# Connect rafts together in PreForm
**URL:** https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841
**Category:** Form 3/3+
**Created:** [March 2, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841 "2020-03-02T20:25:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@leonhart88](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/leonhart88)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/1 "2020-03-02T20:25:49Z")
If I’m printing an array of lots of small parts, is there a way in Preform to connect the rafts together? This makes removing from the build plate, washing, and curing less work.
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### Author:  [@P3D](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/P3D)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2020, 8:26am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/2 "2020-03-03T08:26:38Z")
Yes, you have to specify a negative distance between the parts, then the rafts will overlap.
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### Author:  [@mjncad](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/mjncad)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2020, 7:52am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/3 "2020-03-05T07:52:32Z")
I just move them until they overlap to my satisfaction.
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### Author:  [@P3D](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/P3D)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/4 "2020-03-06T06:51:29Z")
I think the question was about the built-in array functions, where PreForm automatically places the parts.
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### Author:  [@mjncad](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/mjncad)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/5 "2020-03-06T07:06:20Z")
You may be right.
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### Author:  [@leonhart88](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/leonhart88)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/6 "2020-03-08T22:59:13Z")
Sorry for the delayed response, but yes this is exactly what I wanted thank you!
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Matsumoto](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/Dave_Matsumoto)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/7 "2021-01-15T15:51:15Z")
I’m reviving this thread since I’ve just noticed this option to overlap parts and wanted to know more about its behavior in PF 3.12.1. In older posts from 2017, people said that overlapping regions would get double exposure (or in the case of the rafts, double-double exposure), which I don’t want.
Is the “Overlap Rafts” basically the same thing as manually overlapping or using the Array feature with a negative spacing? And is it still going to double expose everything?
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### Author:  [@Randy\_Cohen](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/Randy_Cohen)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/connect-rafts-together-in-preform/26841/8 "2021-01-15T17:19:44Z")
My belief is that “Overlap Rafts” identifies the intersections and only exposes them 1x like they should. In the “old days” when you overlapped parts the printer simply printed that region 2x. This resulted in over-curing of the resin, which usually made it really hard to scrape/chip off the build plate.