# Ideal 3d printing materials?
**URL:** https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711
**Category:** Questions & Help
**Tags:** building, antweight-150g
**Created:** [18 May 2026 10:39 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711 "2026-05-18T10:39:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TSU](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/TSU)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 10:39 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/1 "2026-05-18T10:39:17Z")
apologies if this has been asked before but, what is the current meta in terms of 3d printing chassis in the antweight class? ive been using ABS a couple uears back and getting newer parts ordered in it, but is it still a viable material now? i know people use TPU but in terms of less flexable materials, what does everybody use?
i unfortunately do not own a 3d printer of my own, and order my stuff online, would appreciate people’s two cents 🙂
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### Author:  [@Jack](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Jack)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 12:42 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/2 "2026-05-18T12:42:00Z")
Tpu is by far the toughest option, but that toughness comes from being very flexible which can be tricky to design around until you’re used to it.
A straight reprint of a chassis intended for abs in tpu will likely be a wobbly mess
A bunch of people (myself included) like to use tough variants of pla: specifically eSun PLA-ST or overture super PLA. These are much more impact resistant than vanilla pla or even regular pla+ variants. So provide a great blend of toughness Vs printability but are unlikely to feature on any online printer providers.
Plenty of people still run ants in abs, it’s pretty robust and about 10% lighter than pla variants
Nylon variants however are probably the best option if you want toughness but more rigidity than tpu. It’s a pain to print, needs a lot of heat and can give off fumes but that’s likely less of a concern if you’re outsourcing the printing anyway. But avoid carbon fibre or glass infused variants - these increase rigidity but greatly reduce toughness
Tldr: use a regular nylon variants if getting someone else to print, if/when you get your own printer try eSun PLA-ST (super PLA is ending production soon)
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### Author:  [@IrregularJoe](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/IrregularJoe)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 12:49 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/3 "2026-05-18T12:49:28Z")
Some folks are using 64D shore TPU, which is a lot stiffer than your usual 95A shore stuff. I’ve tried it in beetles and wasn’t happy with it (it splits and cracks on really big impacts) but a lot of folks really like it for ants.
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### Author:  [@TheVigilante](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/TheVigilante)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 13:14 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/4 "2026-05-18T13:14:35Z")
Overture Super PLA is being discontinued as mentioned by Jack. There’s a bit more detail about it [over here in this thread](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/pla-good-or-bad/540/8) so if you’re going to go with Overture you might want to buy sooner rather than later, especially if you’re going for a particular colour.
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### Author:  [@HBantweightrobots](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/HBantweightrobots)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 17:30 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/5 "2026-05-18T17:30:53Z")
I know you said you don’t really want to, but if you can, I would really highly recommend using tpu. If it has to be rigid than try buying a stiffer type like Joe suggested. If not, then I would also say overture super pla plus (if you can get your hands on any)
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### Author:  [@TSU](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/TSU)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 19:18 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/6 "2026-05-18T19:18:53Z")
yeahhh thats sort of my issue with TPU at the moment, i don’t really design my chassis’ in a way that allows me to make part of any of it with TPU unfortunately, so usually just one solid material is my go-to. I would absolutely love to use TPU if my robots were designed in a way that allowed me to make it work. ill keep the thing about Nylon in mind for definite, thank you for your suggestions and thoughts 🙂
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### Author:  [@TSU](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/TSU)
#### Post date: [18 May 2026 19:23 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/7 "2026-05-18T19:23:34Z")
my main issue is that i unfortunately don’t own my own 3d printer so i end up ordering my prints online, which does end up limiting my materials to an extent. i would love to do TPU prints but i’d have to redesign all my robots before i even consider that… but thank you for your input!
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### Author:  [@Kraken4me](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Kraken4me)
#### Post date: [19 May 2026 14:13 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/8 "2026-05-19T14:13:33Z")
I’ve heard something about putting Nylon prints in boiling water to improve flexibility. I haven’t tried it though.
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### Author:  [@hhills](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/hhills)
#### Post date: [19 May 2026 18:41 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/ideal-3d-printing-materials/711/9 "2026-05-19T18:41:53Z")
Always boil your nylon. Well you don’t _have_ to boil it but make sure it’s sat somewhere humid for a week or so before you want to use it.
You can use it as an opportunity to dye it funky colours which I am a big big fan of.