strength of horizontal vs. vertical 3d printed loop

[limor]

We did a small test to see how strong a small plastic printed loop was when printing it on the surface vs. printing it upwards (multiple layers).

Using a fishing wire we pulled against the vertical multi-layer loop. it easily snapped. however the horizontal loop (continuous plastic extrusion) did not snap. it snapped the fishing wire (12kg strength).



direction of build influences rigidity by RoboSavvy, on Flickr

[tempusmaster]

We did a small test to see how strong a small plastic printed loop was when printing it on the surface vs. printing it upwards (multiple layers).

Using a fishing wire we pulled against the vertical multi-layer loop. it easily snapped. however the horizontal loop (continuous plastic extrusion) did not snap. it snapped the fishing wire (12kg strength).

It's a common challenge when designing parts to be 3D printed. If I understand your test correctly, basically what you are doing is delaminating the joint.

Interlayer strength can be improved by carefully calibrating the machine for the particular filament your're using. Filament characteristics, even from the same vendor, vary quite a bit. There's even a significant difference between different colors of the same filament from the same vendor.

To get stronger interlayer adhesion, you want to print at a slightly higher temperature and adjust the design/slicer/gcode so that interfacing layers are printed before the bottom layer has the chance to cool too much.