3D Print in A number of Colours with a Single Extruder with the Ingenious Stick Filament
The latest craze in the 3D printing hobbyist today is multicolor printing. However, this requires printers with multiple extruders and a lot of experience. More and more multiple extruder machines are coming out, but none of them are cheap.
An alternative to this is to use a single multi-colored filament. This is great if you want your objects to be rainbow colored all around or if you are happy with the pattern the filament maker created.
However, the new stick filament system should make it possible to obtain the desired colors for the desired parts. The idea is pretty simple and ingenious.
The stick filament, as the name suggests, consists of filament sticks that hook into each other. You buy several colored pencils and then arrange them in the order you want to get control of the final pattern.
“Stick Filament is the new filament system, simple, colorful and intelligent. Choose the material, choose the colors, just connect the sticks and then print your object,” says the company behind the product.
The stick filament is now available in the versions styrene and PLA with a diameter of 3 mm each. The company behind Stick Filament is experimenting with 1.75mm versions.
The new filament system should work with all common FDM / FFF printers (Fused Deposition Modeling / Fused Filament Fabrication).
The stick filament can be purchased in three versions. A mixed pack of impact-resistant polystyrene pens (HIPS), 15 sticks in each of the five colors, costs 12.90 euros.
The same mix with PLA sticks is sold for the same price. Finally, a Photolum pack of HIPS photoluminescent sticks sells for € 18.90 ($ 22.68). All of these products can be pre-ordered, but have not yet been dispatched. If the company has at least 100 pre-orders, the staff will be charged and the product will be shipped. There are currently 21 pre-orders.