Threaded holes 2M

General Discussion
1

Hello everyone,

Curious to see if there is any documentation/proof showing people who are able to use 2M screws in 3d printed parts. Whether that be printed or tapped threads.

2

We use 2m and many other size screws with both printed threads and tapped holes

3

Awesome, seems very doable. Which materials have you had success tapping holes into? Planning on tapping the new Tough 2000 V2, But also wondering if the brittleness of the general purpose materials would present an issue when tapping. Might be cost effective to make this underwater enclosure in a general purpose material if possible.

4

on the formlabs we mostly print the threads but I have tapped tough 2000, high temp, rigid10k flexible 80a and more.

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5

what would you say is better? Printed or tapped threads? Does it widely depend on the use case of the part that determines printed or tapped threads?

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6

I personally print them a bit tighter than nominal and then tap thread them.
That way I have more precise dimensions without putting too much stress on the part.

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7

SLS printed coarse threads has worked well for me before (20tpi at most). For SLA I use the nominal tap hole size and always tap threads after printing either in the green state (for brittle materials) or post cure for softer materials. Helicoils are great if you will be frequently screwing/unscrewing parts.

8

I’ll add my 2 cents here as well - the tough series are great for simply printing the threads in the part. I’ve had a lot of success in doing that for clients. Smaller threads can be a challenge but someone mentioned Helicoils, which are also great! I’m currently in the process of modeling tapped holes into parts so we can simply plop helicoils in.

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9

I’ve done a fair amount of this in various resins, and printed threads are fine, but if you can use Tough or Durable, I’ve gotten the best results from plain holes with plastic tapping screws. I only do this for production parts, as selection is more limited and the extra grip generally isn’t that important in prototyping. If using standard resins, I’ve printed down to M2.5 with success. Smaller than that I use plane holes, as taps or self tappers chip out the threads as the go as often as not.