Best material for pull tab cap

[johnwang 0]

I want to print a juice/milk carton pull tab head. So, I want it flexible (tab can be pulled away) and rigid (for the stem). I was told that the regular mass production material is LDPE. Is it true? Which material should I choose if I want to print it, yet maintain same characteristics of the mass produced ones? What type of resolution can I achieve?

Thanks in advance.

[IRobertI 520]

You'd have to use something like nylon or possibly something like the new TPU95A from Ultimaker (although that might be a bit too soft at those thicknesses). I can't give a specific nylon as my experience with it is fairly limited and those pull tabs barely exist here in Sweden so I don't quite know the feel of it.

As for resolution, you can go down to a theoretical 0.02mm layer height (I never go below 0.05mm, and even that is rare). The smallest standard nozzle for an UM2+ is 0.25mm. There are smaller ones but they make it even harder than it already is to print these types of materials. I don't know what your purpose is with these prints (care to share?) but I'm guessing you can get away with something much "coarser" than that.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Guest