# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > Other 3D Printers / Scanners / Hardware > Mark One Forum >  Mark One - Carbon Fiber 3D Printer

## Brian_Krassenstein

Markforged has just announced yet another ground breaker 3D printer for the week.  it's the Mark One Carbon fiber 3D Printer.

It prints in Carbon Fiber, PLA, Nylon, and Fiberglass, and costs around $5000.  Will go on pre-sale in February.

Read more about it here:  http://3dprint.com/worlds-first-carb...-the-mark-one/

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## ToyMakerRon

Wow, I didn't even consider Carbon Fiber being an option for 3D printers.  I'm sure this opens doors for a lot of people.  Especially those looking to make automobile parts.

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## Eddie

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this article.  I too didn't really consider the possibilities of having carbon fiber 3D printed before.  There are so many awesome uses for this.

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## KDog

Quadcopter frames!!

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## myearwood

Sounds like they added CF powder to a polycarbonate to make a filament. The strength will not be good.

They need unbroken strands of carbon fiber made into a woven fabric. The strands provide the strength.

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## bringho

I'm curios about the actual benefit of carbon fibre filament.

As far as I know a lot of the strength of composites which usually use carbon (or glass) fibre weaves comes from the way the different fibre patches are placed in the layout.

In a FDM print the fiber will only follow the direction of the print so:

In what way would that strengthen the printed part compared to a classic composite weave layout?

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## KASL

Exactly! i see the plactic melt in the carbon fiber, its a nice option to replace the resine. What do you think?



> Quadcopter frames!!

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## myearwood

If it is carbon fiber powder mixed with polycarbonate / resin, it will not be very strong. The weaving of long strands is where the strength comes from. The resin is reinforced by the weave. I would like to see some real strength tests using CFRP (carbon fiber reinforce plastic) from this 3d printer compared to the woven+plastic usually known as CFRP.

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## donny

> If it is carbon fiber powder mixed with polycarbonate / resin, it will not be very strong.


Is this what it is?  Can anyone confirm or deny it?

I wouldn't think there would be a purpose of printing in carbon fiber unless it was indeed strong.

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## bringho

> Is this what it is?  Can anyone confirm or deny it?
> 
> I wouldn't think there would be a purpose of printing in carbon fiber unless it was indeed strong.


Even if it was (short) strands of fibre in the filament, which I guess  would increase the risk of clogging the print head substantially. The  fibre would only follow the layer path of the print instead of the  surface curvature of the printed thing. If I were to print a cone for example, the fibre would still follow the print path layer by layer when I want the weave to criss cross the surface curvature to get the strength from long fibres. 

Like myearwood I would really  like to see some real strength tests.

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## Solidabble

From what they say, the Carbon Fiber filament is 5 times stronger than traditional ABS.  So I guess the strength is there  :Smile:

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## KASL

Yes, but the carbon fiber is reinforced with the plastic? the plastic melt on the carbon fiber?

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## greatestalive

KASL, I'm not sure what you mean.  They have said that the Carbon Fiber filament is 5 times as strong.  Does it matter if it is reinforcing the plastic or not?

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## myearwood

ABS has max GPa of 2.5. Raw carbon fibers have max GPa of 965. BMW body parts are CF fabric molded with resin. So are bicycle frame parts. That is CFRP.  CFRP should have max GPa of 580. That's 232 times stronger than ABS. That's why people can make a whole bike or baseball bats or golf clubs from CFRP.

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## JohnA136

I have to agree, I can not see how we gain strength just by putting Carbon Fiber powder into the plastic? It would have to be extremely fins to not clog the nozzle.

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## awerby

While they aren't very specific about how their process works, from reading the site http://markforged.com/  it seems that they've produced a special patent-pending extruder head that will pass a continuous thread of carbon fiber through itself. Presumably, this thread is coated with plastic so that it adheres where it's deposited. Apparently it will also work with regular filament, so parts can be made with the composite where strength is required, and filled in with a honeycomb of regular PLA or whatever. 

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

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## Rickward

Wow, I'd love to see this patent.  Is there any way to find it online?

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## Compro01

It sounds to me like the filament is made of continuous strands that run the entire length of the reel.




> Wow, I'd love to see this patent.  Is there any way to find it online?


I looked through the USPTO database for the company name and the names of all the listed employees, but came up with nothing.  The patent must not be published yet.

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## Eddie

Here are some more details, a lot of information regarding some of your concerns  :Smile: 

http://3dprint.com/details-emerge-on...er-3d-printer/

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## automobiles

I couldn't believe my perspective when I analysis this content. I too didn't really consider the opportunities of having graphite 3D printed before. There are so many amazing uses for this.

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## Razorette3D

There is a patent for this I believe, but I wonder if the other companies like Stratasys/MakerBot and 3DSystems/Cubify will quickly come up their their own carbon fiber printers.

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## LambdaFF

The article on 3Dprint is nice. Having seen composite parts made "the old way" with layers upon layers then vacuum bag, layers, vacuum bag ... it seems to me that is will save a lot of time.

I for one am very interested by the announcement, but I will need to see their software and the way it handles layer orientation before going any further.

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## bringho

I'm quite certain the strength of a 3D printed part (for example a curved shell like a nose cone, a wing tip or something like that) with carbon strands embedded in the filament never can compete with the same shell created the regular way with layers of weaves criss crossing over a the bulged surface because of the way the model is sliced and printed layer by layer.

Some of the properties may be achieved if one were to have the build plate swivel under the extruder. This together with a slicer that slices the thickness of the surface should be able to produce a part with each layer consisting of fibres criss crossing each other...

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## bringho

How do they cut the carbon fibre when the head moves between extrude paths?

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## Luv2Fight

Looks like they are now taking pre-orders for their printer.  You have 2 options... The Mark One printer for $4,999 or the Mark One Developer Kit for $8799.  

*The Mark One ships with:*Mark One 3D PrinterMarkForged softwareCarbon fiber filament sample, 100 cm3 (6.1 in3)Fiberglass filament sample, 150 cm3 (9.2 in3)Nylon filament, 1000 cm3 (61 in3)PLA filament, 1000 cm3 (61 in3)2 x CFF Quick-change nozzle2 x FFF Quick-change nozzle

*The Developer Kit includes:*Mark One 3D Printer.  *Earliest ship date*.*MarkForged software.  *Premium software support.**Kevlar® filament, 300 cm3 (18.3 in3)*Carbon fiber filament, 200 cm3 (12.2 in3)Fiberglass filament, 300 cm3 (18.3 in3)Nylon filament, 2000 cm3 (122 in3)PLA filament, 2000 cm3 (122 in3)5 x CFF Quick-change nozzle5 x FFF Quick-change nozzle2 additional print beds

More details at: http://markforged.com/#pre-order

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## bringho

From the example on their home page I realize there is be a number of parts that may benefit from being produced this way.

It's however NOT a replacement for most composite parts made "the old way" with layers upon layers or with braided composite structures.

The user rm2014 made an interesting comment about inserting fibre into filament in the RepRap Forum five weeks ago: http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,302667

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## greatestalive

I think this has a chance to really revolutionize 3D Printing.  It may not be quite as strong as traditional carbon fiber (it may though).  However it allows you to make a lot more "things" than just using plastic.

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## krauerking

im just wondering if the whole printer is needed, because unless they actually rotate the bed to get the weaved print then it should just be possible to upgrade any current printer to be able to print carbon fiber.
im just thinking they should sell the extruder separately if its possible.

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## fabhappy

I'd order one if people out there were willing to purchase parts printed on it!   :Smile:   I was thinking that quadcopter and RC car frames would be a pretty good initial application for hobbyists.  I realize there are way cooler things like prosthetics getting designed for printing on the Mark One, but lots of simple products could benefit from the strength to weight ratio that the CF provides.

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## awerby

It's hard to see how this strength would be other than uni-directional, given the way FDM printers work. I suppose a flat plate could be printed with layers going in opposite directions, but as soon as the part profile deviated from the flat, there would be no option but to follow the contour of the wall being built. This would certainly be strong in the lengthwise direction, but it would still suffer from the cross-wise weakness that characterizes all the objects made this way - the tendency of the layers to delaminate is their inborn curse. I like the idea mentioned above, of having the build plate swivel, so that deposition could happen across vertically-stacked layer lines, but that would require a lot more mechanical sophistication, and it seems that clearance would be a problem given the configuration of most extruders, not to mention this machine's special extruders, which, it would seem, need some kind of cutter for that continuous filament. 

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

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## spaceman

Im sure they will keep the mixture to themselves.

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## kanturu

From what they say, the Carbon Fiber filament is 5 times stronger than traditional ABS. So I guess the strength is there

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## JohnA136

Carbon Fiber, like Fiberglass, get most of it's strength by overlaying fibers and gluing them together.  With the size it would have to be ground to fit through an extractor, I am not sure how strong it is really going to be?

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## ralphzoontjens

I see some use in embedding fabric threads in a filament to be able to create very thin and flexible lattice-like structures or produce certain heterogeneous mechanical properties in a part. We could print flexible structures with fabric-like strength and properties. So I am wondering if it is possible to create such a material for the Markforged printers, or are there any plans to do so?

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## tomhank1511

I am wondering if it is possible to create such a material for the Markforged printers

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## tuanxuxu

Is Markforged printer really good and how much fuel consumption it?

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