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In my experience, there are a lot of things that influence accuracy: temperature, speed, flowrate, material, even color (some colors melt better than others, not sure why, maybe due to fillers?), etc. Further there are things like layer-lines (curved edges), blobs, ringing, thickening of corners due to nozzle slowing down,... All these have an effect.
The only way to know, is test. Make your typical features in real size in a small test model, and try that. For me, I usually take 0.1 to 0.5mm extra, depending on how tight a fit I want, and whether it are inner openings or outer sides.
Be aware that PLA will deform even under moderate warmth. You can not leave it in your car, even not in mild sunny weather in spring or autumn (internal stress relaxation). And it will deform quite fast under continuous load (creep deformation). Don't ask how I know. :-) This might not be suitable for every technical application.
If the application allows it, I usually go for plenty of tolerance. Otherwise I calculate some post-processing in from the beginning: some filing, sanding, cutting,...
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geert_2 473
In my experience, there are a lot of things that influence accuracy: temperature, speed, flowrate, material, even color (some colors melt better than others, not sure why, maybe due to fillers?), etc. Further there are things like layer-lines (curved edges), blobs, ringing, thickening of corners due to nozzle slowing down,... All these have an effect.
The only way to know, is test. Make your typical features in real size in a small test model, and try that. For me, I usually take 0.1 to 0.5mm extra, depending on how tight a fit I want, and whether it are inner openings or outer sides.
Be aware that PLA will deform even under moderate warmth. You can not leave it in your car, even not in mild sunny weather in spring or autumn (internal stress relaxation). And it will deform quite fast under continuous load (creep deformation). Don't ask how I know. :-) This might not be suitable for every technical application.
If the application allows it, I usually go for plenty of tolerance. Otherwise I calculate some post-processing in from the beginning: some filing, sanding, cutting,...
Link to post
Share on other sites