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What resin for a sliding Window guide?

General Discussion
#1

Hi guys,

I’ve made a replacement part for a little sports cars side windows sliding mechanism. The original part is of some unknown plastics and slides on a metal rail, another guy is selling a similar part printed on an FDM printer with IGUS filament that he claims to be far superior to most materials.

What material in the Formlabs catalog would be good enough? Keep in mind these cars don’t see too much use, but I want to retain a good feel when winding the windows up/down so I can’t use a material that would risk adding friction or something that would wear down too fast.

My own very unscientific tests shows it’s easier to make marks in the IGUS parts than in my sample printer in standard resin. The IGUS one feels softer, I can if I push hard enough even make marks with my nail.

#2

You want this for a real automobile, one that goes outside and sees all kinds of weather and sunlight?

Not certain if there is a good material for this application. You’d have to ask yourself if this will be seeing collision impacts, or just sliding, etc.

The “Durable” resin would seem to be the closest to what you are looking for. You might want to mix that with a colorant to match your application, as this is semi-clear.

#3

It sits inside the door so it’s not visible and won’t see much else than warm summer days. It’ll only be sliding up/down.

#4

After some investigation the original part seams to be made out of ABS.

#5

4K has a silky surface and keeps its shape. It is glass reinforced so shouldn’t wear too fast.