Designing 3D Printable ball and socket joints | Fusion 360 | 3D Printing | Print in Place

[@joesheldon4619]

Great job with the video. Raised my confidence in joints like this. Thank you!

[@onkarkitekt]

Great content and testing, will look forward to trying something similar in the future 🖖🏾

[@edr0Z]

I have no idea what im doing here but i liked the video, new subscribed

[@LincolnWorld]

Fantastic video, thank you! I subscribed. I don't know if the function was available at the time you recorded this, but now when printing with the X1C, you can pause it in the phone app, and pick any of the objects that have started printing, and tell it to cancel whatever ones you pick. Then you can keep printing the other models right where they left off. It's really helpful for those moments. If you have not gotten one yet, I also recommend getting a better build plate than the one that came with the printer. Unless of course you are happy with it. I prefer the ones that don't require glue stick to work. Better bottom surface finish, and less to deal with. Now to go watch some more of your videos.

[@engineer3d]

Yes there have been a lot of new possibilities since this video! Crazy how fast things advance it’s super cool! Totally agree a new build plate is high on my list! I’ve got a project I’m working on that will require a nicer bottom surface finish

[@jakehate]

I have a project in mind that this knowledge will be useful in, thanks 👍

[@zupiza4456]

Great video would love a tutorial for beginners for students like me:)

[@giantbee9763]

Thank you for the video! Liked and subscribed.

[@stanzatara]

Amazing info thank you so much!

[@kevincharles112]

Super video ... exactly what I am trying to build. A few questions if I may: 1) I noticed that you did not print the ball vertically on center in the socket. You're offset a bit to the bottom. Is that deliberate, to allow the printer somewhere to start? it looks like when you initially break the joint, that you have vertical clearance (the entire assembly is now a bit longer). 2) I've tried this with tinier joints and getting mixed results. The balls slip out of the joint too easily, so I think I need to upsize them a bit. Can you share the diameter of your joints? I saw another video where your ball was about 8mm ... is that the case here too? (meaning the ball is 8mm, but the socket for the .15 joint would then be 8.3mm).

[@engineer3d]

1) yes that is correct, the gap between the ball and the socket itself is about 0.15-0.2mm. This allows the printer to have a very minimal contact point on top of the ball joint so that it doesn’t print in mid air and cause a spaghetti failure 2) Smaller joints are definitely a little trickier, the smaller the joint the tighter the tolerances need to be which in some cases may reach the limit of the 3D printer. In those cases trial and error is the best to find what is best for the joint you’re working on. I don’t have these files saved anymore as it was just a trial project for a different design but from my memory that was pretty close to the measurements. Hope this helps

[@Alex-qs2sj]

This is amazing! Thanks for this. Is there a document or drawing I can refer to in order to get more of the specific dimensions used to create this?

[@engineer3d]

I put these together fairly quickly so I don’t have drawings of this specific model. What I can say is that as long as the ball joint is approximately 0.5-1mm smaller than the socket and the distance between the peak of the ball joint and socket is 0.1-0.15mm your design should function well!

[@Alex-qs2sj]

Much appreciated!

[@maartenrutgers6156]

What were your print settings? Layer thickness, for instance. I tried 0.15mm and My sockets are getting stuck. I'l iterate a little but perhaps you can give some pointers.

[@maartenrutgers6156]

Oh, and a 0.4 mm nozzle, PLA filament.

[@southwestwingchun]

Hi.the tolerance is at the apex(bottom)...what was the tolerance where the curve ends please?..I can see it's wider. Thanks

[@engineer3d]

The widest part of the ball (in this design) is 12.5mm. The socket that it fits into is a circle of diameter 14mm where the opening is 12mm. If you want to be able to remove the socket after printing an opening diameter of 12.6mm would probably work well. You may want to adjust this based on your printer settings but I found that to work quite well.

[@alexgeorgiou6025]

how could i make this stiffer to hold weight? like phone for instance.

[@engineer3d]

If you’re looking for the ball joints to lock in place more you’d need to make the tolerances much tighter. Probably only the difference of about 1-2 print lines between the perimeter of the socket and the ball. That might allow you to make it hold more weight. Will for sure involve some trial and error

[@ibraaheemloonat6926]

What layer height did you use ?

[@engineer3d]

This was using 0.2mm layer height

[@akbarsenremove352]

What print settings did you use?

[@engineer3d]

Standard settings on bambulabs, 0.2mm layer height