Engineering Library | Additive Manufacturing Resources | Chatelet

Engineering Library

The Chatelet Engineering Library

Design guides, material references, process comparisons, and real production case studies — written by the people running 85+ production printers, for the engineers specifying the parts. No gated PDFs, no lead-capture walls.

Start With Your Problem

Most engineers don't arrive searching for a process. They arrive with a situation.

“My tooling quote came back at five figures.”When printed production beats a mold — and when it honestly doesn't. “My mold broke / my supplier slipped.”Bridge production to cover the outage without losing customers. “I only need 200 pieces.”Real production runs with no tooling and no minimum order. “This machined part costs too much.”The break-even math on converting machined parts to printed production. “My aluminum part is too heavy.”Carbon fiber nylon vs 6061 — where half the density wins. “My fixture keeps breaking — or the line changed.”Printed fixtures that revise for the cost of a file change. “My part is failing outdoors.”Why ABS, PETG, and PLA degrade in sun — and what to use instead. “My printed parts keep breaking.”Orientation, walls, and the design rules that decide part strength. “I don't know which process I need.”Four questions to a recommended manufacturing method.

Design Guides

How to design parts that work the first time in production additive.

Cornerstone

Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM)

Orientation and anisotropy, wall thickness, tolerances, fastening, stress geometry, overhangs, and the pre-RFQ checklist.

 Design Guide

Threaded Inserts in Printed Parts

Why printed threads strip, how to size insert bosses, and the fastening alternatives worth knowing.

 Material Guide

Carbon Fiber Nylon: Engineer's Guide

Applications, design rules, and the honest limits of PA-CF in production.

Materials Database

What each production material is actually for — with typical published values and datasheets on request.

PA-GF

Glass Filled Nylon

Stiff, dimensionally stable, electrically insulating. The workhorse for fixtures, enclosures, and structural brackets.

 PA-CF

Carbon Fiber Nylon

Maximum stiffness-to-weight for robotics, handheld tooling, and metal replacement.

 ASA

ASA for Outdoor Parts

UV-stable, weather-resistant. The only FDM material we recommend for permanent outdoor service.

 Selection Guide

Best Plastic for Outdoor Use

What survives sun and weather, what fails and why, and how to choose when the part also carries load.

 PC

Polycarbonate

Heat and impact resistance where nylons and ASA reach their limits.

 TPU

TPU (Flexible)

Gaskets, grips, dampeners, and sealing components in production quantities.

 Index

All Materials

The complete stocked production material list.

Manufacturing Methods & Comparisons

Honest process selection — including the cases where printing loses.

Interactive Tool

Manufacturing Method Selector

Four questions: print, machine, or mold? Includes when the answer isn't us.

 Cost Analysis

3D Printing vs Injection Molding

Where the cost curves actually cross, and the four factors per-part comparisons miss.

 Comparison

Carbon Fiber Nylon vs Aluminum

310 MPa vs ~95 MPa — and why the lighter material still wins for many parts.

 Comparison

ASA vs ABS

Mechanically similar, environmentally opposite. Which survives outdoors.

 Cost Analysis

Replacing Machined Parts

How we evaluate machining-to-printing conversions, with the honest failure modes.

Production Services

What we actually manufacture, and at what scale.

Service

Low Volume Production

10–5,000 units without tooling, MOQs, or machine-shop queues.

 Service

Injection Molding Alternative

Tooling-free production for buyers holding a five-figure mold quote.

 Service

Bridge Manufacturing

Sellable parts during the 6–16 week tooling window.

 Service

Jigs, Fixtures & Manufacturing Aids

Assembly fixtures, drill guides, CMM nests, and go/no-go gauges.

 Service

Robotic End-Effectors

Lightweight end-of-arm tooling for automation.

 Reference

Full Capabilities Sheet

Capacity, tolerances, materials, quality process, and lead times in one table.

Production Case Studies

Real programs with real numbers — including what we couldn't convert.

~60% Savings

Five Machining Operations to Zero

A critical outdoor mounting component converted to direct ASA printing at 1,000–2,000 units per recurring run.

 ~75% Savings

CNC to Additive: Nylon 12 Spacers

Why simple-geometry machined parts are the fastest savings on a BOM.

 30-Day Launch

BuckleBuddeez

Concept to sellable product in 30 days without tooling.

 Product Launch

PlantDaddy

A hydroponic product to market in record time.

Still Not Sure? Send Us the Part.

Upload your CAD with quantity, load case, and environment. We'll return a manufacturability review and an honest process recommendation — typically within one business day.

Request a Quote or Design Review

Chatelet Manufacturing is a US-based contract manufacturer in the Orlando, Florida area, operating 85+ FDM production printers. We produce carbon fiber nylon, glass filled nylon, ASA, polycarbonate, PETG, and TPU parts from prototype through low-volume production, with turnaround as soon as one week depending on part complexity and volume.