Background:
At Printing Portal, our extensive fleet of 3D Printers enables us to offer a wide array of materials, each with its own strengths and limitations. This page aims to elucidate the differences between our materials and technologies.
Multi Jet Fusion Materials:
MJF is our core service, it accounts for the majority of work passing through the business. Utilizing a powder bed process, MJF is ideal for producing large volumes of parts, which can be efficiently nested together. The resulting parts exhibit high homogeneity, ensuring minimal variation in properties and surface finish—perfect for batch production.
PA12:Â The most common material for powder bed 3D Printing Services, offering an economical option within our MJF materials line up
PA11:Â Boasting greater toughness and ductility compared to PA12, though less frequently utilized, leading to longer lead times and slightly higher prices. Consider ordering in larger batches to optimize efficiency.
TPU 01: A flexible and exceptionally tough material, synergizing well with Vapour Smoothing processes. Examples of TPU Applications.
Large Format 3D Printing Service Materials:
Our Large FDM service is tailored to provide an economical solution for printing large parts. While the surface quality and material properties may not match those of MJF printing, it remains unmatched for part volume.
PLA:Â The sole material offered on these machines, with our standard PLA being BASF Ultrafuse Pro1, renowned for its excellent properties and print quality.
Desktop FDM Materials:
The latest addition to our 3D Printing Services, our Desktop FDM Printers—comprising 7 Bambu Labs Desktop Printers—enable us to offer a diverse range of specialty materials. Presently, this service is reserved for projects with unique requirements beyond the capabilities of our standard MJF service.
It's crucial to note that due to the nature of FDM, lead times for batch production via this service are significantly slower compared to MJF. Furthermore, visual quality and repeatability are generally perceived as lower than with MJF.
In select cases, we can accommodate multi-colored 3D Printing through the Bambu AMS (Automatic Material System), though this is evaluated on a part-by-part basis, as MJF printing combined with painting often presents a superior option.
Find out more
To get a hands on feeling of our material & finishing options order our Sample Pack which includes arange of MJF materials & finishes.
Our MJF Materials Web page includes detailed datasheets for all of our MJF materials & similar for our Large Format 3D Printing Service.