mhagan - I would be interested in a test part. I am not sure I like the unidirectional loading that the this process would require.

fabhappy - If alternating layers cross over each other, would that make a difference as far as fatigue and failure is concerned? I haven't seen any details about how the slicer determines to run the CF filament, i.e. is it just going to look like their sample photos, or can you do honeycomb, etc. I honestly don't even know what's the best way to do it, but I'd love to hear what you think!

bmmal - I'm pretty skeptical about how much R&D has been done to deliver a material that actually takes full advantage of the carbon fiber. There is a lot that needs to be understood on a micro level when making composites, especially using thermoplastics.

Composite layups are kind of like 3D printed parts in that they are strong in 2 directions and inherently weak in the third. If the infill patterns can be changed then you could in theory make quasi-isotropic parts. I'm not sure any infill pattern other than rectilinear would be very useful with CFRP. If you cannot use rectilinear fill with this technique then I would never buy it. Using contoured fill will greatly limit material strength in more than 1 direction.

When I checked out their site I was pretty unimpressed with their example application. It looks like some sort of spacer for the wing of a race car to be mounted on top of? Meaning the load is directed downward and not taking any real advantage of the carbon fiber. If that is the cross section of a wing it is still pretty useless, at least in the orientation they printed it and put the fiber in. Had they printed a wing laying down it would be better while requiring finishing to smooth the wing profile.

One reason CFRP's are often used is that they are mold-able materials. When using carbon fiber fabrics you can have a high strength:weight ratio on a highly contoured part. If you print carbon fiber, odds are you won't end up with the properties in the directions you desire. You may capture them in one, but not in another.

fabhappy - bmmal, that is really, really insightful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I was similarly concerned, more from instinct than from actual knowledge. For example, one thing I was wondering about was CF RC car wheels -- not something I'd actually do, but you want strength around the rim, as well as the hub. When you print something like this in CF using the traditional FDM approach, you're basically not doing any better in the hub area than the powdered CF filament, right? You're just stacking small sections of CF together and not really taking advantage of its properties. So applications like this would be a complete waste. Do you agree?

defcon3d - Here's some info and testing of Carbon Fiber Filament from a friend, "Joseph Chiu" over at Toybuilderlabs.com

http://toybuilderlabs.com/blog/2013/11/8/carbon-fiber-reinforced-filament

bmmal - If you're printing the wheel laying on it's side, you will get the hoop strength around the outer rim, You can potentially (if the software allows you to select the orientation of the infill) get the fiber optimally oriented along the spokes. But yes at the hub you would be stacking circular layers of material making it no more effective than the short fiber materials already available. If you could print the wheel standing up you would improve the hub in one direction but lose properties in the hoop of it, not to mention that the entire rim and spokes would suffer as well.

fabhappy - I actually have several ideas for parts that I'd like to make light and stiff, and that are basically 2.5D. These might be good candidates for the Mark One as they are similar to that spacer they show in their videos... but I can't justify the cost with all of the other things you guys have brought up. Anyone else have opinions? This is interesting stuff to learn about.

bmmal - Try the carbon fiber filled PLA. It will be stiffer but has a decreased ultimate strength - I think (it's been a while since I looked.) But the low Tg isn't really ideal.

fabhappy - Any recommendations? I saw Proto-Pasta, but they only have pre-order links at this time.

bmmal - That's the one I'm thinking of but I feel like there are 1 or 2 others available right now too.

fabhappy - My experience with the MarkOne has been overall very positive. My first machine konked out on me, but they quickly replaced it and I have been producing fiberglass-reinforced parts for quadcopters. No failure testing yet, but I hope to start on that next week. It's a really nice printer. Still waiting on CF filament, but I have fiberglass and kevlar available. The printing cost is very high, and I'm not sure how many makexyz customers will want to take the jump -- probably only engineering companies will want to fork out the money for such prints.

elpulpo - Thanks for the update @fabhappy. Seems that several auto racing teams have bought a MarkOne. Hardly surprising with their budgets and I guess, if they can turn around a new light but non-structural component that's been optimised to a particular circuit, overnight, it could give them a competitive edge so it's a small price to pay. Would love to see what you've been doing with it.

mkapras - @fabhappy - it sure is a Purdy printer! I'd like to see some of your results as well. Post some pictures to the forum... ;-)

nathan0 - I am so glad to read such phenomenal reviews about the mark one. And i decided to have one for me too. But you can get https://topwritingservices.net/a-writer-com-review/ to manage your task easily. Because i don't want any type of error while working and this is the best option for me. Incredible