Printing Small Gaps

[CatamaranDan 0]

Hi All,

I have been trying to print a moving part, a cylinder enclosed within a larger structure, there is a 0.012 in gap all around the cylinder and I am unable to get the gap to appear in the print. Here is a picture of the part in cura:

I am printing on a UM3 in ABS.

Can someone help me verify if this should be possible and if my settings are correct?

Thanks,

Dan

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Take this for what it is worth...maybe a plugged nickel at best...

But I have started making interlocking parts, or parts that slide into one or another. I have learned to give a bit of 'slop' room between parts. It will depend on the nozzle and fidelity of the print layers as well as material and environment.

Not to be critical, but as I have found in my limited experience, this is not precision printing and can vary piece by piece. It can be close, but it is not like injection molding.

May I suggest you just make a dummy or two of very simple, quick print objects to test various settings out, and see what gives the fit you desire. And, do not forget things like horizontal expansion to tweak a bit of space between things, here and there. And try to make the outer and inner objects separately so that you can have finer control over the parts using 'per model settings'. Just make sure their pivot points are aligned in your 3D Package.

[MechDesigner 3]

Dan,

I think the .012 is not showing up because it is to small for the .4mm tip?

Frank

[cairn 5]

I usually end up with a model gap of at least 0.2mm to get a tight but moving fit between 2 parts, so that's 17x your gap!

[tinkergnome 927]

On 8/1/2017 at 7:29 AM, CatamaranDan said:

there is a 0.012 in gap

 

I think, the OP is talking about inches, 0.012 inches are approx. 0.3mm

[cairn 5]

24 minutes ago, tinkergnome said:

 

I think, the OP is talking about inches, 0.012 inches are approx. 0.3mm

 

Ha, inches! Don't run across those much anymore..

[kmanstudios 1,120]

2 hours ago, cairn said:

 

Ha, inches! Don't run across those much anymore..

Especially in an industry that runs on metric exclusively.