Archive for year: 2017
Colibri Effect Contest’s winners and other stories
Time’s up!
Fairs are all gone (for the moment), Easter Egg has expired, the Printing Head PRO awaiting time is matter of days, Colibri Effect Contest is over. It’s definitely time to sum everything up!
1. Fairs and Shows
We have been roaming a bit around Italy and Europe: did you have the chance to meet us? We introduced our Printing Head PRO and Hydra. Have you read about them already? Have a first glimpse on our website!
People during the shows have always welcomed us and found our projects great. Some of you also joined us and discovered what we are working on, as well as the mentioned new products.
In the upcoming months we’ll try to be at other fairs: if we’re missing an important date let us know and if it is not 2017 maybe 2018 we’ll see us partecipating.
2. Printing Head PRO availability
Introduced a while ago, now it’s at the final tests stage. In a few days it will be added on the store: a newsletter will follow soon after. We’re proud of the results, as quality of the prints is higher than ever and range of filaments is widening up constantly.
3. Colibri Effect Contest is over
After a beta testing period where many of our friends and users have been helping us troubleshooting, the very first FABtotum Colibri 1.0 version is ready to be used by everyone. Many features have been added, checked, tested.
This means the contest we lauched on the same time has come to an end, we have the five winners’ names! Congratulations to:
@christopherwit
@florentmaye
@homahe
@AndrewKillian
@dr4Ke
We really want to thank them as they really helped the Dev Team. A constant flow of reports, feedbacks and advices have overwhelmed them: that’s the purpose of having an Open Source project. This is a benefit both for you and us: we can have a better result, you have a better product. Easy.
The winners will be contacted via email within 8th of May in order to organize the withdrawal of the prize.
Again, thanks for being such a great community: a particular mention goes to the member of the Forums as well. Keep up the good work! It is a true inspiration for us to see that many “old fellows” are still with us and use their FABtotums for completely different projects. Their help to others, also, is a helping hand for Support Team.
Summing up, this period has seen us busy: all the Team members had a full agenda. We still have a lot to tell though. We’ll be back in May with our Community Highlights (if you want to be featured write us), we’ll get you precise dates for the release of the Printing Head PRO and more is just yet to come. Meanwhile, stay tuned.
Cheers and congrats to the Colibri Effect Contest winners!
FABteam
FABtotum’s Printing Head PRO: a new professional approach
FABTOTUM is yet ready to take its FABtotum Personal Fabricator to professionals with its upcoming hi-performance Printing Head PRO.
The FABtotum goes PRO
With the capability of switching heads, the FABtotum Personal Fabricator is an evolved 3D printer that can 3D print, mill, engrave, laser cut and more.
The Printing Head PRO is the first head module of the FABtotum PRO line: a full new set of Heads will be announced during the 2017 and 3D printing is the first function to take advantage of this (r)evolution.
What’s new with that? What’s the difference with the previous Printing Head V2? There’s more than one.
The new concept, of course, will still benefit of the main idea of the project: retrocompatible with all the FABtotum models, both the first Personal Fabricator and the CORE edition, the Printing Head PRO brings top tier 3D printing to the FABtotum Personal Fabricator.
Directly thought to be the solution
The Printing Head PRO is a direct-drive system.
Thanks to its fast and precise filament control, objects are sharper and more detailed than ever, even with complex structures that require loads of retractions.
Oozing, Stringing and other filament related issues are a thing of the past.
PRO stands for professional
Precise, long lasting, reliable: all these qualities describe the Head as much as the final objects. The Printing Head PRO is the definitive solution for all 3D printing manufacturing needs on the FABtotum Personal Fabricator platform. It aims to serve a businness when a pre-production phase is required or prototyping is one of the most important steps before the final product is designed.
The Printing Head PRO can support continuos production batches and effectively run for days at a time. The Printing Head PRO is also a big step forward the expanding market of materials. Flexible filaments, special and exotic mixtures are all easy to be printed thanks to the Direct-drive system and to a renewed cooling solution.
A closer look to the Head
Unlike other printers, the FABtotum can take advantage of its unique hi-torque gantry, originally thought to sustain Milling Head’s subtractive motor. Speeds are not compromised, quality is higher.
Based on the FABtotum Print Head V2 Nozzle design, the Printing Head PRO features exchangeable nozzles, serviceable hotend, a filament fast-release lever and a full metal hot end.
A dedicated power circuit grants low heating / cooling times: the circuit will work both during the pre-print phase and during the final task.
Cooling is granted by a triple fan system that ensures manufacturability even in the hardest spots on big and small objects with few or lots of separated parts.
Bridges, overhangs, holes, steep angles: everything is doable with a Printing Head PRO.
The essential solution
Thanks to a new active retention mechanism, the Printing Head PRO will be very permissive of filament density and physical proprieties. But the biggest advantage of the Printing Head Pro is its efficiency for long tasks and pre-production runs: batch printing, serial production of prototypes are now easy achievements for every businness.
A quick overview of the specifications:
- Autonomous Direct Drive System;
- Filament quick release lever;
- Stainless steel protection shield;
- Exchangeable brass nozzle (one is 0.4, optional 0.6 mm, more coming);
- Thermistor, heating cartridge for cleaning and servicing;
- Extruder is made from a Full metal Body with 6mm PTFE Liner;
- Inox steel melting chamber, with heatbreak to stop thermal flow to the head;
- Aluminium heat sink to cooldown the body and PTFE liner;
- Max temp: 240°-250°;
- Materials: PLA, PETG, ABS, NYLON (to be tested HIPS, PC).