Category: PLA

When it comes to knowledge there are things you know as facts because you have experienced them yourself or had them verified by a reputable source, and there are things that you know because they are common knowledge but unverified. The former are facts, such as that a 100mm cube of water contains a litre […]
Carbon fiber (CF) has attained somewhat of a near-mystical appeal in consumer marketing, with it being praised for being stronger than steel while simultaneously being extremely lightweight. This mostly refers to weaved fibers combined with resin into a composite material that is used for everything from car bodies to bike frames. This CF look is […]
PLA (polylactic acid) has become the lowest common denominator in FDM 3D printing, offering decent performance while being not very demanding on the printer. That said, it’s often noted that the supposed biodegradability of PLA turned out to be somewhat dishonest, as it requires an industrial composting setup to break it down. Meanwhile, a potential […]
Everything is a fuse if you run enough current through it. Or at least [JohnsonFarms.us] seems to think so, which has led him to design 3D-printed fuses made from conductive PLA filament. Conductive filament is a meltable resistor, which, if one squints hard enough, is basically a fuse. In theory a 3D printed fuse works […]
The Stronghero 3D hybrid PLA PETG filament, with visible PETG core. (Credit: My Tech Fun, YouTube) Sometimes you see an FDM filament pop up that makes you do a triple-take because it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. This is the case with a hybrid PLA/PETG filament by Stronghero 3D  that features a […]
What if you could design your 3D print to fall apart on purpose? That’s the curious promise of a new paper from CHI 2025, which brings a serious hacker vibe to the sustainability problem of multi-material 3D printing. Titled Enabling Recycling of Multi-Material 3D Printed Objects through Computational Design and Disassembly by Dissolution, it proposes […]
ABS is a durable material that can be 3D printed, but requires a 100° C build surface. The print bed of [Pat]’s Bambu Lab A1 Mini is unable to get that hot, which means he can not print ABS…or can he? By fiddling a few settings, he prints ABS no problem with only a 60° […]
The early 1990s were an interesting time in the PC world, mainly because PCs were entering the zeitgeist for the first time. This was fueled in part by companies like Intel and AMD going head-to-head in the marketplace with massive ad campaigns to build brand recognition; remember “Intel Inside”? In 1993, Intel was making some […]
Bambu Lab has released a new line of low-temperature build plates that look to be the next step in 3D printing’s iteration—or so YouTuber Printing Perspective thinks after reviewing one. The Cryogrip Pro is designed for the Bambu X1, P1, and A1 series of printers but could easily be adapted for other magnetic-bed machines. The bed adhesion strength when cold […]
What does it take to make decent tires for your projects? According to this 3D printed tire torture test, it’s actually pretty easy — it’s more a question of how well they work when you’re done. For the test, [Excessive Overkill] made four different sets of shoes for his RC test vehicle. First up was […]