PA-CF printed structural parts
Carbon-fibre-filled nylon printed on a hobby printer gets you near-injection-moulded strength for brackets, joint housings and gearbox shells — if you anneal it and orient the layers correctly.
The role it plays
Structure is a stiffness-per-gram competition. Aluminium extrusion is cheap and modular but its bolted joints creep. Carbon is stiffer per gram and fails without warning. Printed parts win on geometry freedom and lose on layer adhesion. Match the material to the load path, never the other way round.
Typical use: Joint housings, brackets, gearbox shells, gripper bodies.
What the numbers actually mean
The headline figure is ~70 – 100 MPa (depends on print) (tensile strength), with ~150 °C (annealed) as the next most load-bearing number (heat deflection). At $40 in the structure tier it sits in the mid range: enough money that you should plan the mounting and wiring before ordering, but not so much that one mistake ends the project.
How it compares
Same subsystem, closest alternatives. The primary spec column is usually the one that decides it.
| Part | Price | Primary spec | Second spec |
|---|---|---|---|
| PA-CF printed structural parts3D-printed composite | $40 | ~70 – 100 MPa (depends on print) | ~150 °C (annealed) |
| 2020 T-slot extrusionStructural profile | $8 | 20 × 20 mm | 6 mm T-slot |
| 4040 T-slot extrusionStructural profile | $16 | 40 × 40 mm | 8 mm T-slot |
| 16 mm carbon fibre tubeComposite tube | $25 | 16 mm | 1 – 2 mm |
Where it shows up
Platforms in this atlas that use something in this class: SO-101, Koch v1.1.