Filaments.ca “Easy PC”

Filament.ca’s new formulation Polycarbonate (PC) premium filament is an extremely strong impact and temperature resistant material. Unlike most PC filament, this one can be printed at settings similar to ABS, as low as 235°C while still maintaining all the great properties Polycarbonate is known for. Easy PC has great mechanical strength, can be bent and formed while cold without cracking or deform. Unlike Acrylic or Plexi-glass, Polycarbonate does not shatter or crack.

NinjaTek Cheetah (95A Flexible)

NinjaTek says that its Cheetah™ flexible filament is the fastest and easiest to print flexible filament on the market. The focus in development of this material was on optimizing the user experience. The result is a filament that is printable across all types of desktop 3D printers at ABS and PLA speeds, many times twice the speed of other flexible materials on the market. Cheetah filament possesses industry leading durability along with impact strength 84% greater than ABS. The abrasion resistance is also second only to NinjaTek’s Armadillo product, making Cheetah the perfect blend of speed, toughness and strength.

Polymaker Polysmooth

Polymaker is out to solve the issue of visible layers on FDM parts. Thay have developed a 2 step process (filament + post processing machine) to produce 3D printed parts without layers. Its Polysmooth filament is a form of PLA, that can be used with its Polysher device (purchased separately). After printing, just put the part in Polymaker’s Polysher machine and the company says your layers will disappear!

Atomic Filament Carbon Fiber Extreme PLA

Atomic Filament’s Carbon Fiber Extreme PLA prints with a deep black slightly textured surface & no transparency. The company says that its filament and parts are NOT brittle like some competitor CF products and is excellent for professional looking technical prints. This material is infused with USA made premium MILLED carbon fiber NOT powder or dust.

3DFuel Workday PLA (APLA)

3D-Fuel Workday PLA/APLA Filament is stronger and more heat resistant than Standard PLA and even stronger than ABS. Workday PLA/APLA is produced from high heat grade PLA, which was developed specifically for the manufacturing of 3D printer filament. High heat grade resin exhibits improved heat-resistance and has faster crystallization rates. When using 3D-Fuel filament made from this resin you can expect: Low odor, higher print detail/resolution, excellent first layer adhesion, improved adhesion between layers, reduced warping, curling, and failed prints.

Hatchbox PETG

Verbatim ABS

JustPLA PLA

Meltink ABS

Meltink PLA

3DXTech 3DXStat ESD-PETG

3DXSTAT™ ESD PETG is an advanced ESD-Safe compound designed for use in critical applications that require electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection and a high level of cleanliness. 3DXTech starts with premium PETG resin and then compounded according to a proprietary formulation of carbon additives and process / dispersion modifiers – giving you a filament with excellent printing characteristics and consistent ESD properties.

Filaments.ca Nylon 12 (PA-12)

Nylon 12 has a very low moisture absorption which makes it a better material for printing. This material is extremely tough with superior tensile strength, elongation at break & impact strength. It also shows superior chemical resistance, superior UV resistance and heat resistance to over 130°C.

Filaments.ca Carbon Fiber PLA

This blend of Carbon Fiber (15%) and PLA (85%) provides for easy printing yet stronger and lighter-weight than standard PLA.

Hatchbox ABS

Fusion3 has tested many different manufacturer formulations of ABS. We tested and certified Hatchbox ABS at the request of a customer who had an existing relationship with Hatchbox. Fusion3 will work with every customer with a similar request and, pending certification, provide optimized configuration files (aka profiles) so our customers can print any certified material ‘out-of-the-box’.

Various Filaments.ca Generic Materials

For our Canadian customers, we have certified a variety of generic materials from Filaments.ca. Here’s the Filaments.ca formulations that we have recently certified: PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG.

Fusion3 was founded to provide an affordable alternative to expensive industrial 3D printers.

25 years ago, 3D printers that work with plastic filament (also known as FDM or FFM), emerged on the scene. Understandably expensive to develop, the companies that developed these technologies marketed their 3D printers to large corporations and created the category of ‘industrial 3D printers’.

Today’s industrial 3D printer certainly provides great performance, good reliability and enclosed, and are safe for use in the workplace. Despite these benefits, 25 year later, most industrial 3D printers are still, EXPENSIVE TO PURCHASE, EXPENSIVE TO RUN and PROVIDE UNDERWHELMING SERVICE & SUPPORT.

Read more below to learn how the Fusion3 F400 industrial 3D printer is affordable, inexpensive to operate and provides best-in-class service and support.

High-Performance

You don’t sacrifice performance with Fusion3. The F400 industrial 3D printer has print quality and print speeds that rival and sometime exceed that of industrial 3D printers. You can now print high-quality objects at layer heights as low as .02mm and speeds up to 250mm/sec.

Fraction Of the Cost

To spur adoption by all size companies and educational institutions, Fusion3’s F400-S 3d printer is only $4,499 USD + Shipping compared to $25,000 to $70,000 for an expensive industrial 3D printer.

Widest Variety Of Materials

Unlike the expensive industrial 3D printer companies that require you to purchase high-priced filament from a limited selection of plastics, Fusion3 does not sell filament. Instead we test and certify a wide range of materials from many different manufacturers, ensuring variety, quality and low operating cost.

Safety & Comfort

Our fully enclosed system, just like industrial 3D printers, is quiet, ensures protection from hot surfaces and with our optional Carbon and HEPA air filters, reduces smells and potentially hazardous emissions when used in locations lacking adequate ventilation.

Professional Service & Support

With Fusion3, there are no expensive, annual service contracts. Every Fusion3 3D printer comes a 2 Year Warranty and FREE lifetime phone and email support. Our support team is available Monday through Friday during working hours (8am to 8pm, US East Coast) and provided by factory experts (the same people who assemble and test your 3D printer before it is shipped to you).

Longtime Fusion3 customer Mark Heller wrote us to let us know of a novel set of adapters that he’s created for his F400 3D printer.

We thought we’d take a moment to share these with our entire installed base. Mark writes:

When I got my Fusion3 F400-S it was positioned in such a way that I couldn’t exhaust directly to the back, I needed to divert the exhaust 90 degrees so I designed the right angle adapter.

Mark continues,

After a few months I needed to move my F400 to a different location and in that location, neither the normal rear exhaust or the right angle exhaust would work. So I designed the forward facing adapter.

Mark has been kind to share both his STL files as well as helpful instructions for both 3D printing the file, as well as installing. To download the files, CLICK HERE. The files will also be available in the Support: Manuals & Downloads section of the Fusion3 website

Mark Heller is the owner of Mark B Heller 3D (www.markheller3d.com) which provides 3D modeling, scanning and printing services based in Grayslake, IL

Polymaker PolyFlex

PolyFlex™ is a highly flexible yet easy to print 3D printing material and features good elasticity and a large strain-to- failure.

Matterhackers NylonX

Nylon X is reinforced nylon filament. By adding micro-carbon fibers to nylon, you get a tough filament capable of printing parts with stiffness, impact resistance, and high tensile strength.

ColorFabb nGen

nGen is a true all-round material suitable for most day to day 3D printing activities. At the core of its reliability is the special chemical make-up of the Eastman Amphora™ AM3300 3D polymer, which results in a good melt stability.With the unique combination of a low processing temperature and an elevated temperature resistance (85C), nGen can quickly print creations that are functional, durable, efficient, and attractive.

MakeShaper Carbon Fiber PLA

MakeShaper’s Carbon Fiber reinforced PLA (Polylactic Acid) filament for 3D printers allows you to make anything! Our Carbon Fiber reinforced PLA provides exceptional structural strength, excellent rigidity and minimized warpage.

3DXTech 3DMax ASA

3DXMAX® ASA (Acrylonitirle Styrene Acrylate) is a UV-resistant engineering-grade weatherable polymer. 3DXTech’s ASA has a low-gloss matte finish and exhibits lower warp vs. ABS – making it a perfect filament for technical prints.

3DXTech CarbonX CF-ABS

CarbonX™ CFR-ABS is a high-performance carbon fiber reinforced ABS filament ideal for anyone that desires a structrual component with high modulus, excellent surface quality, dimensional stability, light weight, and ease of printing. Made using 15% High-Modulus Carbon Fiber (not carbon powder or milled carbon fiber).

Atomic Filament Glow In The Dark PLA

Atomic Filament’s Glow In The Dark PLA is comparable to natural PLA in looks and is translucent! Made with one of the best glow in the dark compounds available for long and bright glow.

IC3D Nylon

IC3D filament is developed exclusively for 3D printers and manufactured in the USA. 100% satisfaction and a trouble-free experience are the core components of our culture.

Fusion3 bundles Simplify3D with our 3D printers as this slicer software is both easy to use and very powerful for advanced users.

With all the different ways to customize and configure Simplify3D, it is also easy to accidentally cause problems that will negatively impact your print quality.

Here are tips from Fusion3’s support team to avoid common pitfalls:

Optimal Layer Heights:

Your layer height should be between 25% and 75% of your nozzle diameter. So for example, a 0.4mm nozzle can easily print layer heights from 0.05-0.30mm. Layer heights larger than this will result in very weak layer-to-layer bonding. Layer heights smaller than can cause inconsistent results, unless you have your part geometries and print settings perfectly optimized for the part.

Limitations of Lower Layer Heights:

As you use smaller layer heights, you will find that you need to use more infill. For example, don’t try to mix 0.1MM layer height and 10% infill. You may also find that certain geometry just won’t work at 0.1MM or lower LH, but works fine above 0.1MM.

Determining the Right Infill Percentage:

Ensure that your infill settings are between 10% and 90%. Too little infill will result in the roof of your part not having enough support to print correctly. Using 100% infill can result in the part being “overfilled” with the material. This extra material has to go somewhere and the excess will build up until it collides with the print head and causes the print to fail.

Pre-configured Print Quality Settings:

Most of the profiles that Fusion3 creates for the different certified materials have quality presets built in for different layer heights. You might be tempted to run everything on the “fine” setting, but unless your application specifically requires this, you’ll find that the standard preset will deliver a part that looks nearly as nice, takes half the time, and has a higher probability of successfully printing.

Modifying Fusion3’s Material Profiles:

Our profiles are set up with a known-to-work combination of layer height, temperature, speed, etc. Feel free to experiment with changing settings! But if you encounter odd behavior or unsatisfactory results, the first thing to try is to revert back to the stock settings and try again.

Back to 3D Printing Tips

IMPACT OF USING POOR QUALITY 3D PRINTING FILAMENT

In our many years of 3D printing industry industry experience, we’ve found that poor quality 3D printing filament can cause a multitude of issues.

What types of quality issues arise and impacts they cause?

1. Poorly sealed packaging.
   Plastics will absorb humidity from the air and likely a package will sit for a month or more before it even arrives to you. A poorly sealed package will leave your filament with too much humidity which can lead to stringing and other print defects.
2. Poor quality base plastics or foreign materials within.
   Some manufacturers will cut corners with shoddy base materials or allow foreign materials ranging from dirt to metal objects to mix with the plastic. This will also impact your print quality and could damage your 3D printer either directly or lead to print jams.
3. Inconsistent Extrusion.
   It is important that the extrusion width of the material is consistent throughout the entire roll and does not exceed certain parameters. Too wide and can cause a jam. Too much variability and it will be impossible for a performance 3D printer, like Fusion3’s, to operate at speed and precision, if it cannot have a consistent amount of material fed into the extruder during a print.

In all, these issues can cause print head jams, part warping, and print quality issues.

Poor quality filament has a significant negative impact on the customer’s experience with our 3D printers and increased costs to provide customer support.