I'm Tom and today i'm going to give you a quick introduction to the common 3D printer
filaments. So what you might already know is that the
filament is a 3D printer's feedstock which it uses to build the things it makes. All
filaments have in common that they are thermoplastics, which means that the filament softens and
eventually melts when it is heated. As opposed to metals, which have a distinct melting temperature
at which they go from solid to liquid, thermoplastics gradually soften and melt when they are heated
up. Which, for 3D printing, means that you can control the viscosity of the plastic by
picking a temperature at which the plastic is neither too liquid nor too tough. IIt also
means that we can't print metals with our filament-based printers.
And while you could theoretically print almost any thermoplastic, there are two that are
really popular: One is PLA and the other is ABS.
So PLA is the most popular filament at the moment. It's a polymer that is made from corn
starch and at the same time is biodegradable, which means that it can be composted under
the right circumstances. It's so popular because, once you get your printer dialed in, it will
give you repeatable results no matter what you're trying to print. It also smells nice
when printing - it's kind of a mix between cotton candy and popcorn.
At the same time, it is fairly tolerant about what machine you print it on - PLA does not
need a heated bed for sticking and easily prints onto unheated blue painter's tape.
If you have a heated bed, you can also print it onto plain glass, glue-stick- or hairspray-covered
glass or Kapton tape. It's a fairly stiff plastic and printed parts generally turn out
fairly strong. However, there are a couple of challenges
when printing PLA: One of them is that PLA tends to absorb water from the air, so you'll
need to keep your filament spools in sealed containers when you're not using them or bake
them in the oven every now and then. The other is that PLA often doesn't cool and harden
fast enough when printing it. There's an easy solution for that, though, and that is having
a small fan blowing over the printed part while it is being printed. Many printers come
with a fan pre-installed, so that's already accounted for. The last downside to using
PLA is that it really isn't temperature-stable and will soften and deform at about 50°C.
Now, i know that sounds like a lot, but just leaving a part in your car on a warm day can
be enough to have it warping.
The other plastic, which is a bit more on the "traditional" side, is ABS. Usually, when
someone mentions ABS for the first time, they'll say that ABS is what LEGO are made of. And
that's true, but ABS is simply a very common plastic and is used in anything from coffee
makers to flat screen TVs. When it comes to 3D printing, ABS is often used when the part
needs to be tough or temperature-resistant. ABS has a bit of a wax-like feeling to it,
and ínstead of snapping like PLA, it bends and deforms. It's also not as stiff as PLA
and much more temperature-resistant: It only softens at about 100°C, which is why parts
for a 3D printer are usually printed with ABS and not with PLA.
Now, ABS can be a bit more challenging to print for one reason, and that is that ABS
contracts quite a bit as it cools. Because of this, larger prints can warp and become
unstuck from the bed or the individual layers of the print can peel apart and weaken the
final part. It's also practically impossible to print ABS without using a heated bed, but
then again, most printers come with one as a standard option. When you have one, you
can print ABS onto Kapton or PET tape or onto a layer of hairspray or glue stick.
So which plastic you choose to print will depend entirely on what you're using the 3D
printer for: i'm personally mostly printing in ABS because i use the parts in all sorts
of contraptions where i need parts that won't deform when they get a bit warm. If you're
going to print light-duty parts or complex artistic pieces or simply enjoy that feeling
that your printer will be able to handle almost every part you print, then PLA is probably
the better choice for you.
Now, the world of 3D printer filaments isn't just PLA and ABS, there's now a whole bunch
of new and special-purpose plastics, like Taulman's all-purpose nylon filaments, super-tough
polycarbonate, wood-like laywood or even rubber-like filaments like Ninjaflex. For getting started,
you should stick to PLA or ABS and once you're confident with one of those you can move on
to the newer materials. Also, buy your filament from suppliers that have a good reputation
and don't order no-name filament from ebay if you don't exactly know what you're getting
into. Especially PLA has huge quality differences between the cheap and the good stuff.
So that's it for now, as always, thanks for watching - if you'd like to see more of these
kind of videos, consider subscribing to my channel.