It was fun seeing random successful functional prints around the yard. The generator setup is sweet.

I live on a boat and I've 3D printed a ton of TPU gaskets and outdoor parts, mainly in PETG-CF and ASA-CF. Nothing has failed or even shown signs of wear after 2-3 years at sea.

The company I work for makes PLA for outside use. It took some research, but our products can be used outside now for at least 15 years. In an industrial plant it still can be recycled into compost within a week or two. On the other hand we can make PLA with will degrade in nature within a year or two. So there are a lot of different qualities of PLA. The key factor is the P (which stands for poly). PLA with short chains of Lactic Acid will not be suitable for outside use. PLA with very long chains of PLA is so hard it is not suitable for 3d-printing (filament is hardly bendable), but quite durable for outside use.

I threw 2 misprinted miniatures from PLA into our compost silo, to see when they would disintegrate. After two years both pieces came out with the readily composted earth, completely intact, solid and unchanged.

I have a bunch of planters that I printed as 2mm thick shells, full weather exposure, soil, moisture, the works for 5 years. Before that, they were indoors, in a window for 2 years. They basically look like new.

I printed a rain cover/shelter for a bird feeder out of ASA and painted it to match the feeder, so I suspect that thing will last forever. I admit I didn't even consider printing it from PLA because of all the FUD about using PLA outside. After seeing your experience, I'll definitely give it a try and see how it holds up!

I’ve printed some adapters for outside solar landscaping lights at least 3 years old. Still working fine. Also about 1.5 years ago Replacement crank handle on a garden hose reel. Door handle for privacy fence gate over 4 years ago. All these are Hatchbox Black PLA. I did print one larger item from that PLA that warped some but it hasn’t disintegrated and still doing what it is meant for.

In 2017 I printed a ravens head for a scout patrol to go on a staff out of black PLA. It melted a bit in the sun but still looked okay. I also made a box to hold some card scrappers out of PLA and that was fine until my dad left it in a car once and then it warped to the point the lid wouldn’t close. I also had a zip tie holder that sat in the garage warp/creep on me from just the elevated temps and the force of the zip ties pushing out. After these personal events I’ve decided against using PLA for anything that is a tool or may be in a garage, car, or outdoors for long. It’s not the degradation / UV but simply that the softening point is too low.

I have printed house numbers for a letterbox beside a friend's drive. It is in full sun for over 2 years and printed in PLA Pro dark grey, and is still going strong. It is exposed to +100°F in summer and down to freezing witthout issue. Great video. I have now printed off the endcaps for my bug hotel and cannot believe that since I have printed them, I have had no garden leaves or debris build up around my unit. Practical printing FTW

From my experience lighter color PLAs are fine outside in the sun and you can coat them in UV resist coatings. But darker colors will absorb more heat and will warp or sag under weight, but will anneal and stop warping. Now for hot cars, PLA will soften and change shape.

I've printed a couple of brackets like your trampoline ones for some surveillance cameras out of PLA. They have been bolted to the roof racks on my toyota hilux for about 2 years and there's no signs of wear. I believe it was black flashforge pla. I also printed some hooks for the monitor to hang from my sun visor which have crept quite a bit, but theyre still working 2 years on. I recently designed a replacement sun visor to accept the screen which I've been having some printer troubles so haven't been able to print yet.

I printed 2 post clamps for our house number sign out of black PLA. Put them on 3 years ago and never touched them again. No fading, works fine.

Awesome little improvements! Thanks! 👏👏😁😁

nice! great to see a long-time test of 3D printed parts! thank you

Great data points. Craziest part is that with years of generator use you never forgot to remove that cap and melted it. I've had a compliant/single-piece clothespin in direct sun for about a year now that still flexes fine. R3D clear PLA

Wow, this is my type of 3-D printing video-things that are practical. I print mostly motor mounts, control horns for my RC planes and whatever I find a need for around the house. I did print a replacement 4”x4” plastic fence cap replacement using PLA. It lasted about two years before the top (direct Colorado sun and freezing weather) deuteriated. OVERTURE PLA.

That's one gorgeous trailer!

I use TPU for gutter drain covers and they work well and they seem to hold house paint as well.

Thank you. These sort of items are what I would like to get a 3D printer for. Thanks because I have heard the negatives about PLA and the pros about other types but the difficulty with printing with some of them. New subscriber as of today.

I have attachments that I printed in pla that I use on my speargun that have been going for 2 years with regular exposure to salt water and depths of 15m which generates a lot of pressure. The pats have held up perfectly. PLA is incredible.

I enjoyed the video! Feel free to make more like these.

Wouldn't painting the parts help with the exposure issues?

I live on the coast so we have some quite heavy winds ... I'm tall and fat and so I made some "garden furniture" out of sleepers which is absolutely solid and heavy and is basically immoveable. I used my 3D printer to print some brackets that are now bolted to one of the garden chairs to drop the support tube for a large and heavy garden umbrella into (not one of the cheap lightweight things - this is a hefty heavy canvas umbrella that is now probably 10+ years old). The brackets have been outside now for four years or so and are still absolutely solid and have held on to the umbrella in some winds that *I* wouldn't want to try holding on to it in! I've also printed a plot number sign for my other halfs allotment which is now about four years old (and we keep boing asked by other allotment holders if we can do signs for them), similarly I've printed off brackets that are screwed into the wooden surrounds for the planting beds on her allotment that are used to put the ends of some thick tubing into to make hoops to stretch netting over to stop birds getting to the plants - they're all doing well and remember this is a coastal environment. I've got custom brackets made up for outdoor WiFi antennas and WiFi Bridges which have only been outside for a year or two. I've not had anything fail yet...

YEAH MAN, this rocks. I literally yesterday put a few PLA parts outside like laundry clips (of course they will loose tension, springiness or whatever) and other shit to see if it's that true. I got some Impact PLA that's supposed to be stronger than ABS. Perhaps it will go even better outside here in Poland where we only get above 30'C / 86'F maybe few times a year. Nice followup and great approach giving all the files. Thanks for the video.

I have had a few small items in my car, thin items just turn to goo (warp and distort) but I also have a small box with 2mm walls and slide on lid and it's held up just fine. With the thin items I am sure it's more the heat than anything else. I also have a very chunky door handle for our screen door on the front of the house (kids destroy everything so I made it thick and lots of infill) and it's not in direct sunlight (front door is inset 6' from the front of the house) but it's been there 3+ years and it's used every day multiple times and still even looks like the day I installed it (pretty sure it will hold up longer than the rest of the door). Now I have a small solar panel on the eve of my house (just a 5v one that recharges a motion light) and that is PETG because it's in direct sunlight, all weather and is structural (and only 2mm thick walls) so I wanted to assure it would last 5+ years (it's now a little over 3 years old).

I printed a shield for a temperature sensor out of pla several years ago and it is still going strong. I am also in the northeast and we see every kind of weather.

I have used black PETG for brackets used to construct a chicken coop using pvc conduit. The brackets are used with a zip tie that wraps around 2 pvc pipes and maintains the stiffness. There's screw holes that too. 4 years now no degradation in them.

I've tested my fair share of PLA prints outside and none of them have ever gone that many years. I do a lot of gardening so I've tried stuff in several materials and PLA in the garden breaks down with sun and regular water exposure. I've made stakes for plants and garden tags and any PLA prints start breaking down. They first will show signs of warping and then major fading. By the end of the grow season they will be flaking pieces off. That's 12 plus hours of sunlight and every few days sprinkler or rain water on them. That's about a total of 5 months growing outside for us and pla looks bad. Now PETG or ASA or even Nylon is totally different outside. PETG still has its flexible properties even after a year so far. Made a part that had to flex for outside and so far it's still flexi. No signs of break down. I could go on but I find your findings interesting. I've never seen those results and that's with several colors and brands.

I printed hangers clamps out of PLA+ to clamp cameras and small solar panels to round and square shepherds hooks clamped by stainless steel bolts and wing nuts. Those that were tightly bonded have lasted 4 -5 years in Chicago winters. 1 that there was a rough surface only lasted 1.5 yrs. A lot depends on how water can penetrate the structure and freeze. Most of my clamps are white, so they reflect a lot of the solar energy. My first black camera hood lasted 2 yrs before removed without problems. Other parts I made this spring so too early to say anything.

awesome info! thanks

I printed some coat hangers and other hooks for my office about 9 years ago (on a printrbot... yes early adopter) in pla because I added a heated bed to print abs later, and they are indoors but un-painted, but they have gone brittle and after finding things randomly on the floor where theyve been hanging for years I've had to print replacements, which have been going ok for a couple of years now. I made cupholders for the camping car and they lasted 2 years then gave up. I printed a handle in pla and z axis stabilizer for the printrbot and it disintegrated a few years back, but did some parts in ninjaflex when it first came out and I managed to mod my extruder to print it, and they are still in use, as is my frankensteined printrbot, I use abs, ninjaflex and petg now. My older reels of dog ends of PLA in odd colours that had sat on hangers on the printer room wall had got so brittle that when they were loaded onto the spool rack and fed into the printer, they broke like dried spaghetti before even getting the extruder. Some I stripped off a few meters and they were ok, others were toast. FUD? no, just my own personal direct experience.

Printed a 98A TPU angled funnel, that one has seen gas, diesel, coolant, ice and constant sunlight as its hanging on the toolbox attached to my excavator... for 4 years, in Norway. Extrudr Flex Medium TPU. Still like new. They've just dropped 70D (think hard hat) TPU-CF... It is god-like material. 😊

i made some garage vent covers for my uncle a couple years back, they live on the south side in direct sunlight. made from pla, but its white pla, so i guess, if you have to print something for the outdoors in pla, make sure its white. no warping to this point

having the electrical box cover slide into the J-channel like that is genius

Got my EV/hybrid car back in 2021, printed a holder for the charger that has been in the sun, ice, harsh rain since that spring. No deformity, it perfectly fits the charger port still to this day. I assumed i might have to print a replacement every two years but now I'm thinking it's gonna be just fine!!

if someone ever asks you " why get a 3d printer?" show them this video. are there other solutions? maybe but this is amazing, and cost less than a dollar most times. Great video showing the real usefulness of PLA

i designed and printed some gutter brackets for a friend 7 years ago - white PLA, they are still there and are totally fine.

PLA seems to hold up well outside for me. I have more issues with PLA inside a hot car in the summer. The part will warp almost guaranteed. I have a pla truck hitch receiver cover that has held up fine for 3-4 years being outside in the sun most days as well as held up fine with the car wash many times.

I’ve made “race horse blinders” that bolt onto my offroad spot lights. Been 5 years, and still same as day 1 Resin printer and painted

Same here, a bunch of auxiliary pieces. Holders, caps, shelves, clamps...

Printed PLA caps for my parent pool railing to replace the old cracked ones almost 10 years ago and they still are fine.

Настоящий мужик. Российский мужчина выносит елку в сентябре, американский не убирает гирлянду.

Thank you !!!!!!

Easiest way to protect it..put some UV clearcoat or even spraypaint if it sits outside...also...maybe not in black...in white/gray to help reflect heat away from it Krylon K01305 Gallery Series Artist and Clear Coatings Aerosol But PLA is a pretty good plastic... Very cool! Keep em coming!!!!

PLA definitely works outside. I have a bunch of garden decor, a mount for my doorbell, and some caps for metal conduits. It gets around 40c/-40c throughout the year where I live. I will say though the once place it has failed me is in my car, I made sunglass holders and due to the glasses hanging down from a clip, over time the print warps like your tomato holder. I've tried using PETG for it but it was the same issue. I believe ABS or ASA will work but I haven't tried them yet.

I printed a fish tank house (fish shelter) in pla+ and its lived in a heated saltwater tank for like 3 years without issue. Ive also printed a 3" intake tube for a v8 motor that sits inches directly above the exhaust manifold out of 910 alloy and its perfect still

I 3D printed an armor for cosplay prolly around 3 years ago and... mostly its always exposed to the sun since mostly we are doing outdoor activities, but for whatever reason it disintegrated after I accidentally dropped a piece of my armor costume, which is surreal, and when I check all other parts, it became brittle... its also made from PLA...

i had some pla ghosts i printed for Halloween I left out year and they disintegrated over time. they were made from glow in the dark pla and were very thin. the part that where in contact with the dirt disintegrated and the rest became discolored and brittle. However i reprinted them as it took about 3 years out there all year to get to that point (hey i think the lil ghosts are cute around the mailbox), A lot of the current pla has anti uv additives in them so as long as they aren't warping from the sun they work ok. i also printed pla vent replacement in clear natural pla (no additives) they became brittle and had to replace them in about two years. I used clear because i didn't want them to warp from heat. the next time i printed them i sprayed them with clear uv protective top coat and they were good for 3 years where the whole vent needed to be replaced. I also printed a cover to help keep animals out of a crawlway space it has been 5 years and it works fine. For me i find contact with dirt and thickness of the material is what matters. I have a water bib standoff i printed its a bit discolored (yellowed) but still works fine (it is in white abs)

I think it depends on your local conditions and color of filament as well as what is in contact with the print. I for example have had lots of failures with pla inside a car, mostly it just melts and distorts

what they putting in that hatchbox pla man? gotta get me some of that. One thing I noticed is the things that faired the best outside had substantial portions of plastic mass that was hidden away, e.g. The drain plug cover, the little frame end cover for your air conditioner, both had more plastic mass inside and protected than the amount of plastic exposed to the outside. Maybe that helps stop the warping when UV rays are only hitting a percentage of the print vs something where the entire print is in the sun.

Great video. This is something I really wanted information about. I have printed outside (and indoor) stuff in PLA for private use. But I don't dare print anything in PLA that I sell (tools, sporting, fishing etc.) simply because you never know if the customer will leave the item in a hot car or out in the sun to find it back deformed or warped. So it is ASA in most cases and PETG in some others.

Interesting, I have indeed been avoiding PLA for outdoor projects. Usually stick to PETG, which of course hasn't had any issue because it's specifically UV-resistant.

hey how do you mow under/around that trampoline? I like being able to drag ours around but it would be nice to not have to do that and secure the thing for storms

Same experience here. And when you paint them it gives an extra protection against UV

good find on that wasps nest

When I purchased my car the rubber seal was missing from the oil filler cap on top of the engine. I printed a gasket in PLA by testing different thicknesses with about 15% infill. About 18 months later I noticed it had cracked in several places across the filament lines instead of along the filament lines that you might have expected. But that was exposed to hot oil fumes so that maybe why.

I've got all kinds of prints outside with similar results. PLA will warp if it's in direct sunlight, especially if the wall thickness isn't very high, and some brands will discolor (more to do with the pigment used than the actual pla), otherwise it seems fine. My PETG and TPE prints that are outside are perfect.

Great video! I did that sleeve for my electrical box a few years ago. Allowed me to pass a home inspection when we sold. Would you happen to have a link to that irrigation stake? Thanks again for a great video.

🇨🇦/🇺🇸... I've not had PLA outside... but PLA items that I left in the hot car, in the sun turned into pretzels.

I haven't printed much outdoor stuff but last year I made quite a thin walled accessory for my car dash board. People always say PLA warps in the sun. But my part, made in Matterhackers Quantum filament, has held up perfectly fine on the hot car dashboard.

Thanks for the idea of printing a tpu patch for your bumper!! I’ve got a number of love taps/holes on my rear bumper as I jackknifed my trailer handle into it :( Did you make a video of that patch?

I have not used a single 3D print outside longer term yet. Well i do have a little PETG piece holding up my bicycle mirror but it's basically fully hidden from light. I only have one spool of PLA, i bought it 8 years ago from OWL, and while the spool feels like it should still print OK... i hadn't been printing with it for the last several years, but it doesn't seem at all suspicious, it has been stored well, but the prints haven't fared very well. The unloaded prints still look usable but loaded ones experienced changes around the 2 year mark, they got crazing around pressure spots and they became brittle, and there is a hint of yellow discolouration on all pieces. The filament is silver coloured but it's very transparent and the pigment isn't very evenly spread, you can see distinctive differences in pigmentation density from layer to layer. Also my first 3D prints 8 years ago were from clear natural Renkforce PETG, one holds up the control board fan, the other protects the power supply. The latter is still in use, the former got replaced because it got somewhat more brittle than it used to be and suffered an accident. Both yellowed quite a bit. The printer is near a window indoors. The power supply print is bound to be replaced soon, as i'll be putting in a different power supply. I'm not at all concerned about long term performance in the sun of thoroughly pigmented plastics as long as they don't get hot enough to warp. Black in particular is bound to absorb all the UV and concentrate the sun damage to the outermost skin of the item. But there is apparently some degradation mode that affects PLA and i've hit that somehow, not sure what is the cause. I mean you can always hit anything except PETG with a little paint, maybe silver paint for protection.

I try to always use white or transparent PLA for outside use, things even warp in Swedish sun

I suspect the amount of pigment in the filament and the thickness of the walls have a big impact on how well it holds up. IIRC the ones I've seen people post that degraded quickly were also vase-mode, so single wall.

I printed a bunch of PLA washers to help mount my cameras on siding clips. The material is functionally fine but heavily faded after about 2 years, though they see full sun. It was ERYONE Silk PLA.

Does the amount of in-fill affect the durability? Just wonder.

I've printed a lot of PLA for outside use (before I had a more capable printer) thinking I'd just reprint it every year. 5 years later, I've never had to reprint anything. I've had ABS prints fail outside faster, lol. Inside a hot car in the summer is another thing altogether, but just being outside isn't that bad. I've recently started printing lots of ASA & TPU, but I expect them to do well in almost any environment.

Thanks for a good video, but where do you live & what is your climate? Biggest problem I hear for PLA is heat, here in Florida it's basically 100° for at least 3 months & over 80° for 6 months even in shade, so how much heat & for how many months were your PLA objects subjected to?

sugar snap peas!? yum.

Just found this channel and love it. New to 3d printing. I don’t see a link for the garden hose stakes. I really want to print some for my irrigation system in my garden. Thanks.

Dumped some pla part after print into boiling water at 100 deg celcius and it was hard to bend by hand when they are thick like 6mm

I learned ASA filament is the most popular choice for outdoor use - it's renowned for its UV resistance, in comparison to other types of filament, such as ABS or PETG, ASA is considerably more resistant to the long-term effects of UV light exposure and has a higher resistance to colour fading, warping and cracking. 👍

Printed railings exposed in the top of my sailboat using white PLA plus 3 coat of UV filtering varnish. After 2 years in Florida, I had to have them reprinted in nylon as their were becoming brittle and started breaking. Has not aged since.

I printed a steering knob for a forklift. It's only a bit over a year old, and not really "outside", but it's doing well. Normal PLA.

Diesel generator jumpscare warning

I have printed numbers for our mailbox in pla. It has been outside for 3 year's no problem 👍😁.

Do you think the green tinge on the tpu could be algae or something else growing?

The only PLA print I've had go very brittle was a piece I had in a aquarium for 5 years, When i picked it up i could crush it in my hand. But that is the only thing and I have printed alot of stuff that have been outside for soon 10 years

I have CCTREE PLA wall brackets for flood lights all around the house and I live in Cape Town South Africa so they are exposed to heat cold and stress of having to carry weight.... Some of these have been printed just about 7 years ago on my old Anet A6 3D printer.... I also have a couple of modifications on my Chinese Brand 150CC moped that that are printed from a local South African Filament maker called Filament Factory and use their PLA+ to made addons for external voltmeter and usb and 12v socket housings so I can see the strength of the battery use a usb cable to charge my phone used as a GPS and even use a 12v outlet for mini air pump or whatever needs 12v on the road. I must add that all these modifications have held up better than my lockbox that is injection molded in ABS. The top has become brittle and the red reflection part on the lockbox has lost its shine has become brittle and in parts completely disintegrated but the PLA+ has not shown any signs of wear and they have been on the moped longer than the lockbox, almost 3 years and the lockbox is just 2 years.... Its the same argument people had about you can't leave your 3D printer alone if you print as it will catch on fire and burn your house down... I have always heard STORIES of it happening than Actual proof that it has happen and the times there was proof there was ALWAYS owner negligence involved in some way, printing near flammable substances, printing in confined spaces even cluttered space, and over modding their 3D printers that puts stresses on the electronics an so on. Thank you for sharing your findings with Us and breaking down the stigma of you can't use PLA for functional out door prints.

i printed my sisters all kinds of pla figures of pokemon and they put them in their cars. i live in tennessee and cars can get really hot here. the pla figure survived the cars to my surprise. its been 3 years and they are only a little faded.

Not exactly an outside print but printed a replacement sunvisor clip for my car out of PLA as i have gray only in PLA (which is the color of the original part i needed to replace), it stretched on a hot day due to the heat in the car, made another one and it did the same almost immeaditely, i'm printing the same part out of clear PETG as i'm writing this comment, hoping it will last longer than the previous parts did. What i learned is that PLA will not last long if it is under load in a warm environment.

Would the colour be the difference? So the black would absorb more heat in the sun where the gray would reflect more and that is where the failure differences comes in??

So I printed flag holders for my golf cart like 5+ years ago out of regular PLA on my ANET A8... and I live in Florida... Absolutely no issues. Now, full disclosure, my cart is stored / parked in my garage most of the time, but it's NOT climate controlled, and it spends a fair amount of time outside at all times of the year. A co worker did not believe me... LOL

The bumper patch is kinda ghetto. I like it. You just need to cut a matching hole on the opposite side and put a patch there. It will not only make the repair look like factory but your agility and spidey senses will be tested when your wife throws the waffle iron at your head for cutting up her car.

Unless your going for a exact color match i don't think color fading matters at all only that it is not brittle. I don't know personally but my dad makes phone holders out of ABS he might have tried PLA at first but i'm guessing they melted or warped inside of hot cars.

I like your Channel , i just bought my first 3d printer , its a bambu lab A1 and waiting on delivery from Germany where house , but i do as did when i got into photographing , i research alot about how to get the best use out of the equiment , so you tube channel yours is on my need to watch list :) very good information you deliver and i learn alot , so thank you so much for this learning oppentunity , btw im dyslexic and i live in Denmark so english not my native languish , so spelling errors will be part of my comments :) hope you can live with that , i have to live with it every day so im sure the world could do so too :) Thanks again for this great channel :) I have a Question , TPU is that safe to use near elektricity , as i want to print some feet to my solar cell alminium stands ?

I 3d printed a GPS mount for my vehicle. PLA warped so found PETG... Give California Filament a try. Have had great results for outside, in general as well. $25 +/- roll all PETG colors. Unless you need flexibles, lol

I printed a bunch of security camera mounts and LCOM weather proof box mounts to fit them onto a 4” square light pole. I used ASA just for peace of mind…some of them are pretty high up and / or weigh a decent amount and I did NOT want the liability of them falling off the pole and hitting someone or something.

I printed a custom bracket to firm up the top of my pool fence out of eSun PLA about 3 years ago. I probably cheated by spraying it in enamel spray, but it's as perfect as the day I printed it.

You can use boiling water to "unbend" PLA :)

Petg and HIps outside for various items....some fading but all good. Black seems the happiest. Orange the least.

Garage-floor epoxy's and oil-based polyurethane's are the great equalizers when it come to outdoor prints as they will make the worst filaments perform like the best filaments for outdoor applications(cheap oil-based alkyd paints also work great)

A good idea for the car might be patching the other side as well, that way it looks even less suspicious

Not outside outside, but printed sunglasses holders for our car. The ones you slip onto the sun visors. Made them out of PETG and after just 2 days of spring sun the things just slid off. What a letdown 😢 Other than that nothing printed for outdoors just yet.

I use a spray for all partz which are used outside 😊

i recently printed 5 bee feeders, in PLA,, a few broke in a way that makes no sense, then the others warped on the first relaly warm day...... i made a 6th that was my own design, based on the original, and it still warped................. sounds like i should try TPU for the next attempt.

Its now July are the christmas lighst still up?

Good info. It's gonna depend on a lot of factors, but PLA dying as soon as its outside is grossly exaggerated.

💯

One opinion I've seen multiple times is that PLA used to be more sensitive to UV, but that modern PLA has additives or other improvements that make modern PLA (or at least some brands) more resistant. However I see here that even 7 year old PLA is not necessarily bad in that regard. Personally though, I just print a lot of stuff in PETG, just in case. Anything that may be exposed to heat, UV, or e.g. under tension. I don't like how stiff PLA is, breaking into pieces where PETG would just flex a bit. And other than stringing, I'd say printing PETG has been just as easy if not easier than printing PLA, so I think I'll stick to PETG for now.