for technologyGuys I don't have a clue on 3d printing and was looking at jlcpcb.to get some gundam ones printed.
They have lots of options but no yellow.
Any suggestions on these?
3d technology options:
Material options:
"FDM" is the typical "layered" style printing you get with most budget at home printers, there are of course higher-end FDM printers but in general these are used for quick and dirty prototypes.
SLA are your resin printers, which have excellent dimensional accuracy but gets very expensive for mid to large sized parts. you can see layer lines here on very close inspection. SLA is single color and WPJ is basically a full-color resin printer, Resin based stuff tends to be used for making minitures or highly detailed models, you can use it for functional parts but people don't often.
SLS is a powder based laser printer that also has excellent dimensional accuracy and strength but parts tend to come out with texture that looks like they've been sandblasted. MJF is similar to SLS in that it's power based, these are used in industry for high-end full-color usable prototypes. I don't know too much about this other than the machines cost more than a new car.
I'm not too familiar with the metal printing options.
for the material
Nylon is going to be your strongest, this is the material you'll see used to make plastic gears or other plastic parts that need a lot of strength.
ABS is a rubberized plastic (so it can bend a little and take abuse without cracking) and it's what the vast majority of plastic injection molded parts are made out of, I wouldn't be surprised if the original monkey ball bananas are ABS. ABS is very difficult to 3D print though and 3D prints with ABS usually come out warped unless you have a high end machine and know how to use it.
PLA should be avoided for this use, it's a cheaper and lower-temp plastic thats popular with FDM printing because it's very easy to print, but if you leave the parts out in the sun they'll soften and droop. it's great for some use-cases but probably not this one.
ASA is a popular FDM 3D printing material that attempts to combline the strength and higher temp properties of ABS with the ease of printing of PLA, it wouldn't be a bad option here.
TPU is a flexible material, if you want to print "rubber" like parts use this probably not right for monkey ball
As for the specific flavors of these different materials you'll have to look into that yourself, but hopefully this gives you a decent overview.
If this were me I'd probably go with FDM ASA as cheaper option or Nylon SLS as more expensive option, know that you'll need to do some sanding painting and other finishing work no matter what you choose.
