I’m looking at printing a VESA mounted stand for a Toshiba tv, model number 32sl410u, which weighs roughly 18 pounds. If printed in petg, will it be strong enough to hold the weight of the tv? It’s not going to be wall mounted, just the stand.
This is not a yes or no question.
Your design will determine the success, this is not a PLA vs PETG question either.
Some will fail instantly, others slower, some will work.
It is less about the material and far more structural engineering and how it is printed.
Done poorly the weight of the screen will snap the stand and likely cause damage to the screen.
If you share the design, we can provide advice.
Something to think about is why girders work, why trusses work and how simple structures buckle.
You also have to consider how you balance the weight.
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I mean, this is kind of what I was expecting for an answer. It’s not really about what material I use, but how it is structurally. Like, the type of infill and how the design of the stand itself.
I have designed and printed several small tables. It seems to me that a properly designed stand made of PETG should be able to easily support a tv weighing18lbs. The stands I have on my monitors are rather heavy, which helps prevent them from tipping. PETG alone wouldn’t have that advantage.
Constant load is your main problem, so you do care about material a little bit. Deflection/bending and creeping. Skip around Dr. Igor’s vid a bit to get a rough estimate of material types
I’d recommend PETG-CF as a modern baseline for any mechanical/functional prints (As long as the “sandpaper” surface is not bad for the use case) It’s just as cheap as good PLA these days.
Structural stuff is pretty much all I do. Functional parts.
If you’re outright duplicating a bracket that’s injection molded, a 3D printed copy is unlikely to be strong enough. But if you beef it up, make it thicker in the areas where it’ll be stressed, it shouldn’t be a problem. Won’t really matter what plastic you use as long as it’s not going to be exposed to the elements and/or high temperatures.
How much thicker? Without seeing the part, 1.5x at least. For very thin areas, 2x. This will be overkill, but that’s not a negative aside from it using a bit more filament.
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Two major problems to consider. Creep and temperature.
Creep is the slow deformation over time. A relitively small load can with a long time fail.
Temperature can Weaken a part then it creeps. May a heater vent. Maybe heat from the TV.
An effective design can use other materials. Maybe embedded in the print or added afterwards.
Without seeing the design it is hard to give anything more than generic things to look for.
I genuinely believe you are FAR better off purchasing a commercial monitor stand that uses METAL structure!
Nearly any practical (not to mention attractive and compact) VESA compatible monitor stand has multiple places where force is highly magnified requiring extremely robust structure to withstand. Every such stand I’ve ever encountered employs steel or other metal elements for extreme rigidity and/or intentional light flex. I don’t believe that any material that can be printed with an A1 is suitable as it is nearly guaranteed to deform to the point of failure over time even if it at first seems to work. Said failure is not only likely to ruin the monitor but is a genuine health hazard to small children or pets. This is exactly why commercial monitor stands are typically and highly over-engineered! Failure is simply not allowed in anything approaching “normal” use, fairly extreme environmental conditions or even “typical” abuse!
Proceed only with the most extreme caution with every expectation of multiple failures and significant cost in material and time. That’s exactly why I suggest you are far better off just buying a commercial stand as they are comparatively inexpensive and infinitely more likely to work safely and indefinitely.
It is possible to design something to hold a TV. But there are risks. All depends of what you want.
I totally agree wit Mike from above. Most likely you can find an existing fully purchased mount. It is probably cheaper and faster and most likely less risk. Too many options to make an absolute statement.
It can be fun to design your own. Maybe design around an existing mount. Maybe just a remote “Home”.