I made a 3d printable eReader case for my wife. Wanted to test what would happen if we water logged them and left them in the sun to dry.

Two of the cases are made from PLA while the other is made from PETG. They are all held together by thread and leather.

The test here is to see if moving from PLA to PETG was the right move since the last time I did this, the case turned into a banana.

My eventual plan once I’ve finished with my testing is to sell these cases and make their designs available for others to print.

  • @empireOfLove
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    1510 months ago

    It can survive fine when under no load. It probably fades color less than abs does actually. However When experiencing any kind of mechanical load - say, a tablet squeezing at the edges for a friction fit - it fails rapidly at elevated temperatures.

    • @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      Yup, and any interior vehicle parts I’ve done that have any loads have yielded after any kind of sunny week or so.

      Massively oversized parts can last a bit longer, but they just have very low creep temperatures.

      • @empireOfLove
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        210 months ago

        That’s exactly how I know. Made some very nice interior car parts and experimented with the 3 plastics. PLA failed in a day, PETG made it a week before it sagged too much to be usable, but ABS is still going.

        • @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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          110 months ago

          Yeah, I haven’t bitten the bullet and tried abs yet, mostly because I’m not ready to setup ventilation and better temp control.

          Asa seems to be another option, but I’ve been having too much fun printing TPU parts to bother.

          • @empireOfLove
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            110 months ago

            ahhh, TPU is addictive isn’t it. So squishy and flexy. I’ve even made gaskets out of it for an ATV- not good ones, because it fails to seal when too cold, but gaskets that still work nonetheless.