ABS & PLA 3D Printing Material Guide

ABS & PLA 3D Printing Material Guide

You are interested in getting started with 3D printing and you wonder which type of filament to purchase. Both ABS Plastic & PLA Plastic are great choices for 3D Printing and we created a PDF printing material guide for you to compare.

  • ABS Filament has been the standard material in 3D printing. Its higher melting point & fuel based polymer is similar to the material used to make car bumpers. ABS creates lightweight, moldable, shock & wear resistant parts that are harder to break. It has a longer shelf life.
  • PLA Filament is a corn oil base and is biodegradable / compostable. PLA is a great choice for those new to 3D printing. It has a greater range of geometry for intricate designs & tends to have minimal warping even on larger parts.

Both materials are available for the Cube 3D with 20+ color options each containing enough material to make about 35 models per cartridge. Switching them out is a breeze – they snap right in. The Cube can also tell you how much material you have left, and won’t let you start to print a design if you don’t have enough material to finish it, to avoid waste. Another example of printing yield is you can print about 13 to 15 cell phone cases (or creations of similar size) from a single cartridge. You can get a discount when you get a pack of cartridges together.