Aloha all, I'm tempted to produce some pieces for limited production runs, mostly plastic pieces for supporting components (such as cameras) in a machine. Does anyone have experience tapping the materials available on shapeways? My models have the same drill sizing I'd normally use in acetal, I'm not looking for 'heavily worked' threads...just alignment stuff. Any experiences? Cheers, Brian
I use threaded inserts when doing my small production run or one-off parts. Even a simple round hole can come out (slightly) deformed, making it difficult to tap. The threaded inserts will push into a deformed hole with no problem, I used to run a drill through the hole first, but there is no need. Have a look at this thread : https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&goto=9609 &S=f20dab32474a2bfa40c702d6ecf7ac85#msg_9609 and this one : https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&goto=9702 &S=f20dab32474a2bfa40c702d6ecf7ac85#msg_9702 Regards, Ian.
If you dont need threaded insert strength, I still havnt seen a reason to tap plastic. Its mallable enough to just use an undersized hole and let the screw self tap it.