One method of strengthening 3D printed plastic is to pack the item very firmly in very finely ground salt then heat it just the point where the plastic begins to melt. The firm salt keeps the size and shape and the plastic layers melt together more. It only work on parts with 100% infill. Can also use plaster but it's a PITA to get off the parts. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=3d+printing+salt
On Monday, December 20, 2021, 02:59:38 PM MST, Chris Albertson <albertson.ch...@gmail.com> wrote: Is it possible to post process a thermal plastic gear? Lets say you took a high-precision metal gear and heated it to 180C and the rolled it over the printed gear with the correct center to center distance. You would need to build a test fixture to do this but might be worth it. lately I've been experimenting with brass thread inserts. I have 1/2 dozen different types and printed test blocks with different hole diameters and I've tried the soldering iron at different temperatures. The best results are really good with the M3 size screw failing before the nut. The worst case is they just pull out easily with pliers. The hard part seems to be repeatability and if the hole is parallel or at right angles to the layers. Printer setting and part design seems to matter a lot also. I've got a walking-dog type robot and I need to convert it all over to threaded inserts, about 80 places. I find it helps to think if each holes gets larger or smaller then design when it is printed. and this depends on ho the hole is connected to the rest of the part. By walls or sheets or infill.. Engineering is fun... _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
