Which material should your 3D print use?

PLA — the everyday default

PLA is the material most 3D prints in the world are made from, and it is what we reach for first. It prints cleanly at fine layer heights, holds sharp edges and small text, and is available in the full colour range you see across our shop. It is stiff and rigid, which is exactly what a stand or holder wants.

Its limits are heat and long-term load. PLA softens in a hot car or in direct afternoon sun, and a thin PLA part that carries weight continuously can slowly deform over months. For anything that sits on a desk indoors, neither of those matters — which is why it is the right choice for the majority of our catalogue.

PETG — tougher, for parts that carry weight

PETG is the step up when a part has to work harder. It is tougher than PLA, has a little give instead of snapping, and handles warmth and load far better. That is why our under-desk laptop holder is printed in PETG at 40% infill rather than PLA: it carries a real laptop all day, and PLA would creep under that kind of sustained weight.

The trade-off is that PETG shows slightly less crisp fine detail and can be stringier on very small features, so we would not pick it for a sculpted bust. For brackets, hooks, mounts, wall-mounted holders and anything that gets knocked about, it is the better material.

ABS — for heat and post-finishing

ABS is the classic engineering plastic. It tolerates more heat than PLA or PETG, sands well and can be chemically smoothed to a glossy finish, which makes it a good fit for functional parts near electronics or engines and for prototypes that will be painted. It is harder to print — it shrinks as it cools and needs a controlled environment — so we use it where those properties are genuinely needed rather than by default.

TPU — when the part needs to bend

TPU is a flexible, rubber-like filament. Phone cases, protective bumpers, grips, feet, gaskets and straps are all TPU jobs; a rigid plastic would crack where TPU flexes. It prints slowly and is not suited to fine sculpted detail, but nothing else in the list does what it does.

How to choose in ten seconds

Ask what the part has to survive. If the answer is 'sitting on a desk looking good', it is PLA. If it carries weight all day, lives in a warm place or gets handled roughly, it is PETG. If it needs to take real heat or be sanded and painted to a smooth finish, it is ABS. If it has to bend, it is TPU.

Material affects price only through the grams used and the print time, not a separate surcharge, so the cost difference between materials for the same part is usually small. If you tell us what the piece is for, we will recommend one when we quote — for free.