this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
52 points (98.1% liked)

3DPrinting

22475 readers
61 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The only tell is a slight bump on the seam line of the back. It’s 0.1mm layer heights and 0.6mm thick.

Printed in TPU, I was looking for a solution like this for a future project and wanted to share it with someone.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Lee@retrolemmy.com 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Could you explain more? Is this just an experiment to see if you can line up and fuse 2 separately printed objects? Are the 2 parts different materials? I feel like I'm misunderstanding.

What I think you've done is print 1 object in TPU and then print a 2nd object, also in TPU, close enough to the 1st object such they fuse. Maybe your future plans would help me understand. I'm interested in learning about different techniques.

I had considered doing something like object fusing to create foldable objects, like print the first couple layers in TPU (for both objects as well as a connecting piece between them) and then print 2 separate objects on top of the TPU base -- think like a foldable phone case where rather than use a normal hinge, it would be an edge in TPU and the rest is PLA/PETG/whatever. Reason to do the whole base in TPU is that I thought just printing the part that connects the other 2 parts in TPU wouldn't fuse well enough and would separate with use. I've not actually done this.

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 4 points 6 days ago

So the whole process.

  1. Print the first part, the first part has an interfacing slope which is 3d printer friendly. Which results in some stair stepping, but this time this is what we are trying to get.

  2. Remove the first part from the print bed.

  3. Start the second print.

  4. Auto stop the second print after the first layer, and align it with the first print. The first print has a notch which is used to align the 2 parts.

  5. Resume printing. The second print is design to print over air without supports, but with the first print in place it now prints on top of that and fuses the 2 parts together.

The reason I am doing this is so I can print parts which is larger than my print bed, without using fasteners or adhesive to bond them together. This method basically welds the parts together. This was just a small test print to prove the theory