Can You Capture Other Parts in Your 3D Prints?
Tom Hazzard
Intensive Podcast Promotion and Podcast Production AI tools and services for serious podcasters looking grow a brand through podcasting and videocasting. Helping entrepreneurs monetize their core business first.
We had a recent MatterHackers Ask Us Anything event, which was great. It was a live Ask Us Anything. We had a lot of fun. One of the great points Lars brought out, which I thought was amazingly helpful, was a tip that you can print a 3D model of the object that you want to put in your 3D print so that you don’t damage the actual final product. This way you don’t damage the object that might be important, if it’s a printed circuit board or it’s a piece of special metal or whatever it might be.
The person who asked this question was new to 3D printing. For those of you who also might be new, it’s important not only to make sure that you’re not damaging the piece you’re inserting into the middle of your 3D print, but it’s also important that you don’t do something that could potentially damage your 3D printer as it continues to try to print.
For newbies in 3D printing, you really need to make sure you watch your 3D printer print quite a bit and understand all the motions that are going on and how it works. This doesn’t have to be a terribly long process, but realize how that nozzle is moving around. Think logically about it. You can certainly capture some other material or object in your 3D print, but you have to let that print grow to a height that is going to be above whatever you’re putting into it. That nozzle has to be clearly moving above it so it doesn’t interfere and hit it.
If it hits something hard, only one of two things is going to happen. It’s either going to break the material or part that you have put in there. In the case of a printed circuit board, that’s pretty fragile. You don’t want to knock a chip or diode off of there. If you were inserting a piece of metal, say you’re making a hinge or a piece of jewelry, you might very well break the tip of your brass nozzle of your 3D printer. I’ve seen some nozzles that have a very small opening and a fine amount of metal on there. They’re not just a cone; they’re like a point. Brass is not the strongest metal in the world. If it encounters steel, the steel will win.
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