Mechanical 3D printed parts lifespan

[Tim Mellor]

I have some prints now getting over the two year old mark that are in daily use and abuse and interested how others have found they last in use?

Revisited a fairly early PLA structural print I did just over two years ago in the last day or so. The Shack doggy door was a tip salvage with a few rubbish bits of wood screwed on the side to make it work. The intrepid yappy muttley has over time pushed most of the old flyscreen out of it so time for a new one that looked a bit nicer.

Not that important but 3 laminates of 1/4" Marine ply to create a Double Lap joint on the corners, small routed rebate to sandwich the flyscreen between two layers. Gratuitous shiny shot courtesy of Shellac and Wax finish 8)

The L shaped truss takes most of the load as it also keeps the door open against the prevailing wind/coastal gales. Printed vertically as pictured across the truss fairly heavy at 6 layers (from memory) no cracking or signs of failure and ready to do it again for some more years. The little latch gets used at least once a day if not several times a day and shows no signs of wear and tear along the sliding section.

It doesn't get any real direct UV exposure but under load it is subject to Ambient temps regularly 30-40+C.

[Tim Mellor]

Another random sort of structural print now a bit over 18 months old. I made a pair of them from PETG each one was about $20 AUD in filament so not financially worth it but unlike the garbage commercial options this one won't rust or crack if you look at it wrong. It also taught me a heap about using Fusion 360. No sag issues with the shelves or problems with the locking mechanism. The shelves retain the rail and lock it all together.

With what I now know of Fusion 360 the original method used to create the model is horrid I am tempted to do it again from scratch but the basic idea works really well.