ColorFabb Light Weight LW PLA 2.85 mm Filament

LW-PLA is the first filament of its kind: a 3D printing filament using active foaming technology to achieve lightweight, low-density printed parts. At around 230C LW-PLA starts foaming and it increases its volume by nearly 3 times. By decreasing the material flow by 60% users can achieve lightweight parts. One can also use the expanding properties to reduce print time by printing big layer heights or extra thick materials. Fine tuning and optimization is required to make the most of your LW-PLA use.

LW-PLA is your material of choice where weight matters, like printing RC planes, drones and for cosplay purposes.

At colorFabb material development never stops. We’re starting the 2019 with a fascinating new material, first of its kind in FFF 3D printing materials. check it out here https://colorfabb.com/how-to-print-with-lw-pla

We’re proud to announce, colorFabb LW-PLA. This filament uses an active foaming technology which is triggered by temperature. At it’s peak the filament will expand nearly 3x it’s volume, meaning users can decrease flow by 65% to obtain lightweight parts, or use the expanding properties to speed up print time by using big layer heights or single extra thick perimeters.

colorFabb LW-PLA is available in multiple colors. The foaming also gives printed parts a rough matte surface finish, which makes parts look very appealing.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
This material is based on our unique PLA/PHA recipe which means that it will print very similar to our other PLA/PHA materials. We’re sure most will be able to dial in settings in no time, but we still thought a write-up on print settings is interesting to share. If you have great tips or slicer settings please share! support@colorfabb.com

Assuming nozzle size and layerheight are fixed, our main input variables are Temperature, speed and flow to determine the amount of expansion. Assuming nozzle size and layerheight are fixed, our main input variables are Temperature, speed and flow to determine the amount of expansion.

HOW TO DETERMINE THE EXPANSION OF THE FILAMENT
If you want to print lightweight parts which are dimensionally accurate, it’s important to first determine the possible expansion of the material. This can be done by printing single perimeter test cubes (Download here: Test Cube) without top and bottom layers. We use the following 4 step process to determine the maximum expansion at a certain speed, temperature and flow.

PRINT CUBES (Download here: Test Cube) AT A SET SPEED IN TEMPERATURES VARYING FROM 200°C UP TO 280°C
MEASURE PERIMETER THICKNESS OF EACH CUBE, NOTE TEMPERATURE WITH HIGHEST EXPANSION.
PRINT CUBES WITH DECREASING STEPS OF FLOW, USING TEMPERATURE FOUND IN STEP 2.
FIND THE CUBE AT WHICH PERIMETER THICKNESS EQUALS NOZZLE SIZE.