I paid for parts cut by a laser cutter, which interlock with each other 2-dimensionally. The design used parts from both sides of the laser cut. These pieces easily connect and disconnect snugly with no sticking. I want to get a 3d printer that can provide this level of accuracy in 3 dimensions. I am new to 3D printing. I realize this may require that I experiment and adjust my defined values to get what I want. But once I find values that work, I want the printer to consistently output precision components. I welcome your recommendations and suggestions.
This depends specifically what you’re looking for–if you want to model, say, a peg and a slot with no tolerance between them, and then print them out so that they slide together flawlessly, that’s just not going to happen. In an FDM 3D printer, the material squishes out of the nozzle ever so slightly, so it’s not really possible to get that level of precision.
If, however, you’re willing to put tolerances in between the pieces, a lot of 3D printers nowadays have pretty good precision–my BambuLab X1C and H2D both are very good at getting parts that consistently have the same fit.
That being said, the amount of space you need to put in between parts to compensate changes based on a variety of factors. 3D printers can’t do sharp corners all that well, so you will need to round them off for parts that have them. If you have support material on an inner surface, you’ll need extra space to ensure that support scarring doesn’t get in your way.
You might have more success with a resin printer in that regard, but personally I’ve never used one, so I unfortunately can’t give great advice there.
Thanks, this is just the info that probably saved me some money. So the type of printer you have experience with is a filament printer? I don’t need sharp corners; a consistent rounding radius of a millimeter or so would work. I do need flat vertical surfaces positioned accurately, as well as flat horizontal surfaces of constant thickness.
I see that 3d resin printers stink, just like laser cutters do. Can anyone recommend a 3d resin printing service to make my parts? If I can make a few prototypes, maybe I can convince someone else to do a production run. I’m grateful for any clue.
Yeah, FDM is short for Fused Deposition Modeling which essentially means it’s a filament printer. If you can model and print them such that you can get them to fit snugly, you might be able to consistently print out them consistently every time, depending on how precise you want them. I just threw out a few examples of things that change fit/tolerances; you’d have to experiment if you wanted to get the perfect fit for your pieces.
For example, I found that a 0.05mm gap on either side of a peg/slot would get them to fit together fine, but if it was really long, potential defects would cause friction that would prevent it from being completely inserted. For long pegs, I have to do a 0.075mm gap instead.
1 Like
I have no experience with resin printers, but yes, I have heard they stink in the sense that they give off fumes and that they’re a pain to work with, what with all the liquid resin, curing parts, etc.
I had a Chinese company by the name of JustWay reach out to me once asking me to review them, video here:
The Tl:dw is that they gave me good stuff, but were surprisingly unorganized. I was also doing something artistic, rather than mechanical, so you have to keep that in mind.
PCBWay is another company that does 3D printing requests, but you’d have to look into them more yourself, as I personally have no experience with them.
1 Like
I make parts for work all the time with tight tolerances. The problem with 3d printing design is there won’t be a kerf edge like with a laser cutter, so you have to design it in. The tolerance/fit your looking for is probably by feel and so I generally start with a 0.2mm offset at the cut edges. I’ll draw a border line with construction lines and then offset on both sides by 0.1mm. and subtract that edge.
Your printer choice will determine your offset. I’ve had less accurate printers need as much as 0.4 gap and still rub edges, but others I can bring it down to 0.15mm (you are using a rubber mallet or similar at this point).
I’m biased, but I’d suggest a Bambu printer. We have an X1E at work and after working with it a couple months I had to have one. I ended up with a P1S (an X1E is a bit more pricey).
As for the suggestion for resin, it is generally a brittle material and is prone to shattering, especially under any kind of force. It makes pretty things, and it’s accurate to the smallest detail, but if you’re looking to press fit parts together, it is probably not the best choice. You can get ABS like resin and there are additives, but it is much more expensive than say a roll of PLA.
At the end of the day, it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Tongue and grove fits with a traditional FDM printer is doable.
i am grateful for everyone’s input.