Polycarbonate 3D printing service
Polycarbonate is the strongest and most heat resistant filament quoted here, and it is what a part is printed in when it has already failed in something else. It stays rigid at temperatures that soften ABS and it takes a hard impact without shattering. It prints slowly and at high temperature, so a PC part carries more machine time than the same geometry in PETG.
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What Polycarbonate is good for
- High temperature fixtures and jigs
- Structural parts under load
- Impact-facing guards and shields
- Replacements for parts that failed in ABS
What Polycarbonate is the wrong choice for
- Cost-sensitive work
- Very large flat parts
- Parts where a cosmetic finish is the point
The long-form guide, with design rules and the alternatives side by side: Polycarbonate 3D printing, explained.
Designing for Polycarbonate
- Specify PC when the part has a stated service temperature or a stated load. Otherwise ABS or PETG will do the job for less.
- Like ABS it shrinks; large flat geometry wants ribs or a split line.
Polycarbonate against the other materials
| Material | Heat | Stiffness | Impact | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | Low | High | Low | Not suitable |
| PETG | Medium | Medium | Medium | Short term only |
| ABS | High | Medium | High | Not suitable |
| ASA | High | Medium | High | Suitable |
| TPU flexible | Medium | Flexible by design | High | Short term only |
| Nylon PA12 | High | Medium | High | Short term only |
| Polycarbonate | Very high | High | Very high | Short term only |
| PC-ABS | High | High | Very high | Not suitable |
| Carbon fibre filled | High | Very high | Low | Short term only |
| PETG CF | Medium | High | Low | Short term only |
| ABS CF | High | Very high | Medium | Not suitable |
| Wood filled PLA | Low | High | Low | Not suitable |
| Standard resin | Low | High | Low | Not suitable |
Printing Polycarbonate at 3Descu
| Scale | One of the largest 3D printing factories in Eastern Europe, 200+ printers |
|---|---|
| Process | FDM, filament extrusion |
| Maximum part size | 320 x 320 x 320 mm on the standard fleet, up to 500 x 500 x 500 mm on the large-format machines |
| Layer height | 0.12 mm to 0.28 mm, 0.20 mm by default |
| Minimum order | €20 |
| File formats accepted | STL, OBJ, 3MF, STEP, STP, up to 50 MB per file |
| Where it ships | Across the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway, by courier from Romania |
| Uploaded files | Deleted 90 days after upload |
| Quality system | ISO 9001:2015 certified |
| Who prints it | TREIDESCUPRINT SRL, J18/753/2022, on its own machines |
Delivery
| Destination | Standard | Express |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 1-2 business days | 1 business day |
| Bulgaria, Hungary | 2-3 business days | 1-2 business days |
| Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia | 3-4 business days | 2 business days |
| Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia | 4-5 business days | 2 business days |
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What this page does not claim
There is no tolerance figure and no strength figure for Polycarbonate on this page. A printed part does not have the properties of the spool it came from, and this shop has not measured its own, so publishing a number lifted from a filament data sheet would be publishing somebody else's result as ours. What is missing and why is set out under design rules, and where a part needs one of those figures it is measured on a real printed sample rather than quoted from a table.
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Also known as PC, polycarbonate. Material data sheets and a dimensional report can be supplied on request.