Sometimes a part doesn't need to withstand 150 degrees in the engine compartment, but primarily needs to be one thing: dimensionally accurate, visually clean, and economically viable. That is exactly what PLA is the undisputed number one for in FDM printing. The plastic, which is derived from renewable resources (such as corn starch), can be processed extremely precisely and delivers sharp edges, fine details, and stiff parts at the best price-performance ratio.

Its only limit is temperature: From approx. 50–55 °C, PLA slowly becomes soft (so it doesn't feel at home in a parked car in summer). However, wherever normal room temperatures prevail, it is an astonishingly hard and dimensionally stable material.