Formlabs, a 3D-printing supplies company, has a new kind of resin it’s calling ‘tough’. It’s still plastic, but plastic you can make real things out of.
Pictures: Formlabs
The company claims that things printed with Tough resin have about the same strength and impact resistance as ABS plastic. That’s not quite the 3D-printed car future we’ve all been promised, but it’s strong enough to make useful objects like chains and wrenches.
To print something out of Tough resin, you’ll need a Formlabs Form 1+ printer, which uses photosensitive resins and laser beams to sculpt objects. That technology enables the printer to bind each printed layer chemically, creating a chain of semi-flexible atoms that lends the final part extra strength, without needing to embed fibres in the material.
[Makezine]