Has anyone used flexible stuff to print thick things? How durable is it?
I had a standard piece snap on me really easy, but I have some flexible resin I could try.
From my experience, Flexible resin does not handle flexing very well. It does flex indeed but if you put a good amount of force on it it will snap(Think, if you were to print a 5 cm thick pole and try to flex/bend it, you won’t be able to reach a “U” shape without snapping the piece into halves). I mean, this is to be expected, it’s not a rubber band after all.
like @aad345 said, the flex is moderately flexible, but in my experience, it splits fairly easily. Any pressure on a U shape at the bend can easily split the material.
That being said there are several people in this forum who have had success regarding the durability of Flex. I recall someone making a shoe for a costume and he stated it held up very well.
How thick is your piece? What loads are you applying? What deflection do you require? Speaking in terms of “thick things” “snap on me easily” “does not flex well” is really misleading because we all have different reference points for speaking in these relative terms. I don’t mean to be rude to anyone, but it just doesn’t help speaking in relative terms when there is no reference established.
Flexible is obviously the most flexible resin FL makes, so if you need something flexible that is a good resin to try. A good radar graph here https://formlabs.com/materials/engineering/ of various properties