3D Printing PLA temps

[David Schwantz]

I am building a Satrun V out of PLA. The CSM is PLA, will not be supersonic. How much heat can PLA take? Has anyone printed a NC with PLA that has failed due to heat? Should I print it again out of ABS? And with that, how much heat can ABS take? Thanks.

 

[cwbullet]

I have printed nose cones out of PLA, PETG, ABS, Nylon, and Polycarbonate. All work. I would not fly a PLA nose cone or bring it to a launch in your car in outdoor temps above 85. The car can heat up and lead to deformity of PLA.

 

[David Schwantz]

I just ordered soma Atomic AAAABS in Pure white. Anything I need to know to print this? I know temps are different, my Ender has already set ABS setting. I have a glass bed, have not used it yet, but will for ABS.

 

[John Cummings]

Double what CW says about hot days and PLA. While sturdy enough I had a black fin can (BT55 size) fly great but upon recovery on a hot sunny summer day I found the fins beginning to warp considerably. PLA is for indoor stuff anymore on my printer....

As far as ABS goes I can’t speak to the Atomic but I’ve had good luck with Hatchbox purchased through Amazon. Nice bright white.

 

[David Schwantz]

From what I have read, the ABS should print without warping on a thin vase type part as the CSM will be. I have thought about building a enclosure for the printer. Also could heat it easy. what are thoughts on that?

 

[John Cummings]

I’ve never printed ABS without a heated bed but have experienced warping when I’ve set the bed temp too low or shut it off too soon in the print.

That’s what I enjoy about 3D printing, if it doesn’t work the first time, change a setting and try it again (not without frustration if applying this logic to a 40 hour print...).

 

[David Schwantz]

The SLA on my project was a 78 hour print.

 

[memcbride]

In general, generic PLA can have distortion problems in the hot sun, etc. but a newer generation of PLA blends can have better properties than ABS. For example, check out Keene Villages Performabce PLA at https://www.villageplastics.com/product/performancepla/ scroll down to see the heat distortion properties. I’ve come to really like this pla. It can even be annealed to enhance its strength properties.

 

[cwbullet]

ABS is easy to print on a Prusa with an enclosure.

 

[Arsenal78]

I have printed nose cones out of PLA, PETG, ABS, Nylon, and Polycarbonate. All work. I would not fly a PLA nose cone or bring it to a launch in your car in outdoor temps above 85. The car can heat up and lead to deformity of PLA.

I noticed this when I had a few Whirl n Hurls I wanted to fly one day but they warped before I could even get them on the rods. PETG is a pain for me to print with, always a very very rough surface.

 

[cwbullet]

I noticed this when I had a few Whirl n Hurls I wanted to fly one day but they warped before I could even get them on the rods. PETG is a pain for me to print with, always a very very rough surface.

Odd, I find PETG a joy to print with on any of my Prusas. What printer are you using and what surface?

 

[David Schwantz]

I checked out the Keene, but white is not available. thinking of building an enclosure around mine even though the part should not retain much heat being so thin. So hopefully no warping or lifting from bed.

 

[memcbride]

I checked out the Keene, but white is not available. thinking of building an enclosure around mine even though the part should not retain much heat being so thin. So hopefully no warping or lifting from bed.

I just checked and Keene Village Performance PLA is available in white. Check the color options menu on their product page: https://www.villageplastics.com/product/performancepla/

I did notice there is not an image of the white spool when selected, but the product is available; just not a picture.

 

[Arsenal78]

Odd, I find PETG a joy to print with on any of my Prusas. What printer are you using and what surface?

Artillery Sidewinder. It's direct drive with a Titan clone and a volcano nozzle. I use a mirror tile and blue tape. The tape makes any print damn near impossible to get off though.

 

[cwbullet]

Ok. I would use a nano polymer on glass to assist with adhesion with PETG. Visionminer has a sample you can try.

 

[alexzogh]

You may have luck annealing your PLA to give it more temperature resistance. This is a good youtube test - . Almost tripled the Tg limit of regular PLA.

Two things to think about - you will get a lot of shrinkage by annealing so you need to take that into consideration when you print. I would recommend annealing in very lightly boiling water vs his method of using an oven. PLA floats, so there won't be any gravity stress on the print during glass transition, and as the water provides a more even temperature reduction over the part as it cools, reducing warping.

Personally, I've moved to high-temperature PETG.

 

[HVArcas]

I was a huge fan of PETG right out of the gate but think I have layer adhesion issues, and it prints nowhere near as pretty or precise as PLA for me. maybe more tuning to be done, maybe a reality of the material, probably a little bit of both

 

[alexzogh]

PETG can be challenging. I spent a lot of time and wasted filament dialing in the proper settings. I had to dramatically increase the retraction distance and retraction speed to stop the stringing and reduce the surface issues.

 

[HVArcas]

That is a good point, and I should try harder to dial it in. I had it working decently on a previous printer.

 

[Yukon@K-9 Rocket Tech]

ABS emits very toxic fumes while printing and usually will require a enclosure. I would recommend PLA+ which copes really well in the hot Gerogian Sum in my experience. PLA + isn't as strong or heat resistant as ABS, but is it's far better then PLA and definitely good enough. Also it's not as toxic or hard to print