stronghero3D is a material producer headquartered in Shenzhen, the tech capital of China. Specializing in the creation of vibrant and rainbow-gradient filaments, the company was founded by Tommy Wu in 2014.
In an interview with Wu, 3D Printing Industry learns more about stronghero3D’s plans for global expansion, and how the company aims to humbly stand out among the competition.
Rainbow gradients – the maker’s choice
stronghero3D’s current range of materials includes PLA and PETG. The PLA range is home to the company’s selection of Splendid Rainbow materials, the variety of which Wu believes comparable to none other on the market, “Most filament suppliers are developing the rainbow filament which is inline with our standard rainbow gradient,” he comments, “We offer much more selection with our Exquisite Splendid Rainbow, shiny and smooth surface finishes, and color changes as short as 9 meters each.”
There are currently 7 different types of rainbow PLA offered by the company, with more planned for introduction in the future. According to Wu, stronghero3D’s development of such a wide range of rainbow gradients is, “For 3D printing enthusiasts.” As anyone within the community will know, allegiances to particular color filament or achievable surface finish run deep.
“Every fan develops a collection of favorite .stls, but after you have 3D printed them a few times, you can grow weary of them,” Wu adds. “When you have rainbow filaments, you print your favourite .stl models again and again, and no two of them are the same. Each time you will get a surprise: another beautiful one.”
At present, the full range of Splendid Rainbow PLA is as follows:
– Original Splendid Rainbow: the first stronghero3D filament, containing red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, with transition lengths between each one at 12 meters.
– Exquisite Rainbow: A brighter, highly saturated color gradient with smooth finish, providing shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and purple. The transition between each of the colors is as short as 9 meters.
– Chameleon Sparkling Rainbow: a luxury chameleon effect glitter-infused filament with purple-violet as base colour. As it prints, these colors change from muted red, to orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Transition length between colors as short as 9 meters.
– Bronze Rainbow: Designed to be metallic in appearance, this filament adds rainbow gradient to bronze base color.
– Metal Epic Rainbow: Like the Bronze Rainbow, only adding rainbow colors to a metallic silver base filament. The rainbow for this filament gives dark colours in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and purple.
– Marble Rainbow: Like above, base colour is white with marble black spots. Through printing, this is mixed with muted light red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
Cost competitive materials
One of the ways in which stronghero3D seeks to be competitive with other more well-known brands is on the cost of its materials. In addition to Rainbow PLA, stronghero3D also offers single color filaments, in PLA and PETG variants. The pricing of PETG in particular is where Wu envisions high value to customers. “Our PETG is brightly colored, and we have a very good price for it,” he comments. “Since PETG is more difficult to process [than PLA] many factories will buy a much higher price PETG grade pellets to do filaments, transferring a higher cost to customers.”
The majority of sales revenue at stronghero3D is driven back into the company’s R&D efforts. According to Wu, the company aims to launch a new filament every 2 – 3 months. This is yet another aspect which he hopes will help stronghero3D gain a strong position within American and European markets, but the company is seeking more resellers to help them on this journey.
“We are a strong R&D company and our resellers always have new products to sell. We launch new products every 2-3 months, but we need around a half of year to start selling in local European and USA markets.”
“Many people want to get our new products,” Wu adds, “and we need resellers cooperate with us to accelerate this process.”
Other 3D printer filaments from stronghero3d supply include, Silk PLA, PLA plus, Glitter Infill PLA, ABS, and TPU.
Try stronghero3D filaments for yourself by buying direct.
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Featured image shows stronghero3D rainbow filament. Photo via Tommy Wu
