So my dad broke the septic clean out cap with the lawn mower. He cannot find a replacement that is lower to the ground so I am printing a new one. Should I use PETG? Or another material. Also I hope this is not violating some form of regulation in the U.S.
Agree on ASA. I have some PLA+ prints that have been outdoors 24/7/365 for going on 5 years now and they’re holding up really well, so that’s another good option.
I’ve been printing ASA for about a year and a half and haven’t dried a spool yet. I guess it all hinges on a mix of relative humidity in your area and how much you care about a flawless finish.
Are your PLA+ prints under any load at all? I have some PLA+ pieces that I have printed to repair outdoor Halloween and Christmas decorations which are at some stress points in the decorations and I have to replace them at the start of each season because they get so brittle by the time the holidays are over. Hoping to try PETG next year.
They’re under an intermittent load, but it’s probably not very high. Interestingly, the parts don’t seem very brittle. I suspect the exact materials in PLA+ probably vary wildly between blends/companies, so their material properties likely have some variation.
Ehhh, I find that PLA doesn’t survive well in continuously wet environments- gets kinda cheese-y like.
Thats interesting you havent had any problems with it being wet though. ASA must be a lot more sensitive to manufacturer, because I had four complete spools of Bambu that just wouldn’t do shit without drying, and I’m about 30/80 on spools of Overture ASA that need drying vs don’t.
I wonder what the various companies blend into their pla+. This stuff is from a company that’s since gone out of business, but it seems to shrug off UI, rain, and ice/snow. It wasn’t matter hackers, but they had a similar name from what I recall. USA made and cheap, but their QC wasn’t great.
As for ASA, I’ve only printed Polymaker. I buy the 3kg spools when they go on sale and it’s hard to beat 3kg for $70 or so. I am tempted to try another brand to see if it prints differently though.
Did you anneal your PLA+ prints (edit: or any other post-processing) or did they go outside straight off the printer?
Straight off the printer! I’ve never tried annealing and the minimal amount of poking around has been somewhat inconclusive. I tend to change materials when I want different physical properties. The vast majority of my prints are functional, and don’t need to be super pretty, so I buy mostly ASA and PETG these days.
IME, PLA prints nicer than PETG, which in turn prints nicer than ASA. Also IME, ASA supports are super nice to remove. PETG is a massive PITA.
Thankfully, I haven’t had a print that demanded very nice surface finished and also strength/ruggedness.