PLA warping in heat

[ktbell444 0]

Hello all,

I have just gotten into 3d printing not too long ago, within a year. I haven't printed much, just a few things for myself. Recently in this heat here in SE Georgia I have had problems with a print I have in the cab of my truck warping from the heat. I originally had it printed with 25% infill, so I figured that was the problem. Recently I printed it again with 100% infill and it didn't even last a full week before it started to warp again. I am using the metallic silver PLA that came with my UM2, and the print came out great, nothing wrong there. Does anyone have any recommendations on what filament would not warp in the heat of a vehicle in the middle of the day? I have tried to do some searching but i haven't really seen anyone say they've had problems similar to mine.

I work nights so it may be a while before I can read replies but I look forward to learning some more about 3d printing.

[Labern 775]

PLA has a very low glass transition temp and this is why it can't withstand the temps in your car.

There are a variety of filaments that have higher glass transition temps but ease of printing varies. You can use abs, pet, nylon or high temp Pla based filaments. Companies tend to give them fancy names as they put in additives, so just check out the glass temp before buying and the base material type.

I tend to stick to nGen from colorfabb as it's fairly easy to print with and doesn't stink.

Searching for users comments on brands or types may help as you will see the problems that the filament is prone to and ways to solve them.

[ktbell444 0]

I appreciate your reply. I was unaware of glass temps. I have purchased some Protopasta High Temp PLA. Seems I can heat treat it to make it withstand temps from 120°-140°C. That should exceed the heat my truck builds up in the day. I appreciate your help. This is something I'm going to research for every type of filament I buy now.

[avogra 68]

Also have a look into Biofila PLAtec or Extrudr Green-TEC. In my opinion they print even better than PLA if you give them a little help for bed adhesion. Might be difficult to source in the US though.

[gr5 2,265]

I was going to suggest protopasta HT. HT=high temp. Printing all high-glass-temp plastics is much more difficult than printing PLA but with protopasta you (in theory) get the best of both worlds - it prints like normal PLA (low glass temp) but then you bake it and it ends up being a high glass temp material.

Let us know if it's as easy to print and how long it lasts in your pickup bed!