Advice on Printing and Lining Up Collar Clamp

[VmusicV]

Hi,
I am printing a collar clamp (pics below). The collar clamps onto a 1" metal pole - a microphone stand. I am using a (supposed) print in place hinge because I cannot slide the collar clamp onto the pole (there is stuff welded onto the top/bottom of the mic stand).

A few questions:

1. I’m using Fusion 360 for the design tool; is there anything in the design layer to help or make it so that as I export the 3MF file… the left and right parts of the collar clamp, the hinge parts are aligned?
2. The clamp is supporting a light weight, say less than 2 pounds… I was wondering what’s the best filament to grip the metal pole? What about having a TPU insert into or on the inside of the collar? or is that way overkill?

Any other collar clamp advice?

Thanks
AJ

[Wsquared58]

If I were making something like that I would probably make the hole some bit oversized and get some rubber tape with adhesive on one side and affix the tape to the ID of the clamp hole. Some things, the effort isn’t worth the time to me when I can run down to Lowe’s or HD and buy the tape for this example.

[Olias]

Exporting as a 3MF is the least suitable export method. The reason that is, is because 3MF only supports mesh not vector formats which are far more precise.

I would strongly suggest exporting the assembly as STEP file. Then when you import the assembly, it will translate them into a mesh but as individual objects. The key is, you let the slicer do the translation and not rely on the CAD system to do the translation. That gives you fewer steps to diagnose.

Here’s an example of what I mean using a model made by YouTuber Teaching Tech. The model is for spherical port for a dry box. It’s a brilliant design that you can find here.

Spherical port for filament dryers - Open source and parametised by...

Navigate to his video linked on that page for a full tutorial on 3D CAD to 3D printing. He has others but what is nice about this is that it shows you how to use tolerances and assemblies and then export them to an assembly as separate objects. Although he uses OnShape, the principle is the same for all parametric CAD programs such as Fusion360, CATIA, FreeCAD, SolidWorks etc.

So if you import this STEP file as an example, you get full precision.

It looks like this in the slicer(Note, the colors are fake, I don’t own an AMS, it’s just there for illustration purposes):

Now from there you will want run tests for adjustments to the X-Y hole and contour compensation. So if your object isn’t pivoting well and feels like its binding, either an increase in the hole compensation or decrease in contour will adjust the interior gap.

I posted on this topic more than once but I think this post which speaks to X-Y compensation for making threaded parts fit together is probably very close to your use case.

3d printed threads

Creating 3D threads in CAD was one of my early self-taught endeavors in 3D printing. I undertook this project to refresh my outdated CAD skills, which I hadn’t used in years. This single exercise, where I transformed a cylinder into a 3D nut and thread, provided valuable learning and enjoyment. Additionally, it imparted specific engineering insights relevant to 3D printing challenges. If you can master this skill, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle various functional 3D printing tasks. So here i…

[VmusicV]

I hear you. As I say in the IT world… sometimes the juice just aint worth the squeeze!!

[VmusicV]

Thank you so much for the links and advice. It turns out, that in Fusion 360 if you combine both parts of the collar clamp into one component, you can export it as a single 3MF…then Bambu labs brings it in perfectly aligned, so that there’s nothing extra to do.

I did this, printed it and the hinge WORKED!!!