What filament materials and/or paint hold up well for long term durability on exterior components?
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I’ve got a number of printed parts on my plane, and they’ve all held up well over 2.5 years. Of course they don’t get a lot of UV exposure, and they only have to live through temp swings from teens to 105 or so in the hangar. I used PETG for all of those. It’s pretty easy to print, and has good characteristics.
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My nav light wingtip mounts were printed in PETG. My OAT probe was going to be PETG but I cracked it and used one of my prototype PLA prints. It’s under the wing and only gets sun exposure briefly during aerobatics. My switch box for my MFD is PLA and it warped badly when I had the canopy closed on a hot sunny day.
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ASA is listed as being king for exposure to sunlight. I’ve printed parts for my sunroof louvers from it. However they’ve only been installed 3 months. Really it depends upon your use/application. The gear leg farings on my sportsman are printed from PETG. However the plane is hangared and not flown as much as it should be thus not too much UV exposure.
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