Igor from My Tech Fun compared PC-ABS parts printed on an industrial 3D printer with those produced on consumer-grade machines. The study followed Igor’s earlier comparison of industrial and consumer ABS. He tested Polymaker PC-ABS filament on the Prusa Core One L and Bambu Labs H2D, while the industrial prints were produced on a Stratasys Fortus 450mc using a custom PC-ABS filament. PC-ABS aims to combine the durability and impact-resistance advantages of polycarbonate and ABS; however, it is more expensive and requires a heated chamber. The Polymaker filament was printed at 280º C with a 60-65º C chamber, while the Stratasys filament was printed at 325º C with a 95º C chamber. The industrial printer also took more than twice as long to complete the prints. The parts were examined through different tests until they broke. While the industrial prints performed better in dimensional accuracy, the desktop prints stood out in appearance. The performance differences were mostly small and did not always favor the industrial system. The desktop PC-ABS delivered similar results at a much lower cost.
Why it matters
The comparison shows that moving to industrial equipment for PC-ABS use does not automatically provide a performance gain in every case. This allows those producing with lower-cost desktop machines to weigh the advantage offered by industrial systems against concrete test results, particularly when choosing between strength and appearance. Conversely, the industrial printer’s superiority in dimensional accuracy may justify the higher cost and longer print time for users producing precision parts. However, because the findings were obtained using different filaments, print temperatures and chamber conditions, the results cannot be directly applied to all PC-ABS applications; it remains unclear for which production requirements these differences will be decisive.