Looking for color by Hex, RGB, CMYK, or Lab?

Makelab

We love our customers, and we love highlighting the cool, challenging projects that they’re bringing into existence.  Meet Makelab, an innovative 3D printing company based in Brooklyn, New York. CEO Christina Perla's team includes designers and technical experts, and they provide in-house manufacturing to provide customers the complete end-to-end assistance they need to make their ideas happen. Makelab helps their clients with projects that require designing, modeling and 3D printing — and they bring their industrial design, engineering, and set design backgrounds to bear on almost every project that crosses their desks.  In the two examples below you’ll get a small peek into the types of projects Makelab delivers, and you’ll also see how MyPerfectColor’s custom paint matching services allowed Makelab to move faster and deliver awesome finished products.

 
Yahoo! Mail/Oath
 
The first project was for Yahoo! Mail/Oath. Makelab was tasked with designing, modeling / prototyping, and 3D printing a "Brand Orb" for Oath/Yahoo! Mail. This was a branded art object that will be used to represent their company at events, in offices, and as decor.  Makelab typically prints models like these in Full-Color Sandstone to eliminate a lot of the necessary finishing work. They tried to do that for this orb, but the effect wasn't the same. It was difficult to differentiate between the various shades of purples. So they ended up re-making the orb using better quality prints and then painting them in order to bring the vibrancy of the orb to life. And in the photos, you can see that it really made all the difference. Makelab used their Formlabs Form2 printers to make the envelopes — the quality on those machines is so good that they only needed to lightly sand the final prints, and then painted them. MyPerfectColor was able to rapidly match all 16 Pantone shades of purple including Pantone PMS 2735 U, Pantone PMS 2587 U and Pantone PMS 257 C.  As you can see in the photos below, there were very slight variations to each shade, but those small differences really made the final models pop. 
 
Before they found MyPerfectColor, Makelab said they would have most likely printed this in Full-Color Sandstone. But the problem with that is that the colors are not as vibrant as paint. Also, the fragility of sandstone would have made handling very difficult. 

 

 
We’re all very proud of the finished project — doesn’t it look awesome?!?
 
Yahoo Mail Oath Orb
Yahoo Mail Oath Orb Right Side
Yahoo Mail Oath Orb Side
 

 
Molecule
 
The second project involved a 27-inch “molecule” which Makelab designed and 3D printed for a company in the UK. This particular model was for a medical industry event on the West Coast, where the molecule model was to act as a diagram for an interactive display with tablets surrounding it.  The challenge Makelab faced was transforming a 3D print into a completed, perfect model under tight timelines. They used various methods to achieve the finished result.
 
They started with FDM prints for both inner and outer balls, and then used a gMax PLA printer for the inner molecule and a BigRep for the outer molecule. From there, they heavily filled and sanded the outer surfaces to make a solid, smooth, and finished appearance. After primer, it was a good few layers of MyPerfectColor paint to achieve the end product. Their extra challenge here was that it needed to be created in 7 days from start to finish (including matching the paint)!
 
If not for 3D printing, this model likely could not have been made. Yes, Makelab could have made it out of wood and carefully cut out holes, and then sanded it down. But with 3D printing, all they needed was the 3D model, which had been provided by the client.  So where did MyPerfectColor factor in this project?
 
On a very tight timeline, we were able to match the three Pantone colors (Pantone PMS 316 C, Pantone PMS 327 C and Pantone PMS 130C) which really helped bring out the best in the model.  Makelab says that it would have been a nightmare to pursue this project in sandstone, and they don’t think they’d have been able to handle, ship, or even courier it, because it would have been too fragile.
 
We love the finished product, and also love that we found a great new partner in Makelab based near our New Jersey warehouse and offices.
 
Molecule with Makelab employee
Molecule Closeup
 

 
And if you have 3D printing design needs, definitely check out Makelab!
 
Makelab logo
 

Share Your MyPerfectColor Customer Case Study

 
Do you have a unique project that you’d like to feature in a future case study?  If so, contact us - we’d love to learn more about how our color matching solutions are helping 3D printing companies, job shops and industrial designers solve their complex project needs.
 
 

SHARE YOUR STORY




*MyPerfectColor uses Kelly Moore or proprietary paints to create or match any color imaginable. MyPerfectColor has matched the colors on this page based on the color specifications of the original. Select a color to see MyPerfectColor's duplication of the colors you desire. Please note that since the paint used to match this color is unique to MyPerfectColor, the finish of the paint may vary from the original. Please note that, other than Kelly Moore, RAL, and Pantone, MyPerfectColor is not offering the actual branded color or paint product for sale and has no affiliation with the color-referenced brands. MyPerfectColor reference to any trademark is for color comparison only. On-screen and printed color representations may vary from actual paint colors. The actual paint color will also vary depending on the specific paint product, application method, gloss level, film variance, surface substrate, age and light source. Please note on small batch size orders, the potential variation of colors is increased.