My main focus in this article will be based on the PLA blends they have on offer. While I’m sure I will be revisiting the other materials at a later stage, their PLA is the one I have the most experience with.

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Fillamentum PLA Extrafill

PLA Extrafill is Fillamentum’s trademark blend of PLA and owing to its name, not all is what it seems with most of their 36 colour range.
PLA Crystal Clear – as its name suggests is a clear or transparent/translucent filament. At the moment Fillamentum offers 2 colours: Crystal and Iceland Blue.

Moving away from the colours for a moment, Fillamentum states on its Technical Sheets that all its PLA Extrafill products are rated food contact safe, except Traffic Black. Fillamentum delivers its filaments in a branded cardboard box and seals them away in a resealable foil ziplock bag. This serves multiple purposes: to keep the filament free from contamination from outside sources, to protect against moisture and also to protect it from UV damage.
Let’s first take a look at what’s on offer in term of solid colours. Fillamentum has a wide range from Traffic White to Traffic Black and covering the full spectrum in between. It doesn’t stop there, however, and also offers a whole host of other amazing colours in Pearlescent and Glitter Filled wonders to print your parts, toys or prototypes with.

Fillamentum Traffic Black

Traffic Black (RAL 9017/Pantone P426) will be our first to look at and as they say in the fashion world everything goes well with black.
Out of the box Traffic Black is of the same high standard I’ve come to expect from Fillamentum. Spooled tightly around a transparent spool giving you a clear view of the filament from any angle, letting you see how much you have left on a roll without so much guesswork.
The filament itself is high quality, packed with colour or, in this case, lack of colour being a black filament. No obvious signs of colour inconsistency and being black these would stand out like a proverbial sore thumb.

On the first inspection, there was no contamination of the spool either and no signs of anything within the filament itself. Cheaper brands have been found to contain all manner of artefacts, such as strange fibres, bearings, other colour contamination.

Fillamentum boasts tolerances of +\- 0.05mm and after cutting off 2m off a fresh roll and running it through my callipers I saw no deviation higher than a 0.05mm. As I expected Traffic Black performs like the other filaments I have used from Fillamentum. It extrudes smoothly with little to no clogging once you have your settings in the correct range and you aren’t running crazy retraction settings.
Next up let’s look at some of the more exciting variations on offer in the PLA Extrafill range. Although the naming conventions are different, the concept is much the same across many of the filament manufactures and Fillamentum follows suit. Two main offerings being a GlitterFill and a Pearlescent variant.

Fillamentum Vertigo Grey

The first of these we will look at, and the most widely known and sought after filament in the 3D printing community at the moment, is the beautiful Vertigo Grey. Now I know you might be thinking “oh grey, that’s not very exciting, grey is such a boring colour”. You would be right in thinking that this was just an ordinary grey. Vertigo Grey is a Glitter Fill filament, it has a base colour of a deep slate grey and an added pop of silver glitter. Not only does it print very well, it also looks stunning with every print.

It seems to many that Fillamentum has hit the perfect ratio of coloured PLA pellets and glitter to achieve only what can be described as one of the most appealing filaments to hit the market in the past year. Personally, I have printed both mechanical and artistic prints and either look incredible. Mechanical parts look sleek and sexy and artistic prints come out looking clean but still grab your attention.

I think it is partly because of the colour combinations chosen, but Vertigo Grey seems to have an almost magical quality about it that distracts the eye just enough to blur layer lines while not being so drastic that you lose sight of the shape as a whole. It’s dark enough for the shadows to sit in the background but light enough for the more pronounced features to pop. If you get a chance to try it out, it is at the top of my recommended list for sure, both for its ease of use and its colour.

Fillamentum Noble Blue

Next up we can delve into another favourite. For some reason, Royal Blue has become one of the most widely used colours in the 3D printing community. Possibly it is due to it being adopted by one of its most popular and well-loved YouTubers. The ever charismatic Joel Telling from the YouTube Channel 3D Printing Nerd.
Fillamentum has taken its knowledge of what works to put its own spin on Royal Blue with Noble Blue.
This filament falls into the Pearlescent category packed with both bags of true blue colour and a healthy amount of pearl powder give Noble Blue a unique look. It shimmers in the lowest of lights and glistens in sunlight or under a spotlight.
Again Fillamentum’s unique blend of PLA in true fashion prints flawlessly, even at lower temperatures and layer heights. It’s fair to say that Noble Blue from Fillamentum is the best Royal Blue I have had the pleasure of printing with as of yet.

Fillamentum 3D Printer Filament Print Quality

Laying down smooth layers with great adhesion either testing on the Trinus 3D printer with its unusual textured bed, on glass coated bed with WolfBite Nano 3D printer and straight onto the Kapton of the CraftBot. The colour is packed in and although gloss, opacity is another high scoring feature for Fillamentum as it is almost 100% opaque.

PLA Extrafill 3D Printing Temperature

Fillamentum PLA Extrafill prints at anywhere between 190C-210C (374F-410F) depending on your setup and Traffic Black is no different.
RenRen3D Delta likes to print it at 210C (410F) as it has a rather long Bowden tube and generally prints things on the hot side.
Kodama Trinus will print anywhere between 195-210C (383F-410F) with its Direct Drive but I find I get better quality prints at 200C (392F).
CraftUnique CraftBot2 will print anywhere in the recommended temperature happily all day long and never make a fuss. Stringing issues creep in at above 205C (401F) so I prefer keeping it at around 195C (383F).

The filament itself is neither too hard or too soft to be fed through a Bowden setup without skipping or chewing through the filament like I’ve experienced with cheaper no-name brands and also some higher priced brands, too. Altogether this makes Fillamentum an easy and affordable filament to use as an everyday printing option.

Prices in the U.K. from Spannerhands come in at a very reasonable £26 for a single spool including Next Day shipping within the U.K. They come in 1kg spools but only 750g of filament and they don’t try to hide it, clearly displaying both the filament weight and the spool weight in the product description.

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Read more about Fillamentum products and brand on their website.

Lists & Tables: 3D Printing Filament

It is important to use the right 3D printer filament material for the right job. Here you can find the list of materials available together with detailed reviews and picture galleries for the most used materials in desktop 3D printing. PLA, ABS, Wood, PETG, FLEX, …

Read more: Fillamentum Timberfill Review

While working on my never-ending scanned tree trunk project, I approached Fillamentum and asked if they could send me their Timberfill filament. It was nice of them to send me a box of 4 spools in different colors. On this website, we have already featured wood composite filament in a few guides. Read more …

The post Fillamentum PLA Extrafill Filament Review appeared first on 杨振宁近况 – 3D Printing, Scanning, Design Guides & Forums.

Disclaimer: I would like to say that I have no affiliation with Kodama in any business sense and although they sent me the Kodama Trinus free of charge for the purpose of this review I will be completely honest with how I feel about this 3D printer. Michael was kind enough to give me this opportunity and I will do everything in my power to give it the best I can.

The purpose of this review is to inform you, the readers/viewers, of this product so you can make your own decision on whether it will fit into both your budget and your needs as a possible printer.

Kodama Trinus Specifications

Printer Type – FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling)
Build Materials – Aluminium and Steel Machined Modules
Print Bed – 120x120x125mm Grid Machined Plastic
Print Speeds – Up to 70mm/s
Nozzle Size – 0.4mm (other sizes available)
Filament Size – 1.75mm
Layer Height – 0.05mm – 0.5mm

First off, you may think that the Trinus isn’t the largest printer you will find up for the offer. Don’t be fooled and do not underestimate this little machine because what it lacks in size it makes up for in build quality and its ability to just print and print very well. The 3D printer kit I received from Kodama was the standard base unit with no extras.

For a comprehensive comparison with other FDM 3D printers please refer to the detailed budget 3D printers guide.

Kodama Trinus – Build Quality

As you can see from the picture above the Trinus is designed in a modular fashion. Each axis has its own module and apart from the Z-Axis that has two all have a unique colour assigned to make the assembly a breeze and effortless.

The board also has colour coded ports again making it easy and intuitive besides making a breeze to find a particular axis if you ever need to problem solve.
Let us look at these modules in more detail so you can see what you are getting when you order this kit. Each axis slider module consists of a machined body with 2 stainless steel smooth rods and an 8mm lead screw.

They all come pre-assembled with a Nema 17 stepper motor and a machined mounting carriage that rides on what I believe to be LM8UU bearings.
The lead screw is supported by a machined end cap that houses the guide bearing that seems to fit perfectly to the lead screw.
I say “seems” to fit because I have heard talk of some people having issues with the bearings coming loose although I haven’t had any issue personally.
As a reviewer, it is my job to provide you as much information as I have been able to find out about this printer.

Now following on from this look at the axis modules I can tell you that each of the 4 modules I received was as perfect as you could ask for. The powder coated/ anodized surface finish was flat and I saw no blemishes in the colouring.
Quality and rigidity seems to be the main goal with the Trinus with less focus on flashy features and more focus on producing a small scale machine that is built like a tank.
Fully assembled the Kodama Trinus weighs around 40kg owing to the fact that not only are the axis modules solid machined they sit on a very solid 4mm plate of powder coated steel. From the base to the board the Trinus is built to last.

Kodama Trinus – Setup and First Print

So after a pretty painless build process that you can find on my YouTube channel. I came to the setup and first print.

https://youtu.be/aHGrF8O-HIA

Reading and re-reading the Quick Start guide I was a bit skeptical about the instructions a really simple 3 step process.
I’ve built 3 printers at this point and none of them has been this simple something was telling me in the back of my mind that this sounded too good to be true. Oh, how wrong I was. I followed the instructions.
Plugged in – Check.
Lights Working – Check.
Load Filament – Check.
Insert SD Card – Check.
The double beeps sounded and the red indicator light to tell me the extruder was heating up started flashing. NO WAY!
After a few minutes, it went through the homing sequence and extruded a small amount of filament to purge the nozzle that I quickly had to grab still half in shock that it was really that simple. Then away it went printing its very first print.
First impressions as it laid down the first layers of Royal Blue PLA goodness were very good. The layers looked even and consistent, it was at that point I noticed something strange.
Strange in a good way if any of you are reading this and familiar with FDM printing you will know that most slicers print a raft that normally follows the general shape of the model being printed but this was different.

Kodama uses a slicing software called PangoWin and the software uses a hexagonal raft system that looks cool as hell. It builds hexagonal rafts that interlock with each other like honeycomb the same for the supports too. Hexagonal crystalline structures that barely touch the print surface and leave no residue or nasty gunk when you remove them.

Kodama Trinus – Print Quality

This was the result of that very first print and I should let this speak for itself but what kind of reviewer would I be if I did that. The file they had chosen to show off what the Trinus could do was a cute little Bulbasaur and I have to say I am very very happy with the results. As far as first prints go you couldn’t ask for more.

No 透明时装秀, no bed levelling, no glue/hair spray nothing that you normally have to do to get a print to stick to the bed. If you also take into account that the stock Trinus has a static bed with no adjustment options. No fancy 12 point probe levelling system no heated bed just a very well designed simple print surface that screws directly to the Y-Axis carriage mount.
I’d say the Trinus stacks up really well to its competitors who are few and far between in the same price range and you definitely won’t find one for the same price with the same level of build quality. I have looked.

Ever since owning the Kodama Trinus it has been used to print almost non-stop with only a few minor errors that were no fault of the Trinus itself and more user errors. Mainly trying to print with specialised filaments without a heated bed that leads to the prints warping terribly and after realising my mistake a quick swap of the filament back to PLA and it was off and printing perfectly.
Now I don’t mean perfect in a sense that the Trinus prints perfect models without layer lines. I mean perfect in a sense that once you slice a file in Pango and send it to the Trinus it Beeps-Heats-Prints, every time without failure as of the time I wrote this review.

Now I know a great many people will be turned off because of the size of this printer but if like me you just love watching a well-designed machine just doing what it was designed to do then the Trinus might just be the perfect printer for you.
Let me explain my reasoning for recommending this 3D printer to anyone that asks me about it.

The kit I have is a standard bare bones kit. Meaning no luxury features. No heated bed, no auto-levelling, no adjustable bed, no LCD screen and do you know what?
It doesn’t need any of those things to be an absolutely outstanding machine. Yes, it can be enhanced by adding such features as a heated bed or the LCD screen but it doesn’t “need” them to make it a great 3D printer.

Kodama Trinus – Summary and Final Thoughts

To summarise the Kodama Trinus I’m going to ask a few questions I normally ask anyone who comes to me for advice on what printer to buy.
Q1) What is your budget?
Under £500 as a low-income family. Kodama has seen to this need as the Trinus base unit is £332.56 or $379.00 at the time of writing this review. Add-ons and extra modules can be bought such as a TFT screen, laser engraver, heated bed, levelling system, enclosure. They aren’t needed as I mentioned earlier as the base unit while limited to mostly PLA will handle prints without issue.

Q2) What do you want to use the 3D printer for?
To print my digital sculpts and toy prototypes. Is the Trinus suited to achieve this goal? Yes without question. It is my personal opinion that although limited by its size the Trinus build quality and print quality will compete with most printers on the market under the £/$1000 price bracket. In fact, it might even compete with a few £/$1000+ machines too.
Q3) How well do you know your way around basic everyday tools?
Personally, I am confident using hand tools you would find in most workshops. Again the Kodama Trinus 3D printer scores high on this aspect too. The modules fit together effortlessly and the module based design makes it an exceptionally easy build. I would go as far as to say that with a bit of guidance only due to the weight of the parts, The Trinus would be a perfect first kit for a child looking to get into 3D printing. (Testing with my children to follow at a later date)
Q4) Would I suggest the Kodama Trinus to others?
Yes, I would and I do on a regular basis. For me, it’s not about having the biggest machine on the block or the fastest or the most advanced. It’s about having a machine that will work when you want it to without a 10 step process of faffing and messing around. I would take a printer with no LCD that prints tethered or via SD card every time over a printer with a full-colour touch screen that only prints half the time.
Q5) Who would I recommend this printer for?
I would suggest this printer to anyone that is interested in the technology and want to get started in 3D printing. In fact, for the price and the quality of the Trinus, I would say that it would be a perfect addition to any workshop. Small enough to fit on or under a desk, even on a strong shelf. The print quality isn’t perfect but with some simple settings tweaks, it will print to a 0.3mm tolerance so even small mechanical prototypes can be achieved with little to no fussing. Add on an enclosure and heated bed and you upgrade it to be capable of printing a wider choice of materials.
Q6) What I didn’t like about the Trinus?
Honestly, nothing. It’s small perhaps but even that is a stretch.

STL Files:

Unicorn https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2316291
Smiling Owl Pot https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2125599
Kodama Tree https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2243196
Pinkie and Brain https://www.thingiverse.com/SparkyFace5
High Poly Bulbasaur https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1576163

Source Links:

Trinus UK – https://eu.kodama3d.com/collections/trinus/products/trinus-3d-printer
Trinus US – https://us.kodama3d.com/collections/trinus/products/trinus-3d-printer
Twitter – https://twitter.com/3DPrintedAspie
Thingiverse – https://www.thingiverse.com/3DPrintedAspie

Read More & Compare

Read more about desktop 3D printer builds and processes. Type, volume, FDM or Resin, all to consider. Or jump to the latest 3D printer reviews.

For a comparison with other FDM 3D printers please refer to the
detailed budget FDM 3D printers guide.

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