Printable View
How much space do you need to leave between 3D printed parts to have them fit together smoothly? I created some printable parts to determine this, and tested it with several different 3D printing services and materials.
The results are described here:
https://saccade.com/blog/2019/12/fit-testing-block/
The parts are up on Thingiverse if you want to try it with your service/printer. I'm interested in hearing of the results.
Attachment 13844
I believe the difference in size is more so the fact we are using plastic than the type of fabrication although FFF is going to be more problematic due to the ROUND extrusion of filament which is being slug around in molten state at extremely high speed. I tend to build my CAD file to take this into account and most holes need to be .4mm larger to match the cad file and the X axis on my printer is also almost always .03mm short compared to the cad file
The smaller the nozzle and better thought out design (taking extrude width into consideration) will also produce more exacting sizes ..