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Comment by dheera | Hacker News Reader

PLA is pretty useless as a material though for anything but art. Almost everything I print has a functional purpose and either (a) needs mechanical strength (b) will be placed outdoors in the California sun or (c) will be used to house electronics that may reach temperatures as high as 70-80 C.

PLA is basically useless to me and pretty much all roboticists. I use PETG for almost everything because it works perfectly for all my needs; unfortunately I often need to go through about 2-3 versions of many parts I make and wish there were a better, more efficiently recyclable option that has the same or better properties as PETG.

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I’ve just been living with the downsides of pla. Should I just switch to petg?

I have my printer in my bedroom though. Is petg toxi to breathe?

Not sure how toxic PETG is but the fumes are quite unpleasant. When I was around where large amounts of PETG were being worked with, ventilation was a must.

yikes, i thought 3d printers were high emitters of tiny plastic particles that are harmful to breath. Hope it's well ventilated

> I’ve just been living with the downsides of pla. Should I just switch to petg?

As far as utility goes it's so much sturdier as a material that I don't even comprehend why people use PLA, especially considering they are very similar in price, and it's much easier to work with than ABS since it is not particularly prone to warping. If PLA can realistically be composted though, that's another story, bu I was under the impression 3D print PLA isn't the same as compostable PLA cups.

> I have my printer in my bedroom though. Is petg toxi to breathe?

PETG is not known to be toxic, so it's a much better choice than ABS if you don't have a garage or fully ventilated area. That said, I'm always skeptical and I don't keep my 3D printer in my bedroom.

If the part doesn't have to last long or is subjected to smaller forces and the robot is kept in a controlled place PLA is fine. We used them it to make parts for robotics competitions in college.

It really depends on what you're building. For controlled environments that's fine, but unfortunately I'm not building for controlled environments, and tend to do quite extreme things with parts. I need them to be subjectable to force and reasonable amounts of heat. There is no way around it in my applications.

Point is PETG works, sometimes I need to go to CF-Nylon, I'm just looking for something that's as good mechanically and can be recyclable. I wonder if the plastics in the article would work.

> It really depends on what you're building. For controlled environments that's fine, but unfortunately I'm not building for controlled environments, ...

Sample size fallacy right here. Just because it's useless to you doesn't mean it's useless. Plenty are doing fine with PLA.

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