Materials

Along with thermoplastics, liquid resin is one of the most popular 3D printing materials. Its properties allow it to produce unique prints, and its resistance to melting is one such property.

There are ways to harden your ABS prints after peeling them off the print bed that will drastically improve the durability and appearance of your 3D printed objects. 

Have you ever planned or printed a project to realize that you don’t have enough filament? It happens to all of us, but you can quickly solve your filament-shortage woes if you figure out how much filament your 3D printer uses in an hour before starting the job.

As a thermoplastic, it is typically solid when cold but can be heated until soft, such as in a 3D printer. However, 3D printing with ABS is a bit more complex than meets the eye due to its unique properties.

During 3D printing, quickly heating and then cooling the filament leads to an overall shrinkage of the product. Because of this, it’s critical to keep shrinkage in mind when designing your 3D model. 

Most common 3D printing filaments, such as ABS and PLA, make solid and stiff objects, other filaments can maintain elasticity and offer a surprisingly supple stretch.

It is possible to print with old filament, there are a few tips and tricks to ensure quality prints and avoid damage to your printer.

Plastic is the most common material in 3D printing. Melting plastic and manipulating it to create the desired three-dimensional object makes sense, and it’s easy enough that anyone can do it. However, can the same be done with other materials?

PVA isn’t everyone’s go-to filament choice since it can be pretty costly, but it has properties that make it highly desirable for almost any 3D printing project.

PETG tends to stick to a 3D printer’s glass bed due to the strong bonding of the thermoplastic filament with the heated surface. You may feel a need to apply force or exert some pressure when using a spatula to scrape and remove PETG models, but that is not an ideal approach.