3D Printed - Durable Plastic
Durable plastic objects are printed from a polyamide (nylon) powder. The color is white and somewhat flexible depending on the size of the geometry. It is porous and has a slightly textured finish that can have powdery residue left over from the printing process.
Orders using this material generally ship in 2-4 weeks. Find out more.
Durable plastic objects are made on a 3D Systems Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing machine. This machine uses a laser beam to fuse small particles of plastic together, layer by layer.
A thin layer of fine plastic powder is spread over the bed of the machine. A laser passes over the powder selectively fusing it together based on a cross section of the 3D model.
Once the first layer is complete, the bed lowers and a new layer of powder is spread over the work. The process is repeated until the object/s have been printed. The unsintered powder acts as the support material and once the part is complete it is removed using air.
SLS is often used for durable production parts.
The minimum recommended wall thickness for Durable plastic is 1mm and minimum detail size is 0.7mm. However, objects need enough strength to be self-supporting.
For example, large, bulky geometries connected with thin structures (like a character with a big head on a skinny neck) could break in handling (especially in shipping) and should be designed to avoid this. If you have features that extend and converge to a point (eg a cone) they should be at an angle greater than 10 degrees.
Nested objects (objects floating within another object), hinged objects, and interlinking objects like chains work well using this material. A gap of 0.3-0.5mm between objects should be used for them to separate correctly after printing.
Hollow geometry requires a hole to clean out the unsintered powder from the inside.