I am making some parts to clamp one pole to another where the pole sizes are different and I need a leveling system. I am making these in ABS but having the usual warping issues since the parts are large and thick. PLA is out since it won’t handle the heat!
The part needs to handle direct sunlight (heat) and cold weather. I don’t care about fading etc. just structural integrity. Weight on the parts won’t be significant but they will be bolted together around a pole so there will be some compression.
I don’t expect the parts to last forever but would rather not replace them every other month!!!
Before you go and spend money to try every single spool of filament , try to find what exactly the problem is. For outdoor use, specially sunny days, I think you need to have a filament that is IR resistance and more reflective. In raw sunlight (without cloud, filter, glass, etc in between) the amount of IR is way higher than UV and heat generated by those cannot be compared. I recommend you to first buy one 100w IR LED and one 100w UV LED to test on sample filaments like 5cm long and see how they perform under that much energy.
I’m curious to know what would happen if you apply sun cream to PLA before the filament goes into the nozzle and see if it helps when you put that object under the sun, maybe you could tell us
Following up on this, the demand of resistance to cold is a big demand on plastic. High heat PLA can withstand high temperature fine, but there are very few plastics that withstand cold well. The vast majority of thermoplastics used by 3D printers become very brittle (and easily broken) when it’s cold.
PC (polycarbonate) might work well, but it’s a pain to print with and I don’t know how it handles cold.
I am not sure how it will react in cold and it will get cold, well below freezing at times! The parts shouldn’t have a lot of stress so they may be ok. It will be interesting.
Heat is the real issue I think. These will be on a 2.25" steel pipe and adapting to a 1.25" metal antenna mast type pipe and will have direct sunlight most of the day and ambient temps that can easily be over 100f. I think the PLA will melt!! ABS may hold up for a while, it will be a good experiment.
I am just interested in other options to give a try.
Have you checked out the prices on Matterhackers? As a whole, ColorFabb is more expensive, but they have very nice quality! If you buy from Materhackers, the shipping is free as well.
You should definitely check out ProtoPasta’s High Heat PLA if you’re planning on experimenting. Once you heat treat it (put it in a kitchen oven for an hour or so at 230degF), it should be fine for temperatures up to 248degF. I’ve put boiling water on prints made with it and they didn’t really deform, only softened slightly. You can also treat any plastic with UV resistant spray to help with the sun issue.
Looking into this a bit and finding mixed reviews on printing. Main thing is warping. I can’t seem to get a feel for how it really is doing since comments I am finding are all over the place on this.
I am tempted to try it but at $50+ a roll it is up there.
If lifting off the bed and warping are less or more controllable than ABS then that is a start especially when making brackets or parts that need to fit or bolt together.
