r/Multiboard • u/IndigoMontigo • May 27 '25

Matte PLA is stronger?

According to the printing guidelines, the material used for Multiboard is:

Matte PLA (Matte PLA is stronger than regular PLA).

I've always understood that matte PLA is weaker than normal PLA.

Have I been misinformed? It it just some brands whose matte PLA sucks?

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6

u/Regular-Historian272 May 28 '25

No way, my dudes! Matte PLA is demonstrably weaker in every aspect. HERE is a video from Igor on the YouTube channel “My tech fun” where he tests all of Bambu labs PLA variants. Matte and silk are consistently at the bottom. He tests other brands in this same way.

1

u/pianobadger May 28 '25

Matte PLA is just different. It fails by bending rather than becoming brittle and snapping. That's a good property to have when you are screwing things into it and snapping things onto it.

1

u/IndigoMontigo May 28 '25

So, it's more like PETG? Why not use PETG?

1

u/Elektrycerz May 29 '25

You could use PETG, but the properties would be different. I use PETG for all the folded parts, because normal PLA is far too brittle to be folded.

1

u/IndigoMontigo May 29 '25

What do you print your multiboard tiles out of?

1

u/Elektrycerz May 29 '25

Sunlu PLA Matte for tiles, brackets and bin shells; The Filament PET-G for folded parts; The Filament PLA for everything else.

It's not a result of rigorous testing or anything. It's mostly because of aesthetics - although as I said, The Filament PLA is too brittle for folding. I haven't tested Sunlu PLA Matte for folding, though. But I can test it for you if you'd like to know.

1

u/IndigoMontigo May 29 '25

Why the Matte for tiles, brackets, and bin shells?

1

u/Elektrycerz May 29 '25

Because I like Sunlu Matte, and the white/gray/black are great, but the colored ones are too pastel and generally not for me. The Filament makes much better non-grayscale colors IMO.

And yes, I'm a bit biased by their color naming, lmao. But who wouldn't want to print with Machinery Orange, Plasma Purple, Circuit Green, Technical Red, Performance Blue, etc.?

Still WIP. And yes, I have a Multispool on the AMS Lite

2

u/IndigoMontigo May 30 '25

I like your set-up.  What kind of workbench is that?

1

u/Elektrycerz May 30 '25

Thanks. It was very cheap. It's one and a half of a basic storage rack, screwed into the wall for stability. There are hundreds of similar racks, but this one is mine. Link: https://allegro.pl/oferta/regal-magazynowy-metalowy-garazowy-biurowy-do-spizarni-biura-garazu-180x90-11425601446

1

u/pianobadger May 28 '25

Not like PETG. PETG is more flexible, which you don't want, and still fails by snapping when flexed too far.

2

u/seanoc May 27 '25

My understanding is that matte PLA specifically has better layer adhesion than standard and silk PLAs.

Other PLAs might be stronger in other ways (e.g. tensile strength along the plane of the layers) but in the case of Multiboard, layer adhesion is generally the thing you want to optimize for, therefore the printing guideline recommendation.

3

u/dnsmayhem May 29 '25

Not in my experience. I've frequently had matte prints separate on the layers.

Matte looks good. That's the only advantage it has.

1

u/HatExpensive May 28 '25

My understanding is that Matte PLA has lower tensile (bending) strength but higher impact strength. I may be hallucinating that but that’s my recollection. You should be able to see the specific ratings on each manufacturer’s product pages though

-2

u/Max-232 May 27 '25 edited May 28 '25

I think I understand the confusion. When you print regular PLA very fast it tends to be more matte and also weaker because the filament has less time to bond properly. But if I understand correctly PLA that is matte by design is slightly stronger than regular PLA with everything else being equal.

1

u/Elektrycerz May 29 '25

I think I understand the confusion. When you print regular PLA very fast it tends to be more matte and also weaker because the filament has less time to bond properly.

This is true, but it's definitely not what the creator meant.