After the surprising strength of PLA in our PLA flexural strength test, we decided to try something a little different. Let’s just say it involves a Honda S2000. Check it out in the video below.
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Filemon
2
Haha, this is a pretty epic test 
Hi guys,
Great testwork!!
This backs up something that I’ve been trying to get across as a message with PLA.
A lot of people who want to print something “serious” tend to think that PLA is just for making trinkets and fun things and therefore immediately believe that they have to use ABS. Using ABS can bring it’s own problems as we all know, and PLA is such a great material to print with it needs to be given a chance to show what it can do. This test is fantastic for showing the strength that it has when used at a normal ambient temperature and under high compressive load.
I have made a scale model of a tidal power generation buoy in PLA that did a week’s worth of wave-tank testing without any problem ( see the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9i4IC8eKo ).
I think PLA needs a better PR agent to promote it’s strengths and videos like these really help get that meassge across.
Great work!!!
Steve - Birmingham UK 3D Hub
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Thanks for the compliment! I checked out your Tidal Generation buoy, and it definitely is an interesting use of 3D printing. It would be awesome to see your model implemented.
The real thing now exists and is around 39 feet in diameter, there’s a picture of it attached. There’s also a picture of the model which was made at 1:40 scale, together with an image of the CAD model that I had to construct to be able to 3D print it.
The other amazing thing with this model was it had zero infill and just a 0.8mm wall thickness, yet it withstood the wave-tank forces really well. As well as people under-estimating the strength of PLA they also often over-estimate the amount of infill required to print a model that’s strong enough for their needs.
