Preferred affordable filament for outdoors.

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KaosRifle

KaosRifle

Member
Aug 28, 2023
11
8
Roseville MI
I have been printing a bottle clamp with the housing for my Gauntlet and currently using some cheap PLA for prototyping and getting the sizes right but curious what people recommend. Regarding staying strong and without deforming due to the temp and sunlight. I don't know if people have tried the HT-PLA from Polymaker or have any other recommendations.
 
Gongetit said:
Petg-cf, ASA and occasionally NylonX but there is a new filament PLA high Temp that has better heat protection than abs, asa and petg. This is supposed to be an incredible filament but I have not tested it yet. It is worth checking out. Seems to retain all the good elements of Pla while snoring up this major deficiency.
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I was curious of that HT-PLA but haven't seen to much on it yet.
 
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I printed 2 garden gnomes in PLA to run some tests a while back. Model A was untouched and model B got a few coats of UV resistant clear coat. Placed them both next to each other in my yard (California sun) for full sun exposure.

Model A started to get brittle and broke easy under a year, maybe 6-7 months. Model B held up for 3 years before noticable degradation and may have gone longer had I re-sprayed every year.
Higher temp filament is a good idea if your using it outdoor but, you may want to also consider a UV resistant clear coat.
 
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Navin Johnson said:
I printed 2 garden gnomes in PLA to run some tests a while back. Model A was untouched and model B got a few coats of UV resistant clear coat. Placed them both next to each other in my yard (California sun) for full sun exposure.

Model A started to get brittle and broke easy under a year, maybe 6-7 months. Model B held up for 3 years before noticable degradation and may have gone longer had I re-sprayed every year.
Higher temp filament is a good idea if your using it outdoor but, you may want to also consider a UV resistant clear coat.
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Thanks i'll look into the UV coating, I wasn't sure on using PLA as from my test prints i kept having pieces snapping with even slight flex. It could also be the filament I'm using, normally I do polymaker or Sovol as i like both quality, but tried a cheap spool on amazon called Loctatree which was $10 a KG, not much reviews at the time but the ones it did have was pretty positive but this has been the hardest for me to print with between constant layer separation and being super brittle. i have tried calibrations and changing settings but just not happy with it. I just purchased some Creality PETG to test that out.
 
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LayeredOgre said:
I use PLA for everything, not an expert by any means. I can attest to using UV coating like others have already mentioned, works great on anything going outside. It might be worth to play around with infill type settings to see how that affects your strength.
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Yea i usually use 5 walls, 50% infill with gyroid which has yet to fail unless its along layer lines which is usually my fault on not thinking about the direction of pressure on parts.
 
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KaosRifle said:
Thanks i'll look into the UV coating, I wasn't sure on using PLA as from my test prints i kept having pieces snapping with even slight flex. It could also be the filament I'm using, normally I do polymaker or Sovol as i like both quality, but tried a cheap spool on amazon called Loctatree which was $10 a KG, not much reviews at the time but the ones it did have was pretty positive but this has been the hardest for me to print with between constant layer separation and being super brittle. i have tried calibrations and changing settings but just not happy with it. I just purchased some Creality PETG to test that out.
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PLA is hygroscopic and wet filament = brittle prints. Don't trust it's dry when you get a new roll, thow it in a dehydrator for a run. Even the reputable brands have this problem at times.
 
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Navin Johnson said:
PLA is hygroscopic and wet filament = brittle prints. Don't trust it's dry when you get a new roll, thow it in a dehydrator for a run. Even the reputable brands have this problem at times.
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Any recommend filament dryer, the more the better. I have tubs with silca in it but ran out of tubs and having adryer would be easy. Only dryer i have right now is for the anycubic kobra 3 but usually in use for it own prints and i tend to print parts on the sovol SV07 plus.
 
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Know the job and choose the filament. They all have their best use cases. Using only one filament type does not make sense for me sense I make many different

For airguns - I like high speed petg or pctg because of impact resistance, temp stability and layer adhesion. For things like grips, I like petg-cf or nylonx because of the texture and the strength. Probably a million use cases for other filaments too.
 
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KaosRifle said:
Any recommend filament dryer, the more the better. I have tubs with silca in it but ran out of tubs and having adryer would be easy. Only dryer i have right now is for the anycubic kobra 3 but usually in use for it own prints and i tend to print parts on the sovol SV07 plus.
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Sorry, no experience on the dryers from me.
I have a small dehydrator oven in my kitchen that I use on occasion but, I'm fortunate enough and have the ovens and dry boxes at work. The cow gets mad when I cook filament in the kitchen.
 
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