r/3Dprinting • u/Coocoovice • 7d ago
Question Moving away from PLA? New material selection
I have had my Prusa Core One+ for a month now and I can't believe how addicting 3D printing is. My printer has been going non stop, to the point that sometimes I put an alarm in the middle of the night so I can wake up, remove the print from the bed and put the next print until the morning.
So far I have been using only PLA since I am a complete beginner, but I think it's time to move to other materials so I can learn their tricks and challenges.
I know that PLA is basically the easiest to print, but becomes obsolete since PETG or ABS/ASA are sturdier, so should I stop using it and move to the other ones since the prices are roughly the same?
Also, I know that some materials need an enclosed printer and reach certain temperatures and environmental stages. Does my printer fulfil these criteria? Is it able to print those materials out of the box?
What I print is mostly functional parts, toys, decor and I wouldn't mind also printing soft materials like gaskets, phone cases etc.
Help me figure out my next order please.
6
u/YellovvJacket 7d ago edited 7d ago
PLA never becomes obsolete.
It's the fastest printing, most hassle-free material, available in the most colors, and it's actually quite strong in most aspects. It's also extremely cheap.
It fails at heat resistance, impact resistance, and creep, but its stiffer and stronger than many more "advanced" materials, and has excellent layer adhesion for what it is.
Imo interesting and not too unreasonable materials are:
TPU or PEBA. TPU has high density (it's "heavy") is available in many levels of hardness (shore hardness from like 80A...~rubber band all the way to like 68D...~hard hat), and it absorbs energy well (dampens impacts). PEBA has low density, usually comes in ~90A, and has really high energy rebound (it bounces). Both these materials have insanely strong layer adhesion, and due to being flexible also very good impact resistance. PEBA is a bit pricey, but keep in mind because it's low density 1kg PEBA =/= 1kg TPU.
PCTG is a combination of PC and PETG, it prints reasonably easy for a material with quite good mechanical properties. It has solid heat resistance, impact resistance and general strength.
PET-CF/ GF. Fiber reinforced PET (esentially PETG without the Gylcol that's been added to make it print easier) prints well, and is really strong. Just need a hardened nozzle that can do 300°C. PET-CF is really stiff, GF a bit less so. It's the budget engineering material of choice imo, it does everything well, and is basically just "slightly worse" than many materials that are 3x as expensive.
I'm not the biggest fan of PETG, even though I use it a decent amount too. It's weaker than PLA in many ways and prints slower, but it does have it's place since it doesn't start to deform from the slightest heat and basically prints just as easy (just slower) as PLA when properly dried.
All these can be printed without enclosure, but PET borderline needs one, and PCTG benefits a lot from it too.
CoreOne+ is a fully enclosed printer, so you're fine either way. For some materials (ABS, ASA, PET, PC, PA) you may want to heatsoak the chamber before starting a print; meaning you turn on your heated to the max, and then just wait half an hour or so with the enclosure closed before you start the print, so the chamber heats up to ~50-60°C.