Choosing a Material: PLA, PETG, PCTG, or TPU?

Most people come to us with a shape in mind and no strong opinion about plastic. That's fine. But the material decides whether your part survives its first summer, its first drop, or its first month outdoors.

Answer three questions first

1. Will it get hot? Anything in a car, a garage, an attic, or direct sun counts.
2. Will it live outside? Sunlight and moisture are harder on plastic than most people expect.
3. Does it need to bend or squish? If yes, that's a different category entirely.

Three answers, four materials.

PLA: detail and looks

PLA is stiff, prints the sharpest detail, comes in the widest range of colors and finishes, and is the cheapest thing we run. It's also the first to give up under heat. It starts softening around 60°C (140°F), which a car parked in the summer sun comfortably exceeds. Left outdoors it turns brittle inside a year or two.

Good for: display pieces, prototypes, tabletop models, indoor brackets and organizers, gifts. Anything where appearance leads.

PETG: the workhorse

PETG handles roughly 80°C (about 175°F) and shrugs off water, sunlight and most household chemicals. You give up a little crispness on fine detail and get a glossier surface back. When someone describes a part that has a job to do, this is usually where we land.

Good for: outdoor fixtures, garage and vehicle parts, enclosures, plant and irrigation hardware.

PCTG: tougher than it sounds

PCTG is PETG's under-appreciated cousin and almost nobody asks for it by name. Similar heat tolerance, but far better under impact. It bends or dents where PETG cracks. It also comes out clearer when you want clear.

Good for: parts that get dropped, snap-fit clips, handles and levers, protective housings, anything with a hinge or a flexing tab.

TPU: the flexible one

TPU is rubber, not plastic that bends. You specify it by hardness rather than by name. 95A is about as firm as a skateboard wheel; 85A is closer to a pencil eraser. Softer grades print slower, so they cost more.

Good for: gaskets and seals, grips and handle wraps, non-slip feet, phone and tool cases, vibration damping.

Two jobs these four won't do

A part facing sustained heat and full sun at once, roof-mounted or in an engine bay, wants ASA. A part carrying real mechanical load inside a machine wants nylon or a carbon-filled composite. If that's your part, we'll say so and point you somewhere that stocks it.

What to tell us

You don't need to name a material. Tell us where the part lives, what touches it, and what happens if it breaks. If two materials both work, we'll quote the cheaper one.