Re: [TECH]:: Advice sought on 10 and 000 quantity manufacture of tubular plastic products

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the links, great, will check them out~! I'm kind of a late starter with 3D 
printing, but just splashed out and bought a Bambu Lab H2D.

Before now I've mostly used PLA with good results, harder than ABS so yes 
somewhat more brittle, but pretty good dimensional accuracy and low cost/easy to 
print. Made some clips to hold a PCB onto an aluminum rail, flexible enough to do 
that.

Just started using ABS for one item now, filament has a UL94V-0 rating... the 
temperatures required are so much higher (bed @ 105 deg C, enclosure 60, 
extruder 260'ish), good ventilation a lot more necessary.

Brent

On 9 Apr 2026 at 11:44, Richard Prosser wrote:

> We use ProtoParts (USA / China) for prototypes. Especially larger
> quantities we can't realistically manufacture ourselves.
> Nearer Home, there's also Product Dev (Christchurch), might be worth a look.
> 
> I like the idea of standard pipe for the body & just get the end caps etc
> printed / molded.
> 
> Re print material, I've never been real happy about PLA - I find it
> brittle. I tend to use ABS as 'standard' and PC where extra strength or
> flexibility is concerned. (The PLA problem may be down to using old
> material ?)
> 
> RP