One of our readers reached out with a 3D design question and we thought you might be able to help.
Ian Stephenson of Technology Consortia Limited in Cumbria, UK, writes:
I have designed a small assembly that comprises two components that are used together as two halves to hold and clamp a component through a 32mm diameter hole in the front of a control box. One half has a male external thread.to push through the hole and the other half has an internal thread that screws onto the first half to effect a clamp.
Originally I included a standard engineering thread, i.e. M30 x 2, but this has proved impossible to reproduce with 3D printing. I am looking for advice on how best to produce components with a matching thread?
This would seem to be something that can be accomplished with 3D design and 3D printing. Weāre not sure what design tools Stephenson is/has used, but matching threads should be a very common design problem.
What functions in which 3D design software would you recommend Stephenson use? Are there better or simpler methods to approach this design? If you have a suggestion, drop it in the comments below.
