This video is brought
to you by Squarespace. When you first start out with 3D
printing, you are likely to print almost exclusively PLA and for good reason. PLA is easy to use, affordable, and
great for maybe 80% of the things that you'd want to print as a beginner. However, as you get more skilled, both
in 3D printing and in understanding what types of things you actually can
print, you'll inevitably want to try more versatile, tough, or durable materials. We'll stick around because in this
video I'm gonna give you a quick guide as to which filaments are best for what
types of projects and how to choose which one to use for your next project. Let's dive in. First, let's start out with PLA
or polylactic acid, and if you feel like you're already a PLA
pro, you can feel free to use the chapters below to skip around. Polylactic acid has become an
incredibly popular polymer, not just in 3D printing, but in many other
uses because it's easy to produce from renewable resources at scale. In fact, in 2021, PLA actually
had the highest consumption of any bioplastic in the world. Though, come to think of it, I can't
actually name a single other bioplastic. PLA is probably best known for two things. It's low melting point
and it's high rigidity. In fact, while many people erroneously
believe that materials like ASA, PETG, or ABS, which we'll get into a minute, are
stronger than PLA, the fact of the matter is as shown from Stefan from CNC Kitchen's rigorous testing, basic PLA is by far
the strongest material in a hook test, As well as in a 3-point bending test, and you
should definitely check out Stefan's video if you wanna see the scientific data. But all this basically means that
PLA is also the most rigid material. With that said, PLA's extreme rigidity
also comes with the trade-off, and we can see from Stefan's
testing that the impact strength of PLA is much less than the other
materials we're gonna talk about. Of course, there are materials out
there like this, so-called PLA+ or "tough" PLAs, which add impact
resistance or a bit of flexibility depending on which brand you go with. I generally go by the motto that "a
tiger doesn't change its stripes", and if you can print another material
that is more suited to your project, like the ones we're about to talk
about, well then you probably should. Finally, let's address that other
well-known criteria of PLA, and the one that makes it so popular for 3D printing: its low melting point. PLA doesn't like heat, and while
you might think to yourself that its melting point is high enough, somewhere
around 190 degrees for printing it, the fact is that it will begin to
deform at a much lower temperature. I've actually had PLA parts
deform in a printer cabinet that never exceeded 45 degrees Celsius
because they were under stress. What's more, while PLA is surprisingly
chemical resistant, it is known to not respond well to UV or direct sunlight. Finally, it is also known to deform
over time if exposed to constant strain. So what's the verdict? What should we actually use PLA for? Well, first of all, because of the wide
availability of different colors and styles ranging from your standard PLAs
to matte ones like this one from Bambu Lab, or silk ones, or rainbow silk ones
or co-extrusions, and much, much more, PLA really is the reigning champion
for anything decorative, such as statues, toys, and so on. But don't stop there. It's really not just limited to that. You should also consider PLA for any
types of indoor functional parts, which will not be exposed to temperatures above
ambient or excessive and prolonged force. That means that while PLA is probably
not a good candidate for your PC fan ducting, it's great for things like your
honeycomb wall, your gridfinity, your shelf brackets, or I've even used PLA for
my trash bins at home and it works great. Inevitably, in your 3D printing
journey, you're going to decide that you want to print something
flexible, and when you do TPU is most likely where you're going to end up. Though there are many flexible plastics
out there in the world, for a number of reasons, way above my pay grade,
TPU is generally the only plastic that you find commonly used in 3D printing. Now, TPU does come in a number of
different hardness ratings, and generally speaking, the higher the
number, the easier it will be to print in the case of the A ratings. For example, A 98A TPU is going
to be harder than a 95 TPU, and the easier it will be to print,
the higher that number is. This is because softer materials can be
extremely tricky to extrude, especially if you are not using a direct drive extruder. I mean, just imagine pushing a wet noodle
through a very, very long drinking straw. Not fun, right? In any case, there isn't too
much to say here about TPU. I mean, if you need a flexible print,
like a seal on a box or something that's going to absorb impact like a
door stopper or a table corner, then TPU is just gonna be your filament
of choice under most circumstances. Enough said. Up next, let's talk about PETG or
Polyethylene terephthalate glycol. This is often seen as the natural
next step material to PLA and offered by many, many different filament
manufacturers as a tougher alternative to their PLA, with similar printability. But I'm just going to go ahead and
say something controversial here. I don't believe that PETG actually
deserves the popularity it enjoys. First of all, if we once again reference
Stefan's fantastic test data, thank you Stefan, we see that PETG doesn't
actually excel at anything in particular when compared to other materials,
at least not in terms of strength. What's more? While PETG does have a higher heat
resistance and significantly better UV resistance, it does pale in comparison
to that of ASA, more on that in a second. What's more? PETG suffers from a number of
quality life and inconvenience issues, including the fact that it
sticks too well to most beds and can actually damage your print surface, the fact that it sticks to nozzles
and boogers up, and the fact that it's extremely hydroscopic and must
be dried thoroughly before printing. Oh, and on top of all of that, it's
also very slow to melt, meaning that you cannot use PETG for any
of the high speed printing that is becoming so much more commonplace. All in all, I'm just gonna say it. PETG is a pain in the
butt, at least for me. So why then is PETG so popular? Well, it's actually quite simple. It's historically been easier
to print than ABS or ASA. You see, while PETG has all of
these things counting against it, it has one major thing going for it. It can be printed on an open printer
without needing to worry about things like warping, and at lower temperatures,
and with the previous generation of open, slow, bed slinger designs,
who can't reach 300 degrees Celsius. Many of the downsides like being
too sticky or not flowing as fast as say ABS were really non-issues. However, today in 2023, with more and more
people having enclosed fast printers, PETG is really starting to show its limits. So much so that some companies like
Bambou Lab aren't even offering it to their customers except in its
carbon fiber reinforced variants. So what then? Should you just avoid PETG
altogether for your projects? Well, not quite. You see, as I mentioned before, PETG
is superior to PLA in terms of UV resistance and when compared to something
like ASA, it's often significantly cheaper, though it is still more
expensive than PLA or ABS in many cases. Plus PETG offers a great mix
of strength and flexibility, nonetheless, even if it
isn't the best in class. And unlike many of these other materials,
it does offer more flexibility and give than pretty much any other
material, besides of course TPU. It also comes in lots and lots of
colors, and is really better for these translucent type colors that
don't cloud up during printing. I mean, just look at this insane,
gorgeous translucent by Fillamentum. This would definitely cloud
up if you printed it in a PLA. Finally, it really is much
more warp-resistant to print PETG than even ASA, which is
touted for its warp resistance. So if you don't yet have an enclosed
printer, PETG is going to be one of your absolute best options for functional
parts that need to withstand either moderate heat, UV or sustained strain. These days, personally, I only think of
PETG when I need a material to have a little bit of give. But in the past, I used PETG for
things like vertical planters, reprack brackets, fan ducts, replacement
light diffusers, and even this soft box for my video light, which needs
to flex a little bit to clip on. However, if you do have an
enclosed printer, in my opinion, you're better off looking into
one of the next two materials. But first, I have to take a quick moment
to thank this video sponsor: Squarespace. Whether you're looking to build
a portfolio website, a blog, an e-commerce shop, or anything in between,
Squarespace makes it incredibly easy with their fluid engine and their
library of flexible website templates. I've been using Squarespace products
for years, and I love their awesome customer service, and how they
just make everything so simple. Squarespace takes all of the guesswork
outta building a website because they handle all the scary stuff like
DNS, software updates, security, and performance, so that you can focus
on building your website or business. Check out squarespace.com for a free
trial, and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com/thenextlayer
to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. And here we go. We've gotten to the part of the video
that I've been dreading, the part where I try to pronounce the proper name for
ABS, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. You may not realize it, but ABS
is probably the most commonly used plastic in your day-to-day life. Used in everything from Lego blocks, to
automotive parts and much, much more. This is because ABS offers a whole host
of benefits as compared to other plastics, especially in traditional manufacturing. It's got a great balance of
impact resistance, toughness, and rigidity, particularly if you use
some of the newer ABS plus variants that are available out there. ABS also offers phenomenal stability
under load, making it the plastic of choice for any functional parts
that will be under sustained stress, particularly in warm condition. This, for example, is why ABS even
just this basic stuff like the no frills kind from Polymaker is the
recommended material for the printed components of Voron 3D printers and
their very, very warm, enclosed chambers. ABS is also great because it allows
for vapor smoothing in case you need to make layer lines disappear. Finally, ABS is notoriously quick
at melting and flowing, which is one of the main reasons that it is
the standard in injection molding. So if you're looking to print things
faster, do some speed benchies, then ABS is a great contender. With that said, there are some serious
downsides to ABS as with all materials. First of all, it warps a lot. In fact, most people would agree that
your standard ABS cannot be printed without an enclosed printer, and even
still ABS is really best printed in a very warm enclosure, even if an
actively heated chamber isn't necessary. As if warping weren't enough of a
reason to only print ABS enclosed, there are also the fumes. Printing ABS stinks and it
can emit harmful VOCs that you do not want to be breathing. So not only should you print it enclosed,
but you'll also want some type of carbon filter in the enclosure as well. Now, when I first started using ABS on my
Prusa MK3S+ in a custom made enclosure, video about that here, I had nothing
but difficulty and I swore that I would never buy another role of ABS again. However, over time as I migrated to more
and more enclosed printers with smaller enclosures that could actually heat up
the build volume properly, I've discovered that ABS is actually easier on some of
my printers than even PLA or PETG, unless I remove the panels from my printers to
allow those materials to cool better. As I mentioned before, I like
to use ABS for anything that will be under sustained load. Anything that I need vapor smooth,
or anything that needs to sustain high heat without necessarily
being exposed to UV radiation. Examples include these brackets for
mounting a camera in my enclosure, filament spool roll holders, various
brackets for electronics that will be exposed to heat, and more. Yes, ABS is sort of a non-starter
for open printers, but fear not because we still have yet to cover
Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate. Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate or ASA
is in many ways very similar to ABS. In fact, I like to think of it as
the new and improved ASA, while it is generally much more expensive
than ABS, at least for now. It offers improvements in virtually every
one of its predecessors shortcomings. First of all, it can be printed without an
enclosure as long as there are no drafts. Second, it has much higher UV resistance. Third, it is even more resistant
to environmental stress, cracking, long-term heat, and even chemical wear. It can also be vapor smooth
using the right chemicals. And then there's the smell. High quality ASA has significantly fewer
fumes, and while I haven't done any significant testing on VOCs
emitted, I can definitely share that anecdotally, I get far fewer headaches
when printing it out in the open. It even has lower shrinkage, making
it easier to get perfect dimensions. Unfortunately, it's not
all sunshine and rainbows with ASA. First, as I mentioned, there's the price. It often costs 50 to a hundred percent
as much as the cheapest of ABS's. Then there's availability. Whereas ABS is available from dozens
of manufacturers in practically every color imaginable, ASA is much less
available from fewer manufacturers. Finally, there's bed adhesion. Now, personally, I have always had
an awful time getting most brands of ASA to actually stick to any print
surface, ranging from glass to PEI, and inevitably I end up using mountains
of hairspray and glue stick and much more just to get my prints to stick. So what then should you use ASA for? Well, obviously anything that
you plan to put outdoors is a fantastic application for ASA. Additionally, any of the uses that I
mentioned above for ABS are going to be even stronger, more heat resistant,
and more durable if printed in ASA. Plus, if you're using an open design
printer, then you should definitely just skip right over ABS altogether. Personally, because I have a number
of enclosed printers now, these days, I'm actually choosing to just save a
little bit of money and buy ABS more often than I buy ASA, unless I need
the UV resistance such as something I'm specifically printing for outdoors. ASA is just too much of
a pain to get to stick, plus, I generally don't need the added
mechanical durability that it offers. Or if I do, there are other
materials or copolymers out there that I can choose from. Unfortunately, we don't have
time in this video to cover all those different materials. Materials like nylon, polycarbonate,
or carbon fiber blends. But if you'd like to see me do a
video explaining when you should use those materials, well then please drop
me a comment below and let me know. Thanks as always to my Patreon
supporters for helping me pay the increasingly high bills. And thanks to all of you for
watching, liking and subscribing. We're giving away 50 rolls of filament
- thanks to Polymaker, to celebrate hitting the 50,000 subscriber mark, and all you have to do to be eligible
is to be publicly subscribed to the channel when we cross that mark. That's all for now, but I'll see
all of you on The Next Layer.
