Extrusion temperature
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materials
Leapfrog filaments have been heavily tested in all conditions to operate with our printers to ensure that your prints come out to your specifications. We have a wide selection of materials to tackle you rapid prototyping requirements and many more are being tested to ensure maximum versatility for your 3D printing needs.
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ABS
ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is a strong popular filament that is used widely for 3D printing parts. It has strong material properties which produce parts with high impact, high-temperature
Printing tips
Temperature: ABS is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations during the printing process. It often cracks or warps as different layers cool differently. To ensure this issue is mitigated, our printers come with an enclosure system and heated bed to produce better results.
Sunlight: Direct sunlight over long periods can degrade the quality of the printed object so store ABS parts away from UV sources.
Heat Resistant
Impact Resistant
Rigid
ABS PRINTING GUIDESLINES
Bed temperature
± 90 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
High
Layer bonding
Medium
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
ABS is a material that is already used widely, not only in the 3D printing world. One example is Lego blocks which are produced with ABS filament. For visual prototypes it is a viable material that can offer great parts that can showcase the desired printed object. Its visual qualities can also be improved by using finishers like acetone, painting or sanding to smoothen the surface offering a great gloss, therefore achieving the desired aesthetic.
Functional Prototypes
Offering great mechanical properties such as heat resistance, durability, impact resistance and wear resistance means that ABS is great for functional parts. Due to its quality and durability, ABS produce parts like gears that will last longer if properly stored.
Injection Molds
ABS is also a popular plastic that is used to create injection moulds for production parts. It can also be used to create prototypes of moulds to ensure that mistakes are rectified before actual production. Due to its ease and the cost of creating standard moulds, ABS moulds are a great method to bridge the gap between prototyping and the production of actual end use moulds for any organization.
Tooling
Due to its durability, ABS is also used in the production of tooling, jigs and fixtures inside organizations. Using 3D printing, parts can be cost effectively produced, designed and used within an organization. Iterations can be easily made by giving organizations the agile abilities in their day to day operations.
Carbon
Carbon filament is great for printing strong and durable parts. It is the perfect choice for mechanical parts, housing, shells or other protective casings. Carbon filament usually contains additional printing materials within its composition (ABS, PETG, NYLON etc.) depending on the product needed.
Printing tips
Steel Nozzles: Carbon filament is very abrasive and it is better to print with steel nozzles to reduce clogging.
Print Speed: To ensure better results, print carbon parts with a lower printing speed. This will ensure better results.
Strong
Heat Resistant
Impact Resistant
CARBON PRINTING GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±230 ºC
Bed temperature
± 70 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.5
Warping
Low
Layer Bonding
High
Suitable for
Bolt Pro
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
Due to its low density and increase strength, carbon fibre has excellent mechanical properties. Is an amazing choice for building mechanical components. It is recommended to use when making parts for cars or aircraft.
Functional Prototypes
It's superior strength and lightweight properties offer great dimensional stability, reducing the chances of warping or shrinkage. Due to this, carbon filament can be used to produce complex geometries that are much lighter and are more dimensionally stable.
Tooling
Carbon has very strong durability properties. It is used often in the automotive and aircraft industry to create impact-resistant parts but also can be used for tooling purposes.
E-PLA
Leapfrog Engineering PLA (Polylactic Acid)is a biodegradable plastic that was formulated to provide greater durability than standard PLA without compromising on its eases of use when printing. PLA is the most popular filament used globally, offering great print quality with good dimensional accuracy and is used in many applications.
E-PLA is used in various settings mainly due to its ease of use compared to other filaments. It is the best filament to begin with for novice 3D printing users.
Printing tips
Sunlight: Direct sunlight over long periods can degrade the quality of the printed object so store E-PLA parts inside.
Storage: Store the filament in dry areas since it absorbs moisture.
Strong
Impact Resistant
E-PLA PRINTING GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±210 ºC
Bed temperature
± 40 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
Low
Layer bonding
High
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed, Xcel
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
E-PLA is a great choice for producing visual prototypes for many reasons. Due to its better dimensional accuracy during the printing process, it can produce great prototypes for any project. Its ease of use means the process is simple and additionally, the filament is low cost meaning you can achieve more prints in comparison to other filaments. PLA is also used to create composite filaments, where it is mixed with other materials to create different finishes for 3d printed objects mainly used to showcase particular materials.
Functional Prototypes
E-PLA is designed to offer the ability to produce simple functional prototypes for projects that require it. Although it doesn’t have the same ductility as ABS, it is viable for simple functional prototypes.
Tooling
E-PLA has been formulated to have extra durability that standard PLA. Due to this, it is a viable filament for various tooling parts such as jigs and fixtures.
Flex
Flex is a filament that uses a combination of plastic and rubber. The main benefit of Flex filament is the creation of flexible prints with elastic properties. When printing with Flex, the amount of infill can control the stiffness of your print. Flex printed with 100% infill will be quite rigid, whereas a 0% infill would create a rubber tube or even balloon-like print.
Flex can be used for rubber wheels, mechanical grips or tough durable parts with superb shock absorption using 100% infill.
Printing tips
Print Speed: Use consistent flow rates and also smaller layer heights to ensure better interlayer adhesion.
Storage: Keep flexible filament dry and away from moisture.
Flexible
Impact Resistant
FLEX PRINTING GUIDLINES
Extrusion temeprature
±230 ºC
Bed temperature
± 70 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
None
Layer bonding
High
Suitable for
Bolt Pro
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
Due to its rubber content, Flex is a great material to showcase rubber based visual prototypes because, with the correct settings, the achievable quality is high due it its strong interlayer adhesion features.
Functional prototypes
Flex is also used to create high-quality functional parts. The strength of the mix between plastic and rubber gives printed objects great durability features while being flexible. Specifications
HIPS
HIPS is a filament that is used to both print objects and acts as support material during the construction of complex geometric objects with angles greater than 45 degrees. Acting as a support material, HIPS is easily removed when the completed object is submerged in D’Limonene where HIPS is soluble. The best material to pair HIPS with as support is ABS since they both have very similar mechanical properties. If used as a standard material, HIPS objects are very stiff and have good heat resistance.
Printing tips
Heated Bed: Temperature affects HIPS when printing and you need to ensure better management for better printing results.
Heat Resistant
Soluble
Impact Resistant
Water Resistant
HIPS PRINTING GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±230 ºC
Bed temperature
± 90 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
Low
Layer bonding
Medium
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
Considering that HIPS has very similar properties to ABS, it is also applicable to use it for visual prototypes since it's strong and can be post-processed to create the desired design.
Hybrid
Leapfrog Hybrid (CPE) is a strong material that is easy to print with and has various properties that make it an ideal material for large objects or objects that are used for mechanical prototypes. In terms of durability, it is between ABS and PLA and produces objects that can withstand high temperatures.
Printing tips
Temperature: Printing with Hybrid requires correct print bed temperature settings and
Chemical Resistant
Heat Resistant
HYBRID CPE USE GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
240-260°C
Bed temperature
60-70°C
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
Low
Layer bonding
High
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
Used for visual prototypes, CPE can produce highly accurate parts that have the addition of being durable against high temperatures.
Functional Prototypes
Due to its strength and less inclination to warp, it is an ideal filament when producing large parts. One example is using CPE to produce prototype prosthetics in the medical industry.
Nylon
Nylon is a well known and very tough filament that has a wide array of applications. It’ is slightly flexible giving it the ability to bend without breaking and has durability properties such as heat resistance and impact resistance. Compared to other materials, it is the most versatile due.
Printing tips
Storage: Nylon filament like some other filaments can absorb moisture from the air and can lead to printing issues.
Heat Resistant
Impact Resistant
Strong
NYLON USE GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±250 ºC
Bed temperature
± 90 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
Medium
Layer bonding
Very high
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
Nylon is already widely used in the consumer market and can be used for 3D printed objects. It will produce great visual prototypes, though may require post-processing to create the desired aesthetic. Post processing is however easy since it can be easily coloured to achieve the desired visuals.
Functional Prototypes
Nylon is the most versatile filament in the market currently due to its wide range of mechanical properties. It is durable, strong and is slightly flexible while being very difficult to break. It is viable to create gears, mechanical prototype parts and more due to its ability to resist damage
Tooling
Nylon is also used for tooling purposes and is suitable for many use cases due to its durability.
PETG
Polyethylene Terephthalate is the most widely used plastic globally and is used to create various products like standard water bottles. PETG on the other hand is specifically designed for 3D printing applications and is considered the bridge in terms of mechanical properties between PLA and ABS. It offers strength, impact resistance and chemical resistance without having issues like warping.
Having similar properties to PLA and ABS, PETG is a great filament for a number of applications that require more durability than PLA can offer, while being easier to print with than ABS.
Printing tips
Print Speed: We recommend printing with lower than average print speed if the desire is to achieve better strength properties due to better layer adhesion.
Storage: Store the filament in dry areas since it absorbs moisture.
Water Resistant
Impact Resistant
Chemical Resitant
PETG PRINTING GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±230 ºC
Bed temperature
± 70 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.75
Warping
Low
Layer bonding
High
Suitable for
Bolt Pro, Xeed
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
PETG is a very durable material and appears translucent. It has a glossy finish which is good for certain visual prototypes giving the part a solid, clean finish. You can get various colors which have the same translucent finish.
Functional Prototypes
PETG is very durable, it's more ductile than other filaments while still being strong and is ideal for functional prototypes. Furthermore, its layer adhesion properties are high, which makes it handle stresses well while reducing cracking and warping.
PP
PP (Polypropylene) is a light flexible material that offers a number of highly desired properties. It has high impact strength and bending abilities making it great for parts that require heavy use. In the consumer market, it is used for applications, such as packaging, stationary and more.
Printing tips
Temperature: Printing with Polypropylene requires planning and careful temperature management to ensure successful prints. It is a material that is not as forgiving as E-PLA during the printing process.
Storage: Store the filament in dry areas since it absorbs moisture.
Heat Resistant
Chemical Resistant
Water Resistant
Impact Resistant
POLYPROPYLENE PRINTING GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±220 ºC
Bed temperature
± 80 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.5
Warping
High
Layer bonding
Medium
Suitable for
Bolt Pro
Filament diameter (mm)
1.75
Applications
Visual Prototypes
PP is suitable for visual prototypes due to its various strength properties. The material is scratch resistant and can also be painted to achieve the desired visual result
Functional Prototypes
PP is a great material for industrial applications due to its high durability and strength. It can be used to create functional prototypes that can face various stresses effectively without easily breaking.
Tooling
Building on functional prototypes, PP is also being used for tooling due to its resistance to chemicals, heat, water and impact. It is a very strong plastic that is resistant to breakage and repeated stresses making it ideal for engineering applications.
Scaffold
Scaffold Soluble Support Filament is used to print complex geometric parts. Objects that have angles greater than 45 degrees or overhangs require another material to keep the shape uniform, especially during the printing and cooling process.
Printing tips
Storage: Scaffold being soluble in water means it is highly hygroscopic and should be stored in a dry environment.
Soluble
SCAFFOLD USE GUIDELINES
Extrusion temperature
±215 ºC
Bed temperature
± 40 ºC
Weight (kg)
0.5
Warping
Medium
Layer bonding
Medium
Suitable for
Bolt
Filament diameter (mm)