making two elements click together right of the print

[neone 40]

Hi,

I have this little question around this cutlery tool that I'm creating.

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/19729-a-cutlery-design-concept

This concept has some kind of click system that binds two elements together, but right now I still have to tweak it afterwards (after printing) to really make the two elements click.

Is there maybe a way to generate this kind of thingy right of the printer?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Guest

[tommyph1208 55]

I don't think there is any definitive answer for this, but there are some things you can do to help yourself.

1. Have  a nicely calibrated machine:

Making sure round features come out round, printed dimensions are as close to the design as possible, etc. will help you a lot in terms of finding a design where the "click feature" is there, right out of the printer.

2. Find a good filament and stick with it:

Filaments vary a lot... Quality is one side of this (needless to say, you don't want crappy quality when trying to do nice prints), but also just the characteristics of filament will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, color to color, etc. so using the exact same filament every time, will help you get the same desired effect every time.

3. Find some good settings (for your chosen filament), and stick with them:

Settings like speed, layer heights, print temperature, cooling settings, etc. can all have small effects on print surface and that can have an effect on how well your "click feature" works.

Finding some settings that gives you the surface finish you want and sticking with those same settings for your various designs, is one less variable to consider when evaluating small design changes.

Once you have these things in place, you will be able to figure out exactly how large a hole is needed for this and that size of tap, etc. and can work this knowledge into your future designs.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Guest

[gr5 2,173]

neone is pretty experienced. I suspect he's getting pretty consistent results by now. Maybe this is more a design problem?

So is this a fork and knife? Is the idea to click it together for storage only? Or is it used as one piece (could it be glued permanently)?

Also are you printing flat and then heating this up after printing and forming the 3d curve?

I'm thinking the part that doesn't have a hole could have a tiny overhang - maybe .2mm around the sides in a few places (but not the ends - just the sides of that bump). I did something similar and it worked great a few times. After 20 or 30 snaps though it got weaker and weaker.

[neone 40]

Thanks for the replies :-)

I'm not that experienced yet unfortunately, but I'm trying to get more experience out of every print

This one is a spoon, fork, and knife. Together you use it as a spoon and separate you have a fork and knife. So it can't be glued together and it really has to really click and stick together as a whole.

I'm printing this one flat yeah, afterwards I drop it in some boiling water and mold the curve in.

a slight overhang on the sides, yeah, that might pull it off. Many thanks for the suggestion! I'll try it next time.

[yellowshark 153]

Another option you may have is to use an insert. I use metal inserts for plastic to screw two pieces together, where at least one part is 3D printed. Whether or not you can get the same thing for pushing two pieces together I do not know; also your pieces just may be too thin to use such inserts but I thought I would alert you to the option

[neone 40]

Thanks yellowshark, I'll certainly have a look at that option as well.

[yellowshark 153]

No doubt you will need to do a lot of web searching! Here are some insert sites; generally I found the people I communicated with most helpful - mentioning additivve manufacturing/3D printing seemed to gain their attention!

www.tappex.co.uk

spirol.com

theinsertcompany.com

fasteningsolutionsuk.com