STORY OF THE PLA+ SKIN EDITION FROM FILAMENT PM
Demands for filament in the tone of skin were becoming more and more frequent. At the beginning we were subtly pushing this task aside. Honestly, we didn't know where to start. After all, there are 8 billion people in the world, what tone to choose for SKIN filament? 
In our office alone, there are 10 of us, and each of us would have a different tone to match. But in the end we accepted the challenge. Also because it is not so easy to find SKIN filament in other manufacturers. And that is why we decided to produce the SKIN edition of filaments right here in Haná.
Our American business partner Mr. Ladislav / IMADE3D, USA kick-started us at the beginning. He also dealt with the issue of SKIN filament shade and provided us with data from The Johns Hopkins Hospital located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Based on this data, we obtained the 7 most common tones used for the production of prostheses in this hospital.
We then had to decide what input material to use for the SKIN filament. PLA, PLA+ or PETG were in play. In the end we decided on PLA+ mainly because of its matte appearance, which is more skin acceptable than the glossier PLA. Our pigment supplier developed the shades for us and there was nothing stopping us from starting production of the SKIN edition. In the spring of 2022, the first test spools of SKIN filament were produced. Of course, we were the first ones to print them. Our test print was a prototype of a bionic hand. No problems arose during printing, as printing from PLA+ is user-friendly, the colours were consistent, matching the skin tones, so the next step was to decide what tones to present to our customers. We decided that we would make a final selection of 4 tones of SKIN filament to put on sale. But what was the key to select these 4 shades?
PARAMETERS
Diameter
1.75 mm
Tolerance
0,05 mm
Weight
1 kg
Packaging weight
1.38 kg
Packaging dimensions
width: 230 mm, height: 80 mm, depth: 210 mm
Empty spool weight
0.216 kg
Nozzle
190 - 210 °C
Heatbed
60 °C
Pantone
478 C
Edition
Skin edition
RAL
8002
Material
PLA+
Art.No.
252113280830000
EAN
8594185643067
Manufacturer
Filament PM (Plasty Mladeč)
Volunteers from the world-famous e-NABLE organization helped us with this. People from all over the world responded to our call for SKIN filament testing and our SKIN filament test spools flew to the USA, South Africa, Algeria, France or Turkey. A big thank you goes out to the shipping company ByTorp s.r.o., who helped us with sending out these filament test kits and arranged everything free of charge. Volunteers then printed the filament, commented on the look and print and each of them selected 4 TOP shades. And here are our winners - Pantone shades 480c, 479c, 478c and 477c. Also for the sake of better traceability and communication, we decided to keep the filament named after each Pantone shade.
LA+ (polylactic acid)
- improved printing properties compared to standard PLA:
lower printing temperature 195 °C - great for bridging and printing overhangs
higher adhesion of layers and impact toughness - ie. that the printed object is more flexible when bending
higher viscosity = doesn't clog the nozzle
the material withstands insufficient cooling of the printer in a warm environment (for example in the summer months), precisely because of the lower printing temperatures used and the higher viscosity
is suitable for 3D pens, again due to lower temperatures
has an attractive matte finish
is offered in the new Skin edition, Army edition, classic Black&White, modern Pastel edition, hot Summer edition, or recycled RePLA+
check out our video on PLA+ material
PRINTING SETUP
Nozzle: 190 - 210 °C
Heatbed: 60 °C
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
✅ Attractive matte appearance
❌ Low-temperature resistance
✅ Suitable for 3D pens
 
✅ Higher viscosity = does not clog the nozzle
 
✅ It tolerates insufficient cooling of the printer in a warm environment
 
✅ Thanks to the lower printing temperature, suitable for bridging and printing overhangs