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Hi there! Please specify what the material should be capable of and what you want to do with the printed parts. Do you look for alternative materials for SLS machines or do you want general material advises, so for ever method. If you just concider SLS materials, I can properly not help you, because I have no experience with those machines. Cheers, Marius
Hi Marius! Thnx for your reply!
It doesn’t have to be SLS at all as far as I’m concerned. The most important thing is that its rigid and it has a high quality finish. The overall product has to feel and look high quality. Somewhat temperature resistent would be nice. And it has to be capable to withstand the potting material used, a polyurethane resin, but this should be fine with most materials.
Previously I had a company producing the parts using SLS which is fine as far as the end result. But producing, or the way they produce, simply takes too long (7 to 10 days).
The fastest production is archieved with FDM printers (as far as I can tell), however there will only be a few, that can offer you the desired quality. FDM printers can use a variety of Nylons, I’ve made the best experience with Taulman3d’s materials, I also offer Taulman3d’s “Bridge” Nylon.
The quality is very good, but there are limitations to wall thickness etc.
More quality is available with SLA or DLP printers, like the form 1+. You should give these 3 printing methods a try, nearly all SLS machines are only made for industrial purpose and companies, and those companies will deliver top quality, but for a high price and they will probably all need more then a week for production (you might be lucky to find a quicker production company, but it’s unlikely).
Can you tell me, what the size of the uploaded model is ? With that I could evaluate, whether or not FDM printers are capable of such quality.
The advantage of FDM machines is, that there are alot of materials available, some (like “Moldlay”) are specially made for molding, others like Nylon have very smooth surfaces, with no spiky artifacts, which you’ll most likely get with PLA prints.
I could send you printing examples from my FDM machine, however I’m living in germany, so I’m most likely not the right hub for you, if you want delivery within one week (due to shipment).
For more information you can either answer to this comment, or start an enquiry on my hub:
https://www.3dhubs.com/siegen/hubs/marius
I hope this provided information helps you,
Marius
Ik heb je net een antwoord gestuurd, groet JW
to get the same resolution or finer than SLS definitely try an SLA printer like the form 1+ 