Things that are impossible to 3D Print (Page 1 of 2)

That's what I thought.   Until I tried  :-)

PS, my printer prints unbelievably precisely.   Very well tuned printer.
I can print VERY fine accurate threads (vertically)
I would love to see someone print a threaded rod horizontally and tell me how they did it (yes, a challenge)  :-)

use a powder laser printer. also liquid resin type can print filtered DNA already but unless your wealthy as Bill Gates dont think those are 3D printers you own at home

Here's the Challenge.....

Print a threaded rod that is.....

Standard FFF 3D Printer priced UNDER $2,000
Threaded on both ends
At least 3 inches in length
Has at least 15mm of threads on both ends
Thread pitch of 1 to 1.5
Maximum diameter of rod 12mm
Maximum diameter of threaded portion 14mm
Printed entirely horizontally

First one to post up a screen shot of the item pre-print, on their 3D platform, their GCode, plus a photo of the threaded rod wins.   Let the games begin !   :-)

Yeah.. that's going to be tough to do on its side with a 0.4mm nozzle (what I use).  What nozzle are you attempting it with?

That's exactly what I was thinking.   I've tried.   I can't do it but I was hoping someone could.

It would sure be handy.   Printing them vertically works fine...but the resulting item is very, very weak due to the fact that any stress along the length tends to snap it at the weakest layer, and that gives many chances to fail.

A rod of any kind printed horizontally would be stronger yes?

When I print two smooth rods of the same length and diameter, the one printed horizontally is always far stronger than the one printed vertically.  (And we all know why of course)

I'd disagree - the threads on the top and bottom sure, the layer would align with the shear and they would be easy to break off.
But half way up the rod, the threads would be formed from jogs in the perimeter, and be quite continuous and strong.

So there would be weak and strong bits of thread; under tension the strong bits would likely take load even if the weak bits were damaged.

I've found many uses.   Assembling printed components for example. 
Adjustable devices is another.
This is why I'm so interested in this subject.

I have found through quite a bit of experimentation that rods printed horizontally, threaded or smooth, ALWAYS are stronger than vertically printed rods.  That could be because I'm using S3D.    Maybe another 3D driver would act differently.

Theoretically (I suppose?) if I could print the layers at high enough temp they would fuse together and make the rod stronger.
I'm doing some temp tests now actually.  Another trick might be POST print tempering.   Heating the rod so that the layers fuse together better AFTER the object has finished printing.   Chemical fusing might be another trick.

not sure.  any ideas?

That will change its dimensions however and may no longer thread. The vapor finish does cause the outer surface to melt.

or go to your local hardware store and purchase some threaded rod - it does come in multiple sizes...

pfffffftt

Easy peasy.  Anyone else?

I have several applications where a vertically printed threaded rod is working fine.   But in those applications there is no torsional stress on the threaded rod.

If there was someone clever enough (I wish it was me) to find a way to print a threaded rod horizontally, it would advance the utility of these devices quite a bit.

Pressing for innovation here   ;-)