Empire Strikes Black HTPLA with Silver Glitter

Metallic Black PLA Filament

$5.00 USD

HTPM170-ESB

Shout out to Fillamentum for creating the popular Vertigo Grey. Also at the top of their craft, we appreciate other folks who make good stuff. After all, a little healthy competition with some banter and encouragement makes for good fun! Inspired by both popular filament and film culture, we present to you Empire Strikes Black HTPLA , a premium metallic black PLA filament with silver glitter.

We hope you find similar inspiration in this color as it connects to your likes and interests. We took special care to attain maximum sparkle while maintaining the rich, black color and avoiding any shift towards grey. It takes a delicate balance of saturation, concentration, and material selection to reach such greatness. We hope you appreciate and enjoy the quality and craft that makes Proto-pasta stand out among filament manufacturers.

More product details

Technical Data Sheets

Technical data sheets available for download here

Safety Data Sheets

Safety data sheets available for download here.

Shipping

We provide a number of domestic shipping options within the United States via UPS, including free shipping on orders of $50 or more. We also provide international shipping via DHL Express.

Returns

At ProtoPlant's discretion, returns and replacements will be accepted within 90 days of purchase.  Please check the material label before opening your product.  Only sealed product can be returned. Shipping of items for exchange or refund is paid by the customer. More information about returns and replacements can be found in our terms and conditions



This ain't no stinkin' grey. Strikin' back with Metallic Black!

Created from our highest quality, translucent HTPLA v2, this stuff is black and sparkly!

Print with the ease of standard PLA with standard hardware and temperatures, but make fun, mesmerizing prints that stand out. Celebrate good times by printing toys, treasures, and keepsakes. If you want to make a print more fun, just add some metallic pop! Our metallic finish contains no actual metal and has little risk of clogging or wearing your nozzle, and it won't make a glitter mess, but beware the printing is sure to be addictive! Metallic particles are relatively small but have some orientation effects, giving top/bottom surfaces more shine than sidewall, so have some fun playing with orientation to see how the result changes! We recommend 0.2 mm layers for the best result.

Heat Treating

Like our other HTPLAs, Metallic HTPLA can be "Heat Treated" to increase crystallinity for "Higher Temperature" resistance compared to amorphous PLA, ABS, and co-polyesters like PETG! Glittler Flake HTPLA prints translucence, but turns opaque when heat treated (or crystallized). With a more crystalline structure, heat treated HTPLA parts can hold form to near melting, though temperatures where the material is practically useful vary greatly depending on geometry and load conditions! For this improved the performance, your prints should be baked in an oven until you see a change from translucent to opaque with reduced gloss. This visual change indicating the improved performance! We've seen the change take place in 5-10 minutes on thin walled parts but can take an hour or more. We've had good luck in a quality, at home convection oven at 110C (225F). Parts will get very "floppy" before becoming more firm, so please leave supports on your parts or support them and bake them on a flat, non-radiating surface (like glass, ceramic, or composite).

For this improved performance, your prints should be baked in an oven until you see a change from translucent pink to opaque pink with reduced gloss. This visual change indicates the improved performance! We've seen the change take place in 5-10 minutes on thin walled parts but can take an hour or more. We've had good luck in a quality, at home convection oven at 110C (225F). Parts will get very "floppy" before becoming more firm, so please leave supports on your parts or support them and bake them on a flat, non-radiating surface (like glass, ceramic, or composite).

Printing

In our experience, good results were achieved using standard PLA parameters ranging from 195-225C nozzle with standard build surface preparation (blue tape, glue stick, or BuildTak). No heated bed required but up to 60C is okay. Beware, if the bed temperature is too high, your part base could actually heat treat while printing, increasing warping and decreasing adhesion. Some shrinkage will occur in the heat treating process, so dimension critical parts may need to be scaled appropriately (as much as 2.5% in our experience).

  • No abrasive fillers so expect normal wear with standard nozzles.
  • Available in 1.75 & 2.85 (3) mm diameter on a 500g diameter recyclable cardboard spool
  • Usable on most PLA-compatible printers, such as Lulzbot, Makerbot, FlashForge, Dremel, Ultimaker, Printrbot, and more!


Customer Reviews
4.6 Based on 27 Reviews
5 ★
81% 
22
4 ★
11% 
3
3 ★
0% 
0
2 ★
4% 
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1 ★
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Customer Photos
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Filter Reviews:
A Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant Customer
KW
12/21/2024
Ken W.
United States United States

Prints better than any other filament I've used

Prints perfectly

S
08/07/2024
Steven
United States United States
I recommend this product

Looks just like the galaxy

Got this for a specific project for a friend. He's a really good chess player and I wanted to make him the wormhole chessboard, so I used Joel's Highfive Blue to make one set of the chess pieces. The other was Tom's Tangerine Orange. The white and black board pieces are Empire Strikes Black and Unicorn Tears.

Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant Empire Strikes Black HTPLA with Silver Glitter Review
08/08/2024

Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant

Lord Vader would be proud ;-)

A Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant Customer
MB
05/02/2024
Mishelle B.
United States United States

Empire Strikes me as fantastic!

Excellent filament and I absolutely love the name and color! Prints like a dream.

A Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant Customer
AF
04/10/2024
Aaron F.
United States United States
I recommend this product

Stunningly Gorgeous

This filament is my favorite filament of all time. I know that's a huge claim, but it's true. I have been enamored with it ever since I started printing with it. Every single print is just stunning to look at and I have truly found myself sitting there staring at the prints because of the effect of the glitter. It was interesting because the filament itself is slightly rough, so there is this innate roughness to the prints. 10/10 will buy again.

05/24/2024

Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant

Haha, I've done the same thing! It reminds me of stargazing out in the wilderness. Glad to hear you enjoy it! - Eric from Protoplant

AW
01/20/2023
Ann W.
United States United States
I recommend this product

Black with a Sparkle

Love this color for extra special sparkle to my black prints.

03/06/2023

Protopasta, Filament by Protoplant

Thanks for making your prints extra special with Protopasta!

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