ColorFabb Copperfill

[gothampixel 10]

So ColorFabb announced Copperfill

With this disclaimer;

*Testing showed reliable results using the all metal hot-ends, such as the E3D and the Makerbot Replicator 2 hotend. Hotends which use a teflon isolator coupler can generate adhesion to the copper filament possibly leading to clogs and is there for not recommended for novice users yet.

Any thoughts on the risk of printing this on an Ultimaker 2 and Original?

 

[colorfabb 3]

Both the Ultimaker 2 and Ultimaker Original have been able to successfully print with copperFill, but with less reliable results then other hot-ends.

Novice Ultimaker users are not recommended to start playing with these experimental type filaments. You need to be willing to spend some time and effort if you want to print with copperFill on the UM Original en UM2.

BronzeFill prints beautifully on both UM's so if you're not willing to risk copperFill stick to the bronzeFill

Gijs

 

[drayson 75]

 

@Gijs, how "conductive" is cooperfill?? Have you ever tested?

[peggyb 170]

what are the things to take care of?

speed, temperature? keep the material moving, so the temp. cannot crawl upwards?

is a bigger nozzle a benefit?

 

[pm_dude 27]

what are the things to take care of?

speed, temperature? keep the material moving, so the temp. cannot crawl upwards?

is a bigger nozzle a benefit?

 

Probably all of the above.

I cannot print woodfill fine without clogging on my UM2 with 0.4mm nozzle if I print slower than 45 mm/s. Same goes with Bronzefill. I cannot get uniform print without going at 50mm/s.

I was able to print 0.1mm layers with woodfill fine at 100 mm/s even if its not recommended under 0.2mm.

At that speed temp must be a little higher. If you have a bigger nozzle it mean more material can come out.

 

[hreedijk 4]

I'm testing copperFill at the moment and what I can say so far:

The combination of speed and temperature for copperFill is not that different then any other filament.

The most important thing is to keep the material not too long in the nozzle, the material needs to flow, otherwise the heat will go up to the teflon isolator coupler and the copperFill will stick to it.

I've managed to print at speeds of 30mm/s up to 100mm/s with a 0.4mm nozzle.

The material prints very nice and has a beautiful surface finish.

 

[dirkels 0]

Would love to see some pictures of that beautiful surface finish ;-)

 

[mevander 0]

I'm also interested in conductivity

 

[hreedijk 4]

Would love to see some pictures of that beautiful surface finish :wink:

 

I hear the hint, below an official photo:

 

[hreedijk 4]

I'm also interested in conductivity

 

ColorFabb was guest speaker at the Ultimaker evening in August and someone asked them the same question when they made the announcement of copperFill, the answer was unfortunately 'no'.

 

[drayson 75]

Thanks for clarification!!

[hreedijk 4]

Thanks for clarification!!

 

Your welcome...

 

[Titus 170]

Yeah, I asked that. Sadly the answer was no :( But I'm guessing they have some R&D department working on that.

 

[beratchu 0]

How about Thermal conductivity?

Did or can someone measure that with copperFill and BronzeFill?

 

[hreedijk 4]

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/7524-colorfabb-copperfill/&do=findComment&comment=70888

 

[SandervG 1,521]

I hear the hint, below an official photo:

 

b-e-a-utifull!

I need to get me some of that copperfill!

 

[hreedijk 4]

It is indeed great material, a little tricky to print with, but if you follow the guidelines of ColorFabb it will come out just fine.

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

Here's my first print with copperfill:

 

Compared to bronzefill:

 

In my (limited) experience it takes a bit more elbow-grease to get copperfill to shine, but when it shines, it is more reflective than bronzefill. The copperfill print seems to be slightly softer than the bronzefill one.

Edit: Compared to the official photo above, the unpolished print looks a different for me. The color is - for a lack of a better description - a bit more belony (leverworst) color; more pink, less yellow.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

It looks really nice, i'm really impressed by the innovative filaments the guys from colorfabb come up too.

What printer did you use?

 

[hreedijk 4]

Unpolished the filament looks indeed different then the official photo, in real it's a bit darker.....

Nice print by the way.

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

The model (nicknamed "punthoofd") is my universal testbed model, designed to print fast. It is a spiralised print, and prints in 35-ish minutes on my UMO. I still have to get around to fixing the hole in the head (which is a fundamental issue with spiralising, not so much a printing problem).

 

[DidierKlein 729]

So no problemo with the Teflon isolator? I read that copperfill could bond with the Teflon (or on the UMO it's different than on the UM2?)

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

No teflon problems sofar, but I did take extra care not to leave the material in the heated hotend so heat can't creep up. It makes perfect sense that this could be a problem, because copper is more heat conductive than bronze (and certainly more conductive than pla).

 

[hreedijk 4]

You can print with CopperFill with an UMO and UM2.

The point is that the copper particles are transferring the heat of the nozzle upward the filament just like BronzeFill, only faster.

When you print too slow (beneath 50mm/s) the heat will crawl faster upwards then the filament throughput, when the filament gets warm at the height of the teflon isolator it will stick to it resulting in a clog.

To prevent the speed will go beneath 50mm/s, disable the 'minimum layer time (sec)' in Cura by setting the value at 1.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Yes it's definitely the key to succeed printing with copper fill (or bronze fill and finewood). If it stays heated too long it will clog the nozzle for sure.

And i also guess the it damages the Teflon a lot if it happens?