durable materials
Thank you Steve for sharing these great designs with the world, and your support of people using them to build clocks. I'm looking forward to printing and building one of them myself soon.
I saw that you joked in another post on this forum that these clocks would not be heirlooms for anyone. That got me to thinking "why not?" I assume it is because PLA isn't designed for longevity. ChatGPT suggests these lifetimes for different materials: PLA - 5-10 years, ABS - 10-20 years, PETG - 15-25 years, Delrin - 20 years to indefinite.
A Delrin clock would be cool, but all indications are that it is quite hard to print.
Some online services offer 3D printing in metal. For instance Selective Laser Melting for Stainless Steel (at jlc3dp.com)
I expect that these materials aren't quite ready for this application, but I was wondering, Steve, if you've been pondering other materials yourself?
Thanks, Tucker