ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Discussion of brand name filaments (ColorFabb Brand, NinjaFlex, Taulman, etc.)
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Neotko
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Neotko »

I sujest you go medieval. Get a cola can, cut it in half. Hammer it flat. And use the can to make a hotend cover so the air never touches the hotend. Then, just blow air with any shroud ;)
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

I just got the email that my order shipped this morning!
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Anders Olsson »

LePaul wrote:Also, I am hoping this filament plays nice with 0.40 I know I read someplace that 0.50 or higher was better
I haven't had any issues with commercially available filled filaments and 0.4 mm nozzle, except woodfill, which I fail to make print reliably for some reason.
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Meduza »

XT-CF20 can look really nice with some sanding and light burnishing of the surface with a smooth metal tool, almost like it was injection molded!
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

Nice result

Well my hardened nozzle and spool of XT-CF20 filament arrived last night.

I need to print Anders wrench for safely removing and attaching the new nozzle.

I have also found that for removing the filament currently in place (ColorFabb Dutch Orange PLA/PHA), I heat the print head to 200, then down to 90. With a good tug I get everything out and a nice Atomic Pull too.

I will admit, I have some apprehension about this filament since there's been discussions that the UMO printhead may not last long at the temperatures needed for this filament (240-260C). Will the peek survive this for long? Or is this filament better suited on something else?

The basement is cool during the winter and I am wondering if the sides of the printer should be sealed up for better results?
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Neotko »

I did set a 25x25 fan focus on the ptfe coupler/peek to avoid surprises but even so after half a colorfabb xt spool at 255ish the lower part of the peek/barrel started to deform. I'm more worried about that stuff melting (releasing toxic fumes) than it being destroyed since I got a bag of china peeks for emergencies.
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by chopmeister »

I printed some on a .4 nozzle and the prints were spectacular. Had no issues whatsoever, the only deal was to print really slow. Like 30-40 mm/s. And that's it. Didn't do anything special really.
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Amedee »

LePaul wrote:The basement is cool during the winter and I am wondering if the sides of the printer should be sealed up for better results?
I printed XT (plain, not CF) recently, and I just taped A3 sheets of paper on the sides (and also in the front while it was printing. It is very basic and a sheet of paper does not provide great isolation, but it prevents cold air to get into the printer and really makes a difference. It is not like a real greenhouse, but good enough when you print XT once a year ;)
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

Okay, I would just hate to take apart that print head if the PEEK and teflon coupler got got cooked and deformed.

30 mm/sec sounds good. How hot did you print? I have the heated bed so that will help for sure

Nicolinux had a tough time with this material but also had a stainless steel nozzle. (https://ultimaker.com/en/community/1715 ... t-cf20-um2)

Did you mess with the flow settings?

Standard fan settings? (off first later, on for the rest)
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Amedee »

I am definitely not the XT specialist, but I print XT at 245°C (250°C for the first layer)

I have printed a couple XT spools and maybe half a spool of XT-CF -- so far no issue with PEEK, but I don't print very hot.

For plain XT you need to keep enough flow otherwise it seems it degrades if it stays too long in the hotend and you get poor layer adhesion

Little or no fan.
Last edited by Amedee on February 18th, 2016, 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Neotko »

Finally found the photos of the old peek. I killed it some months ago and now I'm just using a china peek on the main machine. The deformation did stop at 250C and never got any worse (I killed it by boiling it on oil... I know bad bad idea).

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Image
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

Amedee wrote:I am definitely not the XT specialist, but I print XT at 245°C (250°C for the first layer)

I have printed a couple XT spools and maybe half a spool of XT-CF -- so far no issue with PEEK, but I don't print very hot.

For plain XT you need to keep enough flow otherwise it seems it degrades if it stays too long in the hotend and you get poor layer adhesion

Little or no fan.
Thanks for that info.

What about fans? Leave at default? (Off to start, on after first layer?)

Any changes to flow?

Just trying to think of settings to adjust in Cura :)
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by Amedee »

LePaul wrote: What about fans? Leave at default? (Off to start, on after first layer?)
Amedee wrote: Little or no fan.
;)


LePaul wrote: Any changes to flow?
I don't have reliable notes from my last CF print...

For plain XT, may last print was 0.15 layers, 50mm/s with 40mm/s for outer shell and result was very good.
I would probably start with something similar for CF but that might be too fast and maybe play with infill overlap as the bonding of the infill edges is sometimes problematic.

Again don't rely too much on me for XT CF -- There are people on the forum knowing much more than I do on this topic ;)

(I kind of like XT-CF, but the main reason I don't print much with it is that I am too lazy to swap the nozzle, last time the block was not tied enough and it was a complete mess to clean...)
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

Neotko wrote:Lepaul start printing the anders olsson nozzle torque wrench, its really nice to not overdo the nozzles. And yes, any e3d m6 size kind of nozzle fits perfect on umo.

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/nozzle-torque-wrench

The only m6 that doesn't work are the m6 for makerbot (they are shorter and they can fit but messing the hot area too close to the peek..)
Printing that now so i have it handy!
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Re: ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber Filament

Post by LePaul »

I heard back from ColorFabb since their website was a bit vague on settings.



I have printed our XT-CF20 bike on an Ultimaker original with the heated bed upgrade and I'm available to answer your questions!

First, you are totally right with the "Februrai" and the outdated note on our website at all. I am going to take care of it and fix that soon.

When we have developed XT-CF20, I've been testing quite a bit with different printers and the Ultimaker Original with heated bed upgrade performed outstanding good. I was using a 0.8mm brass nozzle, which I really recommend for XT-CF20, mainly for parts that need to be strong. There was no stainless steel nozzle at this time, still I was able to print all the parts of the bike with only one nozzle. After 3 spools of XT-CF20 I had to slice them as a 0.9 nozzle, because it was pretty worn out by then. Stainless steel nozzles have typically a higher thermal resistance, which might result in worse printing results and that you might need a bit more temperature.

We also found, that XT-CF20 needs a bit less flow on some printers. You need to decrease the flow when you see too much plastic being extrude and forming blobs on the product's surface and small plastic accumulations around the nozzle. Best is to adjust that during the print, when you face this issue.

I have printed the parts with 255C at the nozzle and 80C bed temperature which you can use as a starting point. We also applied 3C LAC as adhesive on the glass plate.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Pictures and your setting always help a lot


Second email


About the fan:
If you have big parts with little overhangs that should be strong --> Fan off
If you have small or filigrane parts with lot of details that should come out nice --> Fan 100%
For something in between go for 50% fan speed.
If your hot end temperature drops when the fan is turned on, lower the fan speed, until the nozzle gets back the temperature you want to have it.
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