3D printing a Bass Guitar with CopperFill

We decided to 3D print out this simple Bass guitar (it’s a present for a bassist). We thought that it might look quite good with ColorFabbs CopperFill Filament. The CopperFill will add weight and also the opportunity to make a nice shiny metallic finish. ColorFabb CopperFill is a PLA that is impregnated with Copper metal particles. When you sand the surface it reveals that coppery golden metallic colour. This can be enhanced by simply polishing with a metal polish.

The Model we were using was a simple miniature Bass guitar.

 

 

CopperFill 3D printer Filament Settings:

Printer: Prusa i3 Rework
Hotend temp: 210C
Bed Temp: 60C
Layer Height: 0.17mm
Print Speed: 60mm/s

3D printing with CopperFill : the results

The result was quite impressive, we did one print and we had no problems with the CopperFill or the model so we were quite pleased with the results. Further tweaking would be possible to get a better finish on the top layer but we were specifically after a 3D printed look so this was perfect for our needs.

 

 

Once printed we then spent 5-10 mins finishing it with sandpaper (120, 240 then 600 grade) and polished it with Brasso. We liked the results and CopperFill filament was definitely a good choice as the finish was great. If we had spent longer on the sanding we could have definitely got a very smooth and un-3D printed look to our guitar. It sands very well, not too soft that you will obliterate all the features accidentally and not too hard so that it will take you ages to sand it down. CopperFill, and indeed any of ColorFabbs metallic finish filaments make an ideal filament to 3D print some great specimen pieces. Next I think we are going to use it to make a statue.

 

 

If you have a go with some Colorfabb CopperFill 3D printer filament be sure and let us know and send us some pictures.