Engineering Challenge Video: Will It Tumble?

In our latest challenge, Greg Paulsen, Director of Application Engineering, tests fourteen 3D printed materials made using six industrial additive processes. The parts endure continuous small drops in a cement mixer to gauge their durability. These samples were designed with thin walls, overhangs, ribs, lattices, and more to see which features would meet their match. Which ones do you think will survive?

Watch now to find out.

What Else You Need to Know About the Test

• Each 3D printed part is a half-sphere measuring 4” diameter
• Full spheres were assembled from two halves, which allowed even exposure of features during the test
• All the parts contained the same feature sets
• Fourteen materials and six processes were used—see the table below.
• Once a half-sphere was highly damaged, it was removed from the test and the remaining sphere was combined with another low-to-medium damage part

Test Parts Used in Engineering Challenge

3D Printing Process Material 3D Printing Process

Stratasys Fortus FDM

Material

ABS-M30

3D Printing Process

Stratasys Fortus FDM

Material

PC (polycarbonate)

3D Printing Process

Stratasys Fortus FDM

Material

ULTEM 9085

3D Printing Process

Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (DLS)™

Material

EPX 82 (epoxy)

3D Printing Process

Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (DLS)™

Material

RPU 70 (rigid polyurethane)

3D Printing Process

Stratasys PolyJet

Material

VeroBlackPlus

3D Printing Process

Stereolithography (SLA)

Material

Accura Xtreme Gray

3D Printing Process

Stereolithography (SLA)

Material

Accura ClearVue

3D Printing Process

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Material

Nylon 12

3D Printing Process

HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Material

Nylon 11

3D Printing Process

HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Material

Nylon 12

3D Printing Process

HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Material

Nylon 12 GB

3D Printing Process

HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Material

PP (polypropylene)

3D Printing Process

HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Material

Nylon 12 with vapor polishing

More 3D Printing Resources

• 3D Printing Process and Material Decision Guide
• 5 Easy Ways to Save on 3D Printing
• On-Demand Webinar: How to Design for 3D Printing
• Engineering Challenge Video: Will It Break?

Want your idea to be turned into our next engineering challenge? Submit a request now!

For more content on custom manufacturing from Xometry, check out our recent blog posts.

Greg PaulsenThey call me the Director of Application Engineering at Xometry. This means I not only get to produce great design-for-manufacturing content but also consult on various custom manufacturing projects using CNC machining, additive manufacturing, sheet metal, urethane casting, and injection molding. If you have a question, I'm your guy.

Read more articles by Greg Paulsen