Materials
Top 5 3D Printing Materials
With years of experience to back us, we have curated the optimal materials that we believe provide all the benefits 3D printing has to offer, including SLS 3D printing with nylon. This includes traits you’re looking for like durability, functionality, rigidity, strength, flexibility, and machinability. Unsure of what material is best suited for your next project? Contact us and one of our 3d printing experts can help you explore your options.
| Materials | Detail | Durable | Flexible Properties |
Functional | Rigid | Rubber-like | Short Run Prod. |
Strength | Additional Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLS (sintering): Nylon | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | living hinges, function springs, tap, drill snap fit, run fluids, sterilize, heat and chemical resistant | |
| SLS (sintering): Rubber-Like (Flex Plastic) | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | rubber-like properties, shore a hardness 60 or 67, tear resistant | |
| SLS (sintering): Carbon Fiber Poylamide Composite | X | X | X | X | X | X | rigid, light weight, stronger than glass-filled nylon | ||
| SLA (UV cured): Watershed | X | X | translucent, run fluids | ||||||
| PolyJet (UV cured): VeroWhitePlus | X | X | fine details, multiple hardness built at same time |
What About ABS Material, and FDM?
Fused deposition modeling, or FDM, is the process that most people associate with 3D printing. It’s the process that many hobbyist or home machines use, where a plastic filament is melted and squeezed through a nozzle onto a small bed to create one part, one fraction of a layer at a time. Customers often ask us about FDM because it uses ABS material, a polymer that is frequently used in injection molding. The funny thing is that parts made using SLS 3D printing actually behave more closely to injection molded parts than those made using FDM, despite using nylon rather than ABS. It all comes down to the process itself. For a closer look, visit our page on SLS vs. FDM 3D printing where we compare all the key details of the two processes.
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What do I need to make a 3D printed part?
In order to quote or make a 3D printed part, you need to have a 3D CAD file drawing created. We do not offer drawing or scanning services. If you don’t have a CAD drawing of your part you should find a mechanical engineer/design to draw your part. See what is 3d printing.