3D Printing Material Guide

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SLA (Stereolithography)

Stereolithography uses an optical element to cure the surface layer of a liquid resin bath, with the part slowly being pulled up from the bath.

Currently, the only 3D printer we have with this material is the FormLabs.

Form Labs

The Form Labs currently supports two materials: Regular and Durable. In general, both materials have excellent resolution and rigidity properties, showing almost no layering.

However, resin tends to be brittle, so resin prints are mostly intolerant to deformation. That means these prints cannot be tapped, although plastic screws reportedly work well.

The Durable is a more durable version of the Regular, as the name implies.

Check with a manager, but at the time of writing, Durable costs $4.00 per 10ml, whereas Regular costs $1.25 per 10ml of material.

Resin prints on the Form Labs are very tolerant to overhang, assuming proper supports can be generated. However, special care must be taken to make sure uncured resin is able to drain appropriately.

Hence, SLA printing presents its own unique challenges in terms of acceptable part orientations and what is printable and what is not.

Your mileage may vary, but in general, SLA is a good alternative for prints that are too complex to be accomplished via FDM.

FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)

Fused Deposition Modeling refers to any 3D printing methodology which melts and extrudes a thermoplastic filament into the shape being printed. In general, parts are built from the bottom up, with layers being stacked.

We have four 3D printers which use FDM. The Ultimaker 2, two Ultimaker 3’s, and a single Mojo printer.

Ultimaker 2

Our Ultimaker 2 currently sports a 0.8mm core, and uses Amphora 3300 filament, which has similar behavior to PLA.

Prints done in this material are much less brittle than SLA, but also less accurate, especially on account of the 0.8mm core.

In general, these prints are great for prototyping where accuracy beyond 1mm is not a major concern, and due to their flexibility can handle a wide range of load conditions.

However, if accuracy is a serious concern, you should use SLA or the Mojo.

Ask a manager, but currently, our Amphora 3300 costs $1.25 per meter of material.

Ultimaker 3

Our two Ultimaker 3’s currently sport a 0.8mm core, and use Amphora 3300 filament, which has similar behavior to PLA.

Prints done in this material are much less brittle than SLA, but also less accurate, especially on account of the 0.8mm core.

In general, these prints are great for prototyping where accuracy beyond 1mm is not a major concern, and due to their flexibility can handle a wider range of load conditions than our Ultimaker 2.

However, if accuracy is a serious concern, you should use SLA or the Mojo.

Ask a manager, but currently, our Amphora 3300 costs $1.25 per meter of material.

Mojo

Our third and final variety of FDM printer is the Mojo 3D printer. It prints in ABS, which is harder and more brittle than PLA or Amphora 3300, but still far less brittle than resin.

The accuracy is not as good as with the Ultimaker, but is still superior to anything achievable on the Ultimakers.

Mojo prints cost $8.00/in^3 print volume, plus $5.00 for a base-plate for each print (the base plates are not re-useable).