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33 votes
Accepted

Will 3D Printed Dice Be Fair?

It probably won't be fair. Incidentally, I have a decent amount of experience with 3D printing. It depends heavily on the particular technology that you're using to do the 3D printing, but nearly all ...
Icyfire's user avatar
  • 444
24 votes

What kinds of gaps/tolerances should I use when designing pieces that fit together?

I use my clearance values according to my rule of thumb: 0.1 mm - to fit with some force, 0.2 mm - just fit edge to edge without force. Examples: 3 mm metal cylinder to be pressed into plastic part ...
Serge Rabyking's user avatar
22 votes

What kinds of gaps/tolerances should I use when designing pieces that fit together?

Before we get into nozzle sizes and snap fits, let's start with the bigger picture. We need to use a common language for defining the parts. Allowance is a planned difference between a nominal or ...
John Deters's user avatar
18 votes
Accepted

Tool to measure in STL files

I suggest Blender. It's not the simplest of tools but it is free and learning it will improve your 3D printing skills. :-) (I write this answer also for future viewers of this question so I start ...
Gunslinger's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

Should I include fillets on my 3d printed parts?

If your part needs structural support, then the word is: absolutely. Fillets provide the added support when you need it. If your part has a meeting line which is sharp - 90° (or perpendicular), there ...
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

Do 3D printers really reach 50 micron (0.05 mm) accuracy?

There's not a simple answer to this question, or if there is, it's "no". However the situation is a lot more complicated. When printer specs cite accuracy like this, they're usually basing the claim ...
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE's user avatar
11 votes

Should I include fillets on my 3d printed parts?

Fillets in X-Y plane (i.e. between two vertical surfaces) work great for 3D prints and increase the strength a lot. They usually also improve the print quality, because the print head can keep a ...
jpa's user avatar
  • 351
11 votes
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Rule of thumb for small type

I've had better luck with fonts that are heavier, usually sans-serif, and usually bold-face. All-caps can help, too, if it makes sense at all for the text. Impact is one widely-available example, ...
Joel Coehoorn's user avatar
9 votes

Will 3D Printed Dice Be Fair?

I've printed a few dice, and thrown them ~100 times each to check -- they were very far off from fair. One reason, I think, is that the inner fill (and thus a lot of weight) is oriented a certain way. ...
TextGeek's user avatar
  • 3,227
9 votes

Do 3D printers really reach 50 micron (0.05 mm) accuracy?

One of the things I was told about was that many printers don't necessarily have that crazy precision of 0.05 mm (50 micron). Another person told me something different - he said most of those ...
Tom van der Zanden's user avatar
8 votes
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How are things like a USB casing designed for 3D printing?

3D printing provides a faster method for prototyping and have always been labeled as prototyping machines. Until recently, it has been rare to see 3D printers used for "mass manufacturing". Yes, most ...
tbm0115's user avatar
  • 6,334
8 votes
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Best practices to fix a threaded nut inside a print

One good option would be to - if possible - change the design, so the nut is inserted from the opposite side, so that the bolt just pulls it in tighter rather than pulling it out. Another option ...
Tom van der Zanden's user avatar
8 votes

Split/edit part in FreeCAD?

When you want to change an STL file in FreeCAD then this is how I do it. I open the STL file in FreeCAD and select the option in the Part/...
Marco's user avatar
  • 293
7 votes
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Are self intersecting meshes dirty from a 3D printing perspective?

Self intersecting meshes are considered dirty, yes. The reason you haven't had trouble before is probably that the software you were using was cleaning your mesh for you, behind the scenes. Generally ...
Marviel's user avatar
  • 148
7 votes
Accepted

M4 screw and nut for 3D printing?

You can get a model for nearly everything McMaster-Carr sells from their website. M4 Hex Head Screw - https://www.mcmaster.com/#91280a140/=15dmpx8 M4 Nut - https://www.mcmaster.com/#90592a090/=...
tjb1's user avatar
  • 2,110
7 votes
Accepted

Font for cutting?

I did a quick search using The Google with the terms "stencil font." There were too many results to list here and the first link I clicked on provided some seriously ugly fonts. Stencil fonts by ...
fred_dot_u's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

How to print a two color part with only one extruder

What you ask may be easier than you think. The slicing software is unimportant, generally speaking. Consider especially that your requirements fit the solution spot on. Take a look at this ...
fred_dot_u's user avatar
7 votes

commandline remeshing and simplifying tools

Netfabb came up in a number of suggestions that I found. Take a look at 3D Printing Under Arch Linux, which offers a number of solutions for Linux, including: OpenSCAD FreeCAD Blender NetFabb Slic3r ...
Greenonline's user avatar
  • 6,688
7 votes
Accepted

How can I generate and export the support structure for an object as a mesh?

You could try Meshmixer its free and the supports generated with it are embedded into the 3D model. Here you can find a reference on Meshmixer supports. Meshmixer is well known for making custom ...
Petar Petrov's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Split/edit part in FreeCAD?

I found that the answer provided by @Marco was helpful but not the correct answer I was looking for. Here is the general approach I used (Based on this). Create new document Import STL file Switch ...
Dave G's user avatar
  • 303
7 votes

What kinds of gaps/tolerances should I use when designing pieces that fit together?

Short version: basically, this depends on your printer, make, model, type, state of maintenance, extruder, slicer settings, belt tension, play, friction, etc. Long version: Basically your printer ...
0scar's user avatar
  • 37.1k
7 votes

What kinds of gaps/tolerances should I use when designing pieces that fit together?

Yes, some clearance is necessary. Even if you were machining perfect metal parts, you would want a clearance gap (and make an allowance for mis-alignment along the Z axis too, long joints can bind ...
Sean Houlihane's user avatar
7 votes

Why is the printed object smaller than original model?

Are you using the stock firmware of your printer? Sounds like to me that you have 16 tooth pulleys and your firmware is set to 20 tooth i.e. 80 steps per mm The calculation behind the steps per mm is ...
Perplexed Dipole's user avatar
7 votes

Do 3D printers really reach 50 micron (0.05 mm) accuracy?

A resolution (sometimes called "accuracy" for marketing purposes) of 0.05 mm means that if you produce a bunch of 10 mm dice and a bunch of 10.05 mm dice, then the 10.05 mm ones will be statistically ...
Dmitry Grigoryev's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Is there a way to print with ABS without enclosure?

There is no requirement for an enclosure when printing ABS. Like many things in FDM, there are improvements to be made, but there is a scale of what is possible. A heated bed is much more necessary (...
Sean Houlihane's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

My 3D printer shows inbuilt designs, but my designs are invisible

Install the "Chitu code" plugin from the Cura website, some companies use the Chitu board as their printer's CPU and Tronxy does that. Without the plugin, it won't show a preview of your ...
AeStudios's user avatar
  • 116
6 votes

Will 3D Printed Dice Be Fair?

Custom 3D printed dice are distinctly lower quality than the dice from a FLGS you see in 'standard' dice sets, and around the same quality of die as the cheaper plastic dice available online. It ...
Please stop being evil's user avatar
6 votes

Building a pivot linkage for servo steering with 3d printed parts.

A correct length shoulder screw would work great in this application. They have a shoulder that is held to a precise diameter and a length. You can thread a nut on and tighten it against the ...
tjb1's user avatar
  • 2,110
6 votes
Accepted

Recommend simple software to create calibration print for table leveling

You are probably looking for something like this: Note this is for large beds (300 x 300 mm), so you would have to X, Y scale this in your slicer. This is a simple part that is very easily generated ...
0scar's user avatar
  • 37.1k
6 votes
Accepted

Strange walls/faces when importing self made model from Blender to Cura 3

It is quite common for modelling operations to result in 'non manifold geometry', meaning that some of the faces intersect or are not perfectly joined. Although there is nothing obvious in your model,...
Sean Houlihane's user avatar

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