We recently announced that new finishes are available on our Strong & Flexible plastics (also known as XSF). But what is this material, versatile enough to use to make anything from iPhone cases to parts for remote controlled quadcopters to bikini bottoms? The rare material with which thicker areas provide structural strength yet you can also make parts thin enough to bend without breaking, like a hinge or a spring?
Strong & Flexible plastic models are printed on EOS P110, P395, and P760 printers using a technique called selective laser sintering (SLS). The laser sinters, or fuses together, nylon powder, layer by layer. As you can see in the video below, products emerge from the 3D printer in a block of nylon that is then carefully taken apart, and the finished parts are removed, cleaned, and, depending upon your instructions, polished and dyed.
The material guidelines will give you a good basis for designing in XSF, but it’s always good to hear from an expert, so we reached out to a member of our community, Roolz, who shared some pro tips.
Roolz is the designer behind the PMG Shapeways shop, says that Strong & Flexible plastics “allow almost any shape, so it’s hard to design something ‘totally unprintable.’” That said, it takes practice to make what you envision, and beginners may need to iterate several times. Roolz also recommends paying careful attention to the orientation of your Strong & Flexible models.
“Shapeways engineers will make an educated guess,” Roolz says, but the designer knows best how to orient their designs in the 3D printer.
- For parts requiring assembly or tight tolerances, the X and Y axes (layers) give the best dimensional accuracy
- For aesthetics, the Z axis gives sharper edges on “top,” smoother on “bottom”
- For anything that will endure serious stress, mechanical properties are also lower in the Z axis
PMG is short for Pimp My Game, and Roolz makes board game parts that can either replace pieces you lost or enhance your enjoyment of Forbidden Stars, Puerto Rico, Mice and Mystics and many other games.
Many of Roolz’s models come in unpolished White Strong & Flexible, and you can hand-paint them, which is a lot like painting a store-bought injection-molded model:
The main difference is that the printed XSF material is porous (“drinks” the paint), and has sometimes a bit of remaining nylon powder in the deeper recesses (“drinks” the paint even more). So washing with soapy water and scrubbing and a toothbrush is important, to remove as much nylon powder as possible. You can also apply more primer coats than usual to limit the porosity.
What have you made in Strong & Flexible? Share your projects in the comments below for a chance to be featured in Shapeways Magazine.
Cover image: Jeep cars by PMG
I love the versatility of Strong & Flexible plastics. With it I have made custom HO Scale Slot car chassis which features adjustable wheelbase, as well as a number of car bodies that snap on to the chassis. The material is super tough and easily withstands crashes without bending or breaking. And its light weight makes it idea for making bodies for the toy race cars where reducing weight is crucial to performance. I also make replacement parts for antique slot cars such as rear wings & spoilers, and guide pins, as well as some hard-to-find replacement parts for antique O-gauge trains. And model ship fittings. All are available through my Shapeways shop.
I build 1/25 and 1/24 scale tank this new item looks like it would be a good thing to make the track (tread) for the different type of vehicles. Many that I build are motorized and need flexible but strong snap-together type track. There is a whole new line of R/C tanks that are being produced but there are no spar part for them being made. the brands that I know of. They are Vs tank in 1/24 scale and Forces of Valor in 1/24 scale both of these companies do not have spar tread that I know of. Tamiya and Academy make 1/25 scale tanks and there is only of few extra part left over for any repairs from the model kits. So if any maker would make 1/2 tracks this would be a good new item to make the track out of. I am a shopper but I “Just the same, I thought I would share this with the group”.
Check out the Bike Strap: https://www.modeo.co
We love Shapeways strong and flexible because it allows us to produce a low volume and high quality product at a price point that is tolerable. The Bike Strap is loved by bicyclists all over the world. Thanks Shapeways!
Thanks for sharing, Jon! Would love to feature the Bike Strap in the Magazine!
I have made in a lot of sculptures in Strong and Flexible.
Happy with the strength.
But how long would it take for this nylon to degrade and which harming residues be left after ?
Does somebody know what is the LCA value (Life Cyclus Analyses) ?
Thanks, Theo
Hi Theo! The technical name for this material is PA 2200, and you can read a 2011 life cycle analysis on the material here, but keep in mind that, specifically at Shapeways, we make progress every day toward reducing our waste, so the data cited here is likely different from Shapeways usage data. No harmful bi-products are released from the material unless it’s burned, which we do not recommend as the melted material would also be a danger to the skin. You can find the material’s safety data sheet here.
The material is quite surprising and very strong – I design and print remote controlled ship models in 1:200 scale, and the boats have to withstand even the rougher conditions on the lake when you accidentally run into a rock or a fellow modeller’s boat – so far no problem even with only 1…1.2mm wall thickness to enable fine details and to achieve a low weight. Once the parts are sanded and painted, they are well waterproof, too, and the models stay nice for many years (my oldest one has been in service for about two years by now). It would be great to have a means of polishing larger parts than what’s currently available, but the large parts can also well be handled with a bit of sand paper.
Thanks for sharing, Matthias! Great info here.