PolyLite Light Weight PLA (LW-PLA)

PolyLite is a family of 3D printing filaments developed by Polymaker and manufactured with the best raw materials to offer exceptional quality and reliability. PolyLite covers the most popular 3D printing materials to meet everyday needs for design and prototyping or final part creation.

Image 1: The PolyLite LW-PLA colors. Source: Polymaker.

Polymaker's PolyLite LW-PLA filament is a PLA-based material that uses Polymaker's special foaming technology, giving parts 3D printed with PolyLite LW-PLA a weight approximately 50 % smaller than that of standard PLA. As opposed to most lightweight PLA materials, PolyLite LW-PLA is pre-foamed (passive foaming). This means that no actual foaming occurs during extrusion (active foaming), reducing the risk of potential clogging and blobs.

Video 1: Testing the PolyLite LW-PLA in an RC plane. Source: SoarKraft.

This makes the PolyLite LW-PLA filament easier to print than active foaming filaments since no adjustments need to be made to printing settings (extrusion multiplier, extrusion width, high printing temperature, printing flow, etc.), with the exception of a slight retraction increase. Interestingly enough, the lower the extrusion temperature, the better print quality will be achieved with PolyLite LW-PLA, with a beautiful matte surface finish and great detail. Thus, PolyLite LW-PLA can be 3D printed with regular PLA settings, with the extrusion temperature of 190-210 ºC, on a bed heated to 30-50 ºC and at a speed of 26-60 mm/s (preferably with the layer fan on).

Image 2: The PolyLite LW-PLA packaging. Source: Polymaker.

The packaging in which Polymaker presents its filaments is highly studied and carefully designed to preserve the quality and condition of its filaments. In this case, PolyLite LW-PLA is presented inside a vacuum-sealed bag together with a desiccant sachet to prevent the filament from getting wet. This bag is self-sealing, so once the filament has been used, it can be put back into the bag. In addition, all of this is enclosed in a high quality printed box, to avoid knocks and breakages during shipping.

Polymaker's PolyLite LW-PLA is an ideal material for the additive manufacturing of parts that need lightweight but also an aesthetically pleasing surface finish, for example functional prototypes or even end-use objects such as RC planes.