3DP assemblies as single solid

[PeterT]

I'm working on a project for a fellow. He has received 3DP test metal parts from PCBWay from my CAD files so that part is fine. His next request is to bring part A & part B into single file, build small sacrificial bridges between them. The idea being it would go in as one print job. I believe the incentive is financial in that they charge setup or something for each part.

I'm familiar with CAD 'assemblies'; parts are orientated & defined by mates like - align this flush to that, make this concentric with that... I can generate the bridge easy enough, but I'm not 100% clear if assembly sees the end result as one new water tight single solid body vs multiple bodies with zero gap. I'm getting into the weeds here with terminology, maybe/hopefully its a non-issue. Maybe the magic happens when I click save as .STL because (my understanding) it has underlying geometric tolerances when it does its faceting thing, so maybe this where the 'geometric putty' gets applied &it becomes a single solid? Does the pre-print CAM part of 3DP (like slicer or whatevr its called) figure this out or offer diagnostics? I'm guessing there must be a tool or workflow because this must happen in 3D printing all the time.

 

[DavidR8]

I love the term 'geometric putty'!
Post it here and once of us will slice it up and see what happens.

 

[Arbutus]

Take a careful look at the 3MF format. It is a manufacturing standard which includes the model data (STL, OBJ, etc) and the print parameters, relative positions of parts and the material options.

Your CAD system should be able to construct the assembly and give you back a single structure to manufacture. Conversely, given a 3MF file it is also possible to split it apart into individual models, or re-section it so that a planar face can be laid flat on the bed for re-assembly with glue later.