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Hi guys, need some advice on what material would best be used to 3D print a model im using for my college course. It's a gearbox made of 3 in-line reduction planetary gears (Sorry if I've used the wrong terminology) but the idea is to have them not break or sheer off when in use (the model will be under large amounts of force from both the weight of the object its lifting as well as the speed the input gears will be moving). Is there a filament that suits these requirements or would it be better to use a cheaper filament to prototype the design and then move to creating the product from wood using a cnc machine.
-thanks in advance.

Well, having not made a functioning gear box we cannot be 100% sure but we would suggest carbon fibre filament like Colorfabb XTCF20.

This should work well. There is Nylon filaments but they are generally not s rigid as the carbon fibre XT-CF20 which should work well for gears.

What 3D printer do you have?

Thanks for the advice and my College uses 5th generation MakerBot Replicators: https://www.makerbot.com/replicator/

Not tried XTcf20 on a 5th gen makerbot so you may have to google peoples experiences

No need to CNC machine the objects. You can build the desired 3D objects by 3D printing only. And as far as 3D printing materials are concerned, you can use ABS or PETG for the purpose.
PLA is generally not suitable for objects that need to sustain the force.


https://www.3dprintersbay.com/

Sorry this is a little behind but just in case you are still needing advice. I have built multiple gear box variations and a carbon fibre Filament worked best for me There is a UK based company I have used the last few times (Florence tech) which I've had nothing but great results from