Hi All, can I get your opinions on which filament I should go with for items around heat on a 3d printer, should I go with ABS or PETG? I have been printing with PLA so far but I now want to make some modifications to the printer and I know PLA won’t do.
Thanks in advance.
Pla would definitely do. I don’t know where people get the notion that PLA is an inferior material. If you were putting it in a high temperature area I can understand, but it’s got the same mechanical strength (and depending on the brand, sometimes more) as ABS, it’s easier to print, and it’s incredibly low cost.
I’m pretty sure I said it will be around heat, hence not PLA.
The difference is not so big. What is more important, is infill. Suppose you would want to print a motor mount, 20% infill would cause problems when the motor heats up, is my experience.
70% or more solves a lot of problems.
The choice between ABS or PETG is yours.
I would go for either one, depending on the size of the object. Small, ABS, big, PETG.
Unless you have a printer with a heated build chamber, which makes it easier to print big objects without warping.
The main reason why I would choose ABS would be for post-processing of the print.
PETG is a pain in the behind in that respect. If it doesn’t matter how it looks, go for PETG.
PLA is inferior but for one aspect, the ability to print very small details.
+Alex Skoruppa thanks for the info.
@Rien_Stouten thanks, I am looking at changing the X carriage and will need something to mount the hot end, so it could be reasonably large, post processing is not important so possibly PETG as I’ve read it has less warping, and I don’t have a chamber.
Try PETG and using aluminum foil tape as thermal shielding for the parts closest to the heat.
ABS is such a finicky material in my opinion. I’ve primarily switched to PETG for structural or higher temperature printing and it’s never let me down. Even if you’re going to use ABS, go for ASA instead, it’s just better.
I’m pretty sure I said it will be around heat, hence not PLA.
It wasn’t stated it’d be in a high temp environment. It was, I just can’t read. A 3D printer usually isn’t going to have nearly the ambiant temperature around it to hit the glass point for PLA, unless it’s in an enclosure. The mount for my hot end is PLA and is 30mm away from my hotend, and even my PLA fan duct is fine with 5mm clearance from the hotend.
Had mine that close with matterhacker pro PLA. Is fine no sign of degradation near the heat block.
I’m a bit worried about the motor mount though. It might actually soften the PLA a bit if I run the motor too hot… Still remain to be seen so far PLA works for me
missing/deleted image from Google+
Thanks for all the replies, I will have a closer look at high temp PLA, clearly I have not kept up with the technology.
High temp PLA will get you to about 260 F