I wanted to know what resin for the Form 3L would people suggest I use if I wanted to make a small fairing for a motorcycle?
It would need to be strong enough as to not break from the wind at high speeds and also be coated with something because it will be outside in the elements.
My thought was Durable, but I’m open to suggestions.
I guess that based on the recent release tough 1500 v2 be the right choice. But unfotunately this resin will not be available for F3L generation once $10K machines. Durable is great, but for that particular application I will never choose resin, get ASA or PC-ABS and get it done with any Material extrusion based machine. Do you already have the design? It also depends on geometry.
But it’s the reality, I’ve tried to replace a throttle handlebar cover from a Ninja 250 with tough resin( blue one) it broke, I also tested tough 2000 same happened, Taulman nylon bridge or 910 was the choice and it lasted like 6 years, I just replaced it with a PA12 SLS part. But many parts I’ve tried to make functional cases out of them ended up failing.
From all the parts I’ve done Durable was the most durable and useful for end-use.
Treat it like any plastic, special adherence coating for plastics first(after sanding it) then primer, paint and UV clear coat, that should be enough, however expect deformation if exposed to direct sunlight because resins have a low temperature resistance even postcured.
I tried to get it for some parts but unfortunately new regulations prevent us from getting our hands on it… There used to be an official distributor but I guess it became very complex to process the import.
Talking it through with the moderator crew, we recommend Durable + Cerakote as a solid workflow. But an alternative route is Thermoforming with essentially any resin, which is how these pieces are usually made.
You’ll find much more info from Thermoforming pros to learn about what materials to use. We like (and use) Formech - they have a ton of case studies. Plus this Thermoforming in auto doc does a nice job of visualizing some components that can be made with this workflow.