. Think I'll try some of that glass sanding paper.

cheers,

Gijs

 

[IRobertI 520]

This might be a stupid question but oh well. Since this stuff will likely be used quite a bit for jewellery type of applications are there any concerns with prolonged skin contact at all?

 

[gr5 2,172]

And how did you do that blue stripe? Is that regular PLA for several layers in between brass layers? If so can I polish regular PLA the same technique (start with "glass 240 sandpaper")?

 

[foehnsturm 969]

Thanks Gijs, I'm continuing my experiments ... and almost ruined the second ring.

Rotary sanding and polishing tools on a Proxxon/Dremel work well when set to slow speed and handled with great care - at all times. :wacko:

Solvents, I tried nasty Dichlormethane, are disastrous, that's what happened to the first ring :cool:. But now I know that the PLA component might be of brown color ...

@gr5,

You're right, it's transparent blue (PauseAtHeight). The 240 was regular sandpaper, I designed a core for a tiny DIY serrated grinder. The 240 lasts quite long but the 400/600/800 sandpaper tears quickly. The glass grinding paper is 3M's Trizact but I would say regular sandpaper and polishing paste will do quite as well.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Very nice work indeed foehnsturm. :-P

Imagine what kind of nice jewellery one can do with a dual extruder... :cool:

So 3D printing has arrived at the Bronze Age. What's next to come? Iron? Then Steel? Then Aluminium? Then Silicon? :mrgreen:

@colorfabb: Can you say anything about the copper to tin ratio? Normal bronze would consist of 60 or more percent copper.

 

[profepaco 0]

Yes, previous question about wear produced by the filament is not answered.

A heavy filament with metal inside... bowden, noozle... are designed to cope with that abrasion?

:-|

 

[codemaven 0]

I doubt they've tested the wear extensively.... And it's difficult to really know how it will go in the long term... but I would plan on changing your nozzle after a while of using this.

I've had my UM1 for over 3 years.. I recently changed the nozzle (had a really hard time getting the old one off...) but it made a huge difference in printing. I had barely noticed the slow degredation of print quality over time until I replaced it. Nozzles are definatly a consumable part.

I've done a little bit of printing with woodfill (Laywoo-d3) and stone (laybrick). LayBrick epsecially probably contributes to nozzle wear, but it's not particulairly rapid or problematic.

I'm also looking forward to Kai Parthy's new foam/felt like filaments, although I understand they contain some PVA which is a little scary given that it's prone to charring... But since it's only a component mixed with other plastic, and since it's intended to flow continuously and not sit in the nozzle like a support material usually does it may be ok. I'm looking forward to trying anyway.

So many great new things!

Cheers,

Troy.