Bondable, Machinable, Strong Plastic

Hi all,

I have a part, bounding box about 50x50x25 mm, intended to be CNC machined in 7075 Al. The part is also intended to be epoxy-bonded to a composite piece (a ski) using 3M Weld D460. I have a small mill, but it's not practical for this material and dimensions.

So I would like to print it first at Shapeways, either in their Al or a strong plastic. I have ordered dozens, if not hundreds, of parts from Shapeways, but never before had to think about strength and bonding. The cost of printing in Al appears similar to CNC-ing, and I would still have to finish the key surfaces on my desktop mill.

So, I am thinking to print in plastic first, as it's supposed to be much cheaper than printing in Al. It also would be great to do minimal functional testing. Parameters I care about are yield and tensile strength (e.g. similar to Delrin, polycarbonate), milling to within 0.005, better to within 0.001" (to match surfaces and to insert stainless pins), and bonding via epoxy. Shapeays cheapest strong plastic is 'chippy', so I am pretty sure that one is a non-starter. Any other suggestions?

Thank you in advance

Standard disclaimer: Shapeways materials are for decorative purposes only. Please do not risk life and limb over a decorative part. The other side of that is .. don't expect to sue Shapeways WHEN the part breaks and you (possibly) get injured.. they warned you up front... "decorative only".

I assume this is going to be something like a camera mount, not a functional part of the binding mechanism ? Perhaps FDM-printed ABS (not available here) would work , or you could try getting it milled from a block of "some suitable" plastic.

>FDM-printed ABS (not available here)
Thanks, mkroeker. I was hoping to get some injection-moulded-like material. The idea of milling it out of some suitable material could be the way to go: I could mill out of balsa wood and wrap with carbon fiber. In that case, my lawyers (on standby to sue shapeways) would need to wait for another chance, oh well.

FWIW I have read research articles claiming that the strength of SLM aluminum slightly exceeds that of casts made from the same alloy. You just won't get such assurance from a budget service company with such a big user spectrum as shapeways no matter how good their equipment and experience.
And I may have been underrating PLA, which is available here (though as a designer-only material, not for third party sales) - see https://www.rtejournal.de/ausgabe11/3872 (Fabrication of FDM 3D objects with ABS and PLA and determination of their mechanical properties)

That's a good source, mkroeker, many thanks. 'Felix' -- is this the same machine that SW uses? 'lines' -- looks like it's complete infill -- good to know. I myself have makerbot ABS, which is of course nowhere near what I was hoping for. It is machinnable though, sort of.

From the SW description of SLM Al it sounded like it should be as strong as 'regular' (6061?) Al, and I obviously did not expect any assurances from SW, except, perhaps, reproducibility. I work in R and D myself, and I am quite used to working with untested prototypes... on scales from nanometers to meters.