So i’ve got a short cylinder thats about 1" long with a couple fins sticking off the side that are about 1/4" square and .030" thick.
When built in the standard white resin the fins were so-so in strength and didn’t take much to break them off. Wondering if the “durable” material from FL would be a better choice for something like this?
Durable resin excels in wear resistance and flexibility compared to the standard and tough resins. It seems like you would perhaps want something more like Tough which is much stiffer than Durable, but not as brittle as Standard.
I think the Durable resin might be even better than the Tough resin in that application due to its flexibility. It will be less likely to break if it can bend a little more.
Durable is underrated as everyone seems to want the Tough. Probably because “tough” sounds better and it just has a nicer color.
Thanks guys!
The only question I have with Durable is the temperatures the part will see. I’ve had some thin parts that became soft and would creep/deform under load at about 65 degrees C
You could look at adding a generous draft angle to the fins if you want them to be more durable. If you want the part to be less brittle thickness is your friend (especially with the standard resins).
This is purely a visual model sitting on a shelf. Just want the fins to be durable when little hands at home try to touch or play with the model !!
Durable is probably your best bet then. I would add draft angles to anything you can just to make it stronger overall.
There’s a nifty graphic towards the bottom of this page comparing the material properties of each of the engineering resins. Both Durable and Tough Resin are likely to be a great option here, and you’ll notice that Tough has greater tensile strength but Durable excels in impact strength due to its higher flexibility.
You should be fine with either tough or durable. I think durable is probably the better choice because 0.03 is pretty thin. You might see a little warping on the fins during post cure - maybe leave the supports on?
Also it is worth noting that you can wet sand durable and get a nice finish.
Durable has become my favorite resin now that I’ve tested it.
Given enough thickness, it takes back it’s original shape after bending or stretching.
Now that I’ve printed a few parts with this, I find the other resins incredibly brittle, including “Tough”.
It makes for more resilient useable-in-the-field parts.
I like the milky colour too ; not a big fan of “Tough”'s saturated blue.
I just wish it was not so god damn expensive…
As a coincidence, after using a few cartridges of tough, just this week I tried durable for the first time. I think it is going to be my new go-to resin as well. Super flexible, super “durable” and like you said, always takes back its original shape.
I printed a few thin sheets to do some informal tests:
80mm x 25mm x 0.5mm
80mm x 25mm x 1mm
80mm x 25mm x 2mm
80mm x 25mm x 3mm
I have been bending, pulling, rolling, etc each piece for 2 days now. So far I have been unable to break them and they always end up in their original shape.
Hi Kevin,
I have made a bunch of parts which are accessories for construction site fitting of tensile membranes.
These parts have a tough life.
I’ll come back with pictures of the parts after some wear and tear…
Really, I think that efforts should be made to improve even more the strength of this resin while retaining it’s incredible elasticity ! (And lower the cost …ugh !)