Friction welding

[jsc]

Just came across this technique for friction welding 3D printed parts. It would be an interesting technique for me if I hadn't misplaced my Dremel in a move five years ago. The joints aren't as clean as a solvent bond, and it doesn't seem suitable for large surface to surface bonds, but it seems like it might be a useful technique for a large range of parts. Maybe it's time to find or replace my Dremel.

http://hackaday.com/2014/12/30/3d-print ... n-welding/

[jimc]

Interesting. I have never seen this done with plastics. It quite common in manufacturing of metal parts. One thing i can thing of is a solid metal drive shaft on an outboard boat motor. They are made this way and the strength of the joint is 100%. I have never seen one break at the weld joint so i guess if your technique is right it could offer a similar advantage for plastic.

[jdacal]

That is super cool and handy. Thanks for that tip!

[jsc]

I've seen videos of the metal friction welding, but it was being done to join shaft to shaft, not as, in this case, sort of a stick welding approach.

It would be interesting to try chucking a larger diameter printed rod in a drill press and see if you could replicate the drive shaft welding....

[pyronaught]

That's pretty cool, I totally have an application for that right now. I can see the only down side is going to be having to continually stop and put a new piece of filament in there. They need a setup like weedwackers have where you tap the head to make more filament come out.

[jsc]

Here is a more in depth article on friction welding, as well as a slew of other useful finishing techniques, some of which I have not previously encountered: friction welded rivets, filament rivets, ABS slurry, and tips on sanding. Especially interesting to me was the use of a heat gun to restore the color to a sanded part; I have noticed that sanding PLA will generally result in a dull surface no matter the grit I progress to.

http://makezine.com/projects/make-34/sk ... d-objects/

[pyronaught]

I've found a good trick for hand sanding plastic is to use drywall sanding screens instead of regular sand paper. Drywall sandpaper is designed to prevent clogging by using a gritty screen instead of a solid sheet of sandpaper. The holes in the screen allow the sanded material to drop through instead of gumming up the paper, so it doesn't gum up when sanding plastic the way normal sandpaper does.