Why not use PLA to print your items like several items seen on Etsy?

The material properties of PLA make it more suitable for applications where look and form are more important than strength and durability. Therefore, the best applications for PLA are items designed for decorative rather than “wear and tear” use.

  • PLA (Polylactic Acid) has low heat resistance, and therefore cannot be used for high-temperature applications. PLA can rapidly deform in high temperatures (like inside your car),  especially under stress.
    • What about shipping? Can you control what temperatures a PLA product is exposed to? What if the delivery person leaves the package on a hot sunny porch or in a hot metal mailbox? ASA and Polycarbonate don’t have these issues.
  • PLA is typically weaker and has a lower tensile strength than its counterparts,  ABS, ASA, PETG, and Polycarbonate. Since PLA parts, when 3D printed, are quite brittle, the material is more suited to aesthetic rather than mechanical purposes.
  • PLA is more suited for entry-level or hobby printers.

Our 3D printed items are functional parts and they are not manufactured to be pieces of art. They are printed at higher temperatures of the envelope range to ensure the best layer adhesion to maximize the strength of the part. Thus, they might not look as pretty as other 3D printed materials like PLA or PLA Plus. However, PLA is not suitable for this type of application.

Our Cooling Fan Systems and Battery Holders are printed with ASA (Acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate)

  • ASA UV filament that has all the properties of ABS with the additional features of being weather resistant. Our ASA is UV resistant and resistant to environmental stress cracking. ASA is commonly used for outdoor applications such as RC planes or car accessories.
  • ASA can resist temperatures up to 100˚C (212°F) and display high toughness and impact resistance for functional applications such as ABS.

Our Universal Fence Mount is printed with Polycarbonate.

  • Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic that is most prominently known for its incredible strength and impact resistance. When it comes to strength, polycarbonate truly is the “king” of 3D printer filament, dramatically outperforming other materials in strength tests.
  • In an informal material strength test, Airwolf 3D printed a series of hooks using a variety of 3D printing materials: ABS, PLA, Nylon 910, and polycarbonate. Each material was then tested by loading the hook with weight until it fractured.
Polycarbonate won by a landslide.
      • PLA has a tensile strength of 7,250 psi and was able to lift 285 pounds.
      • ABS has a tensile strength of 4,700 psi and snapped instantly under 285 pounds of weight.
      • Polycarbonate, on the other hand, has a tensile strength of 9,800 psi and lifted a whopping 685 pounds — far more than any of the other materials that were tested.
    • While these hooks printed by Airwolf 3D for testing differ from our Fence Hooks, the comparison in material strength is quite shocking. Our Fence Hooks will not hold 685 pounds, nor do they need to, but we have seen a dramatic increase in weight lift after switching from PETG Carbon Fiber to Polycarbonate.
  • Our Fence Hook holds 285 pounds when printed with Polycarbonate verses 146 pounds printed with old material PETG Carbon Fiber.
  • We’ve achieved 314 pounds with a Polycarbonate printed Fence Hook, but printing it at that thickness proved to be not flexible enough when installing it on the chain link fence during testing. The current production model can carry way more weight than is needed and provides the additional bending flexibility.

We spent thousands of dollars upgrading printers and several hundreds of hours advancing our manufacturing processes.  Simply put, PLA is the wrong material for this application.