3D Printing Guides

This is just a thread of 3D Printing guides that I've come across that I think are applicable to signmaking. I'm not a signmaker so this is just my best guess, but if you're interested in the technology for your business, some of this might be helpful.

Designing Jigs and Fixtures - This is one of the better whitepapers I've seen that actually give a lot of useful advice and ideas and isn't just a way to try to sell their line of printers. Its probably the most directly applicable for signmakers. Formlabs sells prosumer desktop SLA printers for the low-thousands and is probably the most well known in the category. SLA produces very high resolution and intricate parts but the build volume is small and the resin has a short shelf life (I think 2 months once opened). Its easier to design for SLA because you don't need to think as much about the orientation and features the way you do with FDM (the much more common filament based tech). But SLA resin is expensive, and to my knowledge you cannot do sparse infill the way you can with FDM. Its possible to make a big FDM part that is practically hollow, which greatly saves on time/material. FDM printers also have much larger build volumes with some companies specializing in super-sized printers in the $<10k price range.

SLA prints also become discolored and brittle in the sun from the prolonged UV exposure. 3D prints in general are bad but SLA is probably the worst since it uses light/UV/laser to cure the resin, so the resin is inherently UV sensitive. FDM has carbon-filled filaments that hide discoloration and acts as a UV stabilizer. I don't know of any tests regarding very long term exposure, but I'd go with FDM if I was doing something for outdoors unless I want to go through the trouble of painting/coating it.

https://docdro.id/UTU7XFQ

 

I would never use anything but carbon nylon (or carbon-something) for long term outdoor parts. Normal ABS is not UV resistant, though its probably better than resins. Only plastic I think that is is Acrylic. There was also a post on the 3D printing subreddit of some dude who got his arm blistered up from accidentally spilling resin on himself. Nasty stuff. If you don't need the unique strengths of resin printers, I'd definitely avoid it.

 

https://all3dp.com/2/asa-filament-explained-and-compared/

Turns out there is a filament that is made for outdoor applications. I can't find any spec's on exactly how long one can expect it to withstand the environment though.

Quite affordable too. I ordered a few spools to try.
https://www.3dxtech.com/asa-filament/

 

This is a fascinating option, though its $50/ticket if you want to get it processed sooner.