Hi fellow P1Sers!
I have been experimenting with making parts that are too big for the beds of the (large) Bambu printers, including my P1S. I would like to share the best abstract design I’ve come up with so far, talk about the benefits and problems I’ve seen, and the poll the forum here for other ideas I’ve missed so far, so without further ado:
This design is a set of interlocking fingers. The pictures are of a mini-experiment, so not full size, but they illustrate the design:
From the top surface, sub-pieces spread apart:
From the top surface, sub-pieces half way together:
From the top surface, fully mated:
From the bottom surface, fully mated: (Please note: I have made much tighter fitting fingers, but this is the only one I could find that I hadn’t yet glued together.)
From the bottom surface, coming apart: (Please note: the ‘ramps’ you see on the ‘receiver’ side, are actually really important to getting a perfectly flush fit on the top side. If you want to know more, ask away!)
I print these two parts, (or three parts, or however many parts,) clamp them together on a flush surface with woodworking clamps, then glue them together with longer-setting CA. Nudge them around until they’re absolutely perfect then either kick the CA from the under-side, or just let them dry slowly, if I’m not in a hurry.
It look many iterations to get to this design, so if this interests you, let me know, and I can elaborate. My next thought is to move to a diagonal interface plane so I might get some strength benefit in both the X & Y directions.
I have been pretty satisfied with the results, but I have to assume that there are other people who have come up with better solutions that I have, and I’d love to hear about them.
I also respect the reality that this is an extremely simple part I’m making, so if there is knowledge on how to mate larger, more complex sub-parts I’d love to hear about those too!
Thanks and enjoy!
Ian