Printing "small" parts...
Hi... 😉
This is my first real project - it seemed like at good place to start learning F360.
I have designed replacement pegs for B&O Beovox speakers like M100-2, M70 and other models, as aprox 50% of the pegs usually has broken off over the years. It seems, that nobody else have done this before - at least I could not find any files.
They measure aprox 10 mm by 30 mm and I plan to print them in PETG, as they have to quite strong holding up the speaker grills.
They are for sure on the tiny side for FDM printing, I am aware of this - and as they are hidden while in use, they don't exactly have to be pretty - just strong! But can I get pretty as well, I would not mind.
I will print with 100% infill.
I have made them a little bit more robust than the original pegs.
I plan to print them horizontally, but supports are hard to remove in PETG.
Alternatively I might split them in half and glue them back together, before glueing them to the speaker grills. That would also offer the opportunity to insert a 1mm carbon fiber rod in the middle - but... yeah, I don't know... I would prefer to print them in one piece... I think...
Sorry - that was a very long explanation for a very tiny print 😊
BUT: Has anybody got some "best practice" advice in order to make these prints as straight forward as possible?
Thanks,
Jesper...
RE: Printing "small" parts...
Hello! I'm no expert by any means, but I can give you my two cents.
I would absolutely find a way to print them horizontally, as the difference in strength can be a factor of 10x. In order to increase printability and since the part appearance doesn't matter: Do you have to print perfect cylinders? How about just cutting away 10% of the the cylinder so it has a flat surface to lie on when it's being printed? See attached picture of what I mean.
Additionally, if they're small then I would 100% recommend printing them with 0.25 nozzle.
RE: Printing "small" parts...
I agree. Printing that upright will be difficult, need support (unless you campher that overhang) and will most likely lead to a weak part. If you print a layer adhesion torture test like this one, I would recommend PCTG instead of PETG or the rather challenging PP (which is hard to print and warps a lot but is great for such small party where layer adhesion is crucial).
It will be much easier however to simply print this flat on the long side by cutting the lower part as frebys suggested.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: Printing "small" parts...
Not that it really matters, but i just thought i would say that supports aren't that hard to remove from petg prints in my (somewhat limited) experience.
Don't print at 100% fill, it will cause more problems than it solves. I would start with 3 perimeters and 30% fill - this should leave a tiny open core in the narrow part of the stem which will allow the part to flex slightly under load. You might adapt this to leave a 1mm centre void for those CF reinforcements to be slipped in from the end at need.
If you can, printing horizontally will make stronger parts.
If the circular cross section is not essential try using a hexagonal cross section which will require far less finicky support.
Cheerio,
RE: Printing "small" parts...
Thank you so much for your replys - I will definitely do more tests based your input 👍
Jesper...