Interference fit parts

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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,164
Location
Leicestershire
Is anyone else on here printing parts that 'fit' together?
If so how successful are you and what method did you use to get the printer dialed in to that level?

I've recently printed the Lego Stormtrooper that's on Thingyverse and, lets just say its not got the same tolerances as real Lego lol...


I've seen a 'Califlower' test print from Vector 3D but haven't ran it through yet, just wondered what everyone else was doing..
 
I've made a few with varied success, I usually end up having to sand or scrape as I've never really calibrated the printer that way.

Most parts I print are around 0.2mm off which is close enough for my printed needs, if I'm doing interference fits then I usually adjust the fit to match on my drawings rather than mess around with the printer.
 
I'll have a play with it when I get back from my next trip away.

Usually I'm not that bothered, but this Lego dude is meant to fit together, and it doesn't lol
 
I made a few custom Lego parts, modelled from scratch myself, and printed with a cheapy Monoprice 3D printer, 0.1mm, and tolerances were OK, the odd bit needed slight sanding or just printed warped and had to be redone but most were fine. A lot comes down to the material used to print I suspect.
 
I’ve designed loads of models that are “press fit”. The go to tolerance for me is 0.1-0.15 so your printer needs to handle that.

Although saying that there is a few things that can change it slightly:

- squish on first layer, you almost never want to base tolerances on first layer as it will be squished a bit. Try adjusting elephants foot or first layer height.

- different filaments can affect it. Some more viscous and some contract more. Play about with temp +/- 10c and also extrusion multiplier by +/- 2-5%.

- if really stuck scale the model up or down slightly by 1%
 
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