Alternative to PLA  

RE: Alternative to PLA

All PLAs if annealed will withstand very high temperatures,

But the annealing process will cause the print to shrink a little and sometimes distort too.  You would need to make a sacrificial print, anneal, measure the change and calibrate the working print accordingly.

Cheerio,

RE: Alternative to PLA

I did some research.  I have to admit that PLA+ did not occurred  to me.  I have only printed 1-2 rolls.  If you can get past the shrinkage mentioned by @diem, it might just work.  It is easy to print and it softens at 140F or 60C.   It is a little more expensive, but I would give it a try.    

RE: Alternative to PLA

@Gonper (and all), what, if anything, do you know about the material that Ultimaker calls 'Tough PLA'?

I got about half of a spool of this with a printer I bought about six months ago, but the only thing I remember printing with it was a calabration cube.  I installed a conversion kit on the primary extruder to use the more common 1.75mm filament so I have not used it since.

Is this similar to the 'PLA Plus' filaments?

RE: Alternative to PLA

@jsw

Yes I believe that PLA Tough is another of the PLA+ family.
Like I said each manufactures makes their own mixes... and names...
I have not try that one but by its name is probably one of the PLAs that have enhanced impact strength.

NOTE: The annealing post-process is only required if you need the parts to withstand very high temperatures.

RE: Alternative to PLA

@cwbullet

I have a small 3D printed R2D2 inside the car just behind the windshield and has not deformed or degraded in any manner after 3 years (maybe more) I live in the south of Spain and trust me the temperatures in that area of the car for sure passes 70ºC and it receives direct sun light as well. (Will try to make a picture, so you get an idea...)
It was printed with Volcano PLA from Fromfutua and it was not annealed.

RE: Alternative to PLA

@gonper

Thanks.  I would change my recommendation to ToughPLA or PLA+.  I am going to try this stuff for my rocket parts.  

RE: Alternative to PLA

@john-6

Please have a look at the latest "Prusa Live" video on Youtube.

They announced a new Prusa filament, fiber reinforced Polycarbonate, coming soon.

The sample prints they showed seemed to be extremely stiff.

Also, it is said that Polycarbonate is very resistant aginst creep.

So if there is a permanent force on the instrument (from a string), this might be a good choice.

I also remember ESUN showed a 3D-printed violin on their website made of carbonfiber nylon.

RE: Alternative to PLA

Posted by: @stefan-6

@john-6

Please have a look at the latest "Prusa Live" video on Youtube.

They announced a new Prusa filament, fiber reinforced Polycarbonate, coming soon.

The sample prints they showed seemed to be extremely stiff.

Also, it is said that Polycarbonate is very resistant aginst creep.

So if there is a permanent force on the instrument (from a string), this might be a good choice.

I also remember ESUN showed a 3D-printed violin on their website made of carbonfiber nylon.

Good spotting. The resonance seems very good. Can’t wait for it to arrive. 

RE: Alternative to PLA

I would never use carbon fiber on an instrument or anything with very heavy human handing.  Carbon fiber will cut you up, something like an instrument can get highly used and people even put their months on them.  Over time the plastic will be removed slightly exposing the carbon fiber even more for deeper cuts.  

RE: Alternative to PLA

Don't underestimate the strength of PETG if you get good fusing of the layers. It can be darn hard to break. Not going to help much for high temperature resistance though.

RE: Alternative to PLA

Posted by: @diem

Eg: These were printed at 100% fill and just dipping the mouthpiece is enough.

The bottom one (blue) is absolutely not a Yamaha YRS-23 🙂

RE: Alternative to PLA

If you're making musical instruments, I assume the stiffness isn't only for geometric stability but also for acoustics? In that sense, PLA is very strong. 

The two biggest downsides with PLA in my opinion is low heat resistance and creep. Heat resistance can be managed by just keeping it out of sunlight and heat, or by annealing (although annealing could be very tricky to achieve depending on the geometry).

Creep is a problem with PLA no-doubt, however PLA components don't always creep. However, I think you'd have to load them past a certain fraction of their yield limit to get noticable levels of creep. If you greatly overdimension your parts, then I doubt creep would be an issue even with PLA. Another option would be to incorporate some steel parts inside of the instrument for strength. For example using a threaded rod as a truss rod if it's a stringed instrument. 

RE: Alternative to PLA

There was a link in these forums, to a video posted on vapour smoothing ASA and it was based on making mouthpieces for what looks like a recorder.  

RE: Alternative to PLA

In fact, stiffness has a significant impact on acoustics and sound propagation (the stiffer the material, the better the sound propagation). This is something to take into consideration when printing musical instruments.

Regarding creep, all plastics (and actually all materials) creep. However, if they are properly sized, they will creep up to a certain point and then stop, and later creep is almost reduced to zero over time.

Carbon fibre PLA could be a good option if you want to reduce initial creep and residual creep later on. Being even stiffer, it may also improve sound characteristics. However, bear in mind when designing the printing orientation because CF-PLA has lower adhesion between layers than normal PLA.