Quote Originally Posted by curious aardvark View Post
plastic simply means a 'thing that can change shape and stay in the new shape'.
All 3d printer filaments are 'plastic' :-)
And it depends entirely on how you print and what you want.

I've had a pla bag holder (got dogs ;-) in the garden for about 3 years now - in all the wet and cold of english weather. Colour has faded slightly, but other than that it's untouched, still flexible. Abs would fallen to bits by now.

I've always found that pla parts are both tougher and more durable than abs.
bear in mind that producers have been developing pla specifically for 3d printing for a number of years now and things are totally different than back when desktop 3d printers started to become cheap enough to be popular.

Plus pla prints sooo much easier, has much better layer adhesion, doesn't need acetone all over the place and doesn't need a heated enclosure.
I did print almost exclusively with abs for about 6 months, we all believe the internet scuttlebutt when we start. After a tct show - where everything was being printed in pla - I switched and wouldn't go back to abs if you paid me.
If you have a heated enclosure and get your settings perfect - abs might be worth using, though you still have to adjust dimensions for shrinkage.

But decent pla is at least as good and much better for anything that needs to be outside in all weathers. And much much better if you print in an unenclosed print volume.
Got it, but being harder also makes it more fragile, anyway i agree that PLA is much better and easier to print, ABS is a big pain in the a**