3D printer filament for shop tools & jigs?

[Bill Tarbell]

I'm about to buy a 3D printer (Bambu P1S).  I don't have any printer experience and thought i'd check if anyone here has one.  I'm particularly curious which filament types fellow woodworkers may recommend for various shop tools/jigs.

Some examples i intend on printing are:

• No-Twist Pads for F clamps
• Soft vice jaws
• Dado kerf width jig
• Corner radius templates
• Table & miter saw zero clearance inserts
• Featherboards
• Blast gates
• T Track hold down
• round stock center finder
• Band clamp corners
• Drawer for table saw rail
• various sanding block sizes
• HF shop press handle holder

[fcschoenthal]

In some files, the contributor specifies what filament they used. A vast majority of the time it's PLA, primarily because it's easier to print with and a little bit cheaper. PETG is stronger than PLA and on a lot of my shop projects I use PLA, and if it breaks, I'll reprint in PETG. 

[Von]

I have no helpful experience but hope you share yours as you progress.

[Mark J]

+1

[Bill Tarbell]

@fcschoenthal great info, thanks.  Any situations where you kinda wished you had something other than petg?  Have you tried asa, or nylon?  Filaments with carbon or glass fibers in them?

Stumbled onto this video today.  Had a bunch of good info.  Was fun to see the printer i ended up settling on after all my research was the same one he recommended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVDhAKxNcJA

[fcschoenthal]

On 9/12/2025 at 2:36 PM, Bill Tarbell said:

Any situations where you kinda wished you had something other than petg?  Have you tried asa, or nylon?  Filaments with carbon or glass fibers in them?

No, I've done PLA, PETG and played with TPU. I'm not in it enough to go through the trouble and expense to figure out any of the others. I really only went to PETG on shop projects after having some PLA start to warp.

Actually, Drew is an acquaintance of mine and lives in the same area. Having a print farm that generates most of his revenue, he uses different filaments for the strength that I don't need. Check out Travis at Print Farm Academy as well. Another woodworker that has developed a huge print farm and uses primarily PETG.

[Mark J]

"Print farm", now there's a term I've not heard.

[legenddc]

My dad has that printer. My only recommendation would be to stick with the Bambu filament to start with. That way if you run into any issues you shouldn't have to worry about the filament causing it.

I just saw tooltrace.ai on a YouTube video and it looks pretty cool!

[Simmons]

On 9/12/2025 at 10:48 AM, Bill Tarbell said:

I'm about to buy a 3D printer (Bambu P1S).  I don't have any printer experience and thought i'd check if anyone here has one.  I'm particularly curious which filament types fellow woodworkers may recommend for various shop tools/jigs.

Some examples i intend on printing are:

• No-Twist Pads for F clamps
• Soft vice jaws
• Dado kerf width jig
• Corner radius templates
• Table & miter saw zero clearance inserts
• Featherboards
• Blast gates
• T Track hold down
• round stock center finder
• Band clamp corners
• Drawer for table saw rail
• various sanding block sizes
• HF shop press handle holder geometry dash lite

For your projects, PLA+ and PETG are great choices. PLA+ is easy and strong for jigs, while PETG is more durable and heat-resistant.

[mikehalloween]

On 9/12/2025 at 11:48 AM, Bill Tarbell said:

I'm about to buy a 3D printer (Bambu P1S).  I don't have any printer experience and thought i'd check if anyone here has one.  I'm particularly curious which filament types fellow woodworkers may recommend for various shop tools/jigs.

Some examples i intend on printing are:

• No-Twist Pads for F clamps
• Soft vice jaws
• Dado kerf width jig
• Corner radius templates
• Table & miter saw zero clearance inserts
• Featherboards
• Blast gates
• T Track hold down
• round stock center finder
• Band clamp corners
• Drawer for table saw rail
• various sanding block sizes
• HF shop press handle holder converter png to svg

This is a fantastic topic! Exploring the best 3D printer filaments for shop tools and jigs opens up so many possibilities for custom solutions in the workshop.

[legenddc]

My dad said he was out of things to 3D print so I sent him a list of requests. Up first was a wrench and parts organizer for the Ridgid oscillating spindle sander. 

[Mark J]

Those Rigid accessories are nicely done.  I bought a wrench (alas, from somebody else). You'll like having a it; loosening that nut without one is a real bear.

[legenddc]

I asked my dad if he could make a circle template to use with a router. Will eventually use this to make some salt cellars. 

On 1/1/2026 at 10:53 AM, Mark J said:

Those Rigid accessories are nicely done.  I bought a wrench (alas, from somebody else). You'll like having a it; loosening that nut without one is a real bear.

I think I saw you and a few others post the wrench once so I saved it. The accessories holder will be great because my spindle sander is on a flip cart. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve flipped it and had to pickup everything that fell.