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The answer is 'it depends'. There are a variety of processes and materials that are called 3D printing. For plastic fused deposition modeling (like the Makerbot
by retroafroman 13y ago
The answer is 'it depends'. There are a variety of processes and materials that are called 3D printing. For plastic fused deposition modeling (like the Makerbot), objects can be comparable to say, injection molded parts, which is a more common plastic production method. For metal, selective laser sintering is the most common method, and the parts it produces have different (and probably inferior in most cases) properties than cast/forged/machined parts. There's way too much variety on either side of the coin to say which is more fragile.
- mikevm 13y agoI know that reinforced concrete is often used in construction, so I figured that printing a huge house would make it more fragile, say, during an earthquake.
- Bjartr 13y agoFrom what I've anecdotally heard, SLS parts are actually stronger than a cast part of the same shape.
- DerpDerpDerp 13y agoMakerbot parts can be considerably weaker than injection molded parts because of issues with delamination between layers.