Print in Place

[Pridanc 2]

OK, I'm baaack. And this  is just a "how would you do it" question.  

 

I've printed these bits separately and truthfully only needed the female mold (the blue square block looking part) just once as it is a support tool for the other part/s as made for some post printing work.  I'm just a curious sort wanting an education.

 

IF I were to print the two parts together, how would I guarantee that they'd come apart peacefully?  Don't forget when I print the "male" part (the grey part), I do so with it standing so that its face is dang near perfect which leaves me wondering how you print them together without sticking, and even if successful then, what would the faces look like?

 

To be clear, I've printed them separately and all of it works as I want. But what if?   :-)

 

Parts are PLA but might print the grey bit in ABS next go round.

Using CURA 5.7.0

 

OK, that's it!   Thanks everyone.  PDC

[ahoeben 1,956]

They would not come apart, but fuse together.

[Pridanc 2]

So how do people make PiP parts not stick together?  I realize my questions might be silly but I'm dying to know. 

TYVM

[ahoeben 1,956]

The parts need to be designed with enough clearance. It was my impression that in your case, the parts fit neatly together. That will not work woth print-in-place. You need some space between the parts in order for them to not fuse together.

[GregValiant 1,305]

There are materials that are used as "mold release agents".  A thin coating is typically applied to molds when making things like fiberglass boat hulls because the molds are often also constructed of fiberglass.  The hull would want to chemically bond to the mold without the release agent in place.  (That would make for a really ugly boat.)

 

Getting a part out of a mold is often a tricky process.  It might be done with something as simple as screwdriver slots so the part could be levered out, or something fancy like compressed air, or ejector pins.  Something that would push the part out without harming a "show" surface.  You can sometimes see the marks left by ejector pins on smallish injection molded parts.  They usually look like a 3mm circle on the part.  

[ahoeben 1,956]

You could print with two different materials that do not bond well while printing. Like water and oil, but solid. This is the idea of "breakaway support" material. However, keep in mind that the first layer of material B that does not bond well with material A on the layer below it will not stick to material A and as a result that first layer may fail, or will at least look ugly.

[Slashee_the_Cow 319]

2 hours ago, ahoeben said:

You could print with two different materials that do not bond well while printing. Like water and oil, but solid. This is the idea of "breakaway support" material. However, keep in mind that the first layer of material B that does not bond well with material A on the layer below it will not stick to material A and as a result that first layer may fail, or will at least look ugly.

Also unless the height difference between the topmost point of the bottom one to the bottommost point of the top one is <1mm, you're probably going to need a dual extruder printer for that to have a chance of working.

 

(Yes I have printed <1mm down inside an existing model, but using the same material (to create a single solid object), and while it worked for me, I can't officially endorse it because it might not work on all printers and bad things would probably happen if it didn't.)

[Pridanc 2]

OK, so y'all have convinced me to just walk away :-)     IE, in this case, trying to print them together just isn't worth the hassle and I've no doubt you are right. 

 

Again, both parts have been printed and fit well together.  The bottom part, the block looking bit, was printed at a scale of 100.1 and the bits fit so well together it is scary. I've no doubt if I were to spend some time getting all the settings just right on my printer, I'd not have any need for the slightly larger scale but just laying it out there as my prints fit what I need most all the time. My needs are simple! 

 

Lets mark this as solved OK? 

 

As usual, many thanks for the thoughts and suggestions.  Stay well, PDC

[GregValiant 1,305]

C'mon man!!  We haven't even gotten to pour molds or blow molding yet,

[Slashee_the_Cow 319]

7 hours ago, GregValiant said:

C'mon man!!  We haven't even gotten to pour molds or blow molding yet,

Is there a water-soluble filament we could use for lost wax casting?

[GregValiant 1,305]

There is such a thing as "lost PLA casting".  I don't think it will replace "lost wax" in the jewelry industry.

The thing I like about Lost PLA is you get to empty the beer cans before smelting them down to make a casting.

It's "quaffing before smelting".

[Pridanc 2]

Y'all are making me laugh this morning. TY for that!