We’ve had a number of people ask about how PLA withstands the elements. Here’s an example of a part left completely exposed for more than a year.
The write-up isn’t very technical, but will hopefully be useful to some.
#3dprinting
http://www.protoparadigm.com/blog/2013/06/weathering-of-3d-printed-pla-objects/
Should have had an ABS part to compare, I bet it wouldn’t have done as well as PLA.
You’re right, we should have, and we will be doing more comprehensive testing in the future, hopefully some tests that can support a more quantitative than qualitative analysis.
I have a uv sterilizer, I could place an abs and pla print in it and do comparisons.
That would be really interesting. If you try this, please do share the results!
The reason it won’t work well in a car is because it easily gets over 60C on a hot day in a closed car at which point the PLA starts to go gooey. It might be okay for knobs, but anything under stress will deform.
I’ve had the screwless-cube-gears on a rope was “dice” on my mirror. After a while the connector deformed and the thing dropped. But I do not think knobs will be an issue. But anything under stress will deform in a car (due to heat). As the glass-transition-temperature is really low, like 45-50C