Endless Exploration EX8 (May 2025) Bone or stone?
This month we explored Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). CaCO3 is interesting as both an aesthetic and functional additive. We've used it...
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Endless PLA #36 (April 2025) - Spring is here!
For April's contents, we took inspiration from the season. We thought more marble + smoothie colors (defined by their black...
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Endless Exploration EX7 (March 2025) A nylon alternative?
It's not nylon, but Polyketone (POK or PK) is marketed as a nylon alternative. Now there are many grades of...
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Endless PLA #35 (February 2025) - Iceland Inspires!
Have you been to Iceland? If not, I highly recommend visiting! If so, go again!!! ;-) Last August, I visited...
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Endless Exploration EX6 (January 2025) Anodized Aluminum?
No, we didn't make aluminum filament, but anodized aluminum was our inspiration to explore adding color to Stainless Steel PLA for January's...
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Endless PLA #34 (December 2024) - A time for celebration!
Shut out everything that's going on in the world. Close your eyes and think about your favorite holiday memories. What...
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Endless Exploration EX5 (November 2024) Dissipative Filaments for ESD Applications
Dec 2024 update: Static Dissipative (ESD) PLA, CF-PLA, and PETG now available. The title is not so witty, so let's get...
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Endless PLA #33 (October 2024) - More change is good :-)
Fall is all about color change, and gold pearl gives a fall vibe, so I added it to green-to-yellow thermochromic for Chlorophylled (below left) and...
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Anneal HTPLA-CF for a Truly Durable Fiddle
PLA is often maligned for its poor temperature resistance and tendency to creep (deflect slowly over time). However, it's also super...
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Hardanger Fiddle uses HTPLA-CF for Stiffness and Style
HTPLA-CF opens new possibilities in 3D printed violin design and construction! It's a bold claim, but I'll stand by it. We don't...
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Using Heat Treated Carbon Fiber HTPLA for the Prusa MK3 R3 Extruder Assembly
Many times when printing extruder assembly parts for a 3D printer, like the R3 extruder upgrade for the Prusa MK3,...
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Filament Testing Grips & Replacing Machined Parts with Carbon Fiber
Replacing traditionally machined parts with 3D printed ones sounds like a far-fetched idea, but is it? Subtractive technologies like CNC milling have...
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Layer Adhesion Tester Build
In our first Endless Exploration (EX1) delivery, we tackled the subject of High Flow PLA for fast printing. During the...
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Bambu AMS Spool Compatibility Update
Please note this was written in the fall of 2023 so some information is no longer correct or relevant. Several...
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Bambu AMS and Protopasta 8 inch spools
***Click here to read our newest Bambu blog post*** Please note this is old information from January 2023. Protopasta's 8...
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Polish or patina for a real metal finish
Protopasta Metals are made with real metal powder, but print similarly to standard PLA (for extended use, select a wear resistant...
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Edge protectors for use with roller-style spool holders
Our cardboard spools are a source of pride here at Protoplant. The thoughtful touches are often overlooked, but really neat...
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Heat treating with sand for lower distortion
Heat treating… yeah that's right! We’re here to do some more testing! This will be a sort of guide and...
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A new sample spool for your filament sample coils
For our first subscription filaments we recommended the use of the MasterSpool to hold the filament in our posting Effective Loose...
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Effective Loose Coil Handling for a Positive Experience
Loose coils can easily become tangled, but don't be discouraged. The key to a positive coil sample experience is control of...
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Spring Cleaning - A Website Update
Spring is in the air—and we figured our website deserved a little freshening up too! It’s the same us, just...
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Protopasta Cardboard Spools are Bambu AMS Compatible
We love printing with Bambu Lab 3D printers for their ease, speed, and reliability. While printing a single material is...
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New Nozzles Now Available at Micro-swiss.com
Micro Swiss has been making high-quality nozzles for 10 years. When they contacted us in 2015, we were glad to add their...
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Spoolstock: Filament Inventory and 3D Print Management
Spoolstock offers users a comprehensive tool for tracking filament inventory, recording print activity, and optimizing their 3D printing workflow. With...
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3D Printed Energy Harvesters
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) are energy-harvesting devices that convert mechanical energy into electricity. The research highlighted here involves a print-in-place device to...
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Protopasta x CM Designs Collaboration
In 2022, Protopasta collaborated with Filament Stories to showcase Protopasta filaments. Thank you Courtney and Chris for your wonderful videos!...
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Ready, set, refresh - a new look for Protopasta
At Protoplant, we are constantly driven by an unrest in wanting to accomplish more. Last Fall, that feeling peaked so we...
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Protopasta Carbon Fiber HTPLA in Maker Box
Maker Box, founded 2016, has often featured Protopasta Filaments (see past boxes here) and features Dark Gray Carbon Fiber HTPLA this...
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A Word on our Recycling Efforts
Celebrating 17,000 kgs of recycled materials! Here's to many more!!! Since the beginning, Protopasta has made decisions with a sustainability lens. As plastics...
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Daydreaming - A Protopasta update (Summer 2024)
It's been a long time since writing a blog that wasn't for a subscription, but here I sit making updates to...
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Protopasta Labeling and Safe Use
2021 topic update: Health and safety is important to us and we've worked to lead by example within our industry....
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About spools, waste, and customer experience
Waste creation is a real problem and both proposed solutions and dialogue are important, but reducing waste also requires a...
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