I have two Form3 printers and love them. Super reliable printing, and I’ve made a lot of nice models with parts printed on them. Most of my printing is done with Gray resin and occasionally clear or Tough; if I had two wishes, one would be for a resin that could be solvent cemented to styrene (I’ve been told this is impossible) – the other would be for a really resilient, shatter-resistant resin that can be primed and painted for my model work.
The Form4 has new materials that are intriguing; If they would work for me and be tough enough to not shatter like glass when drilled or dropped, and be paintable, I’d probably add one to my shop. Can anyone chime in on this? I’d really appreciate some input.
Photos of models: Star Wars concept training remote (100% prints); “Altares” starship, approximately 50% prints, mix of Gray and Tough.
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Hi @TomHudson ,
Great observation—thanks for pointing that out.
I checked in with our materials team, and they confirmed that the Applications section on the Tough 1500 page highlights some of the exact tests you’re referring to: drop impact, drilling, and driving a screw into an untapped hole. The material performs exceptionally well under these conditions and shows no significant issues.
As an anecdotal example from development, we subjected Tough 1500 to some fairly aggressive testing—dropping parts off a three-story building and striking a latticed ball made from the material with a baseball bat. The drop caused no meaningful damage (though, of course, results will vary with part geometry). While the bat test did fracture the part, the failure resembled that of a tough thermoplastic (like a wiffle ball) rather than something brittle like glass.
So, while I wouldn’t recommend testing a 3D-printed Tough 1500 Death Star with a baseball bat (or a lightsaber), it should hold up quite well to typical drops.
Additionally, our general purpose (GP) resins offer excellent durability at a lower cost. That said, they are somewhat more brittle, so impacts or aggressive drilling may cause failures. I have personally had success drilling them, but using a low feed rate is important to avoid cracking.
Finally, just to clarify: none of our resins—Tough 1500 included—are compatible with solvent welding, as this isn’t feasible with thermoset plastics.
Hope this extra context helps.
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Hello, I print test parts for mechanical engineering. Often, these parts still need some drilling or threading. At first, I printed a lot with grey resin, but I quickly realized that it cracks like glass, so I looked for an alternative. The best solution I found was “ESD.” This material is great to work with — drilling, sanding, and so on. It’s flexible and doesn’t break immediately. Recently, the new “Tough 1500 V2” was released, which I plan to test soon. I hope this answer helps you.
