05 Feb How to create colored plastic filament with Felfil Evo

Making filaments for 3D printing with Felfil Evo is quite simple: as we described in our guide, after having carried out the preliminary operations and having identified the correct settings, the extrusion proceeds autonomously (even if it is always recommended to monitor it).

In any case, starting from virgin pellets, and therefore almost always colorless, or from recycled material (often of different colors) one of the major problems when producing filaments is to obtain a uniform color; in fact, this often depends on the type of screw used.

In the case of Felfil Evo it is very easy to create a homogeneous color filament. In fact, thanks to the special shape of the screw, equipped with a “nail” at the end, the material is able to mix uniformly inside the extruder and the filament is homogeneous and almost by no means pulsed already after the first extrusion.

To obtain a result of this type it is necessary to add to the material that you are extruding a percentage equal to 2% of its weight of colored pigment, commonly called masterbatch (it is a type of pellet characterized by a relatively high concentration of additives, such as for example the dyes). These pigments will mix with the polymer in extrusion and make your colored filament: you can follow the procedure shown in the video we made.

The same principle applies if we want to experiment with composite materials, as we did when we made the filament using coffee powder; in this case, however, the percentage of additive must be calibrated according to the type of material.