i have been at this design for a few days trying to figure out what I can do to make these clips stronger. As soon as I go to test fit them it just snaps the flips cause there is not enough flex+strength. I’ve printed dozens of these with minor changes and they all break. I’ve printed in abs, petg, and pla. I have a cheap mono price mini select printer for now. If anyone can help me I’d appreciate it. I’ll send the stl file to anyone who has any recommendations. I am a beginner, this is my 3rd design so far and the only one I can’t figure out! Here are just two pictures of what I’m talking about. Since the pictures I lengthened them a little, added a fillet, switched back and forth between thicker and thinner.
Printing this on its side will align the layer lines to make the snap significantly stronger. For this print you want to print it so the layer lines are perpendicular to the snaps mating faces.
You could also add a fillet at the base of the clip. Depending on the slicer you could do a process to do a heavier infill for those layers at the base of the clip also.
I did that and it worked perfectly! I’m new to 3d printing and I had no idea the orientation you print makes it stronger. thanks!
I did previously add a filet right at the base, only a small one but it did seem to help! The orientation of the print was the thing I was doing wrong. Printed it on it’s side and it worked perfectly.
I’m glad it worked out for you! Layer orientation definitely makes a huge difference in mechanical performance in FDM printing. SLA is a different story, check out this guide by a fellow hub here on FDM printing How to design parts for FDM 3D printing | Hubs
