I’ve printed probably 5 kilos worth of prints with a lot of success, but exclusively PLA. I’d like to branch out to a new material. Should I start with ABS or TPU?
I’ve printed probably 5 kilos worth of prints with a lot of success, but exclusively PLA. I’d like to branch out to a new material. Should I start with ABS or TPU?
I would set my goals to mastering PETG next. It’s easy to get and inexpensive in price. It offers more toughness, (do not confuse toughness with hardness), plus it’s more heat and UV resistant also, (though PLA has surprised me with several outdoor repair parts I have made) . But it can suffer from creep in assemblies. It can make durable car accessories like phone holders or a cup holder cheap and easy to design.
ABS/ASA really needs a heated enclosure to print reliably day in and day out. And the fumes they give off during the print process are dangerous to your health. And you must have proper ventilation to use them safely. I keep as spool around, but I very seldom find the need for ABS anymore.
TPU, while a fun material to play with, is pretty much a one trick pony. The vast majority of things you will print will seldom require TPU. I try to very hard not to print just one item in TPU because it’s not worth the effort. I try to line up several projects that need TPU to make it worth my while because there is hours of drying time involved before printing.
If you want branch with different materials, you will need to add a filament dryer. You can get a purpose designed unit that can quite spendy or you can get a cheap food dehydrator and get the same results in the same amount of time.