I won’t dice words because I know why you’re here: carbon fiber filament! Surely this is just concept, drawing board type stuff, right? I’m happy to report that is not the case, and Proto-Pasta carbon fiber-infused PLA has been thoroughly tested. The engineers at ProtoPlant even have a datasheet for it!

The filament is a mixture of short-cut carbon fibers and PLA, and the prints are especially stiff and light. Apparently it’s easy to print with too. And they’ve already developed two other specialty materials: high-temperature PLA and polycarbonate-ABS alloy. The alloy is incredibly strong and impact resistant, so it’s ideal for heavy-use functional parts. All of these filaments are extruded from a hand-built conveyor machine inspired by industrial-scale extruders, and it’s powered by a Raspberry Pi. All filament is quality checked for precise roundness as it’s spooled, and every filament has a datasheet with “Heat Deflection Temperature, Impact Resistance, Stiffness, Flexural Strength, and information on printability of the material.”

For convenience these materials are sold in 250g coils without spools, but the ProtoPlant guys have designed a collapsible, reusable spool that can be purchased. This delivery method saves everyone money as spools cost a pretty penny. A coil of each material and a folding spool is only $92. I can’t wait to try these materials!