Clearance
Free space between each part and the runners round it.
Tool · Tools tab
Small parts
on a sprue
Kit sprue binds small parts into a model kit’s frame: set out in rows inside a frame of runners, each part held by thin gates low at its foot. The frame keeps them together and flat on the plate; after printing, snip each part off at its gates.
How to use it§ 01
- Select the small parts — or nothing, to take everything on the plate.
- Click Kit sprue on the Tools tab.
- Set the clearance, the runners, the frame and the gates. The defaults are a good start.
- Click Make sprue. The parts are set out in rows, and the frame, runners and gates are built round them.
- Print it as it stands, then snip each part off at its gates.
Every setting§ 02
Runners
Width of the runners between the parts, and of the stubs that lead to the gates.
Frame
Width of the frame round the outside. Wider than a runner, it keeps the whole sprue flat on the plate.
Height
Height of the frame and runners on the plate.
Gate width
Width of a gate where it meets the part — what is cut. A few nozzle widths holds a part and still snips cleanly.
Gate height
Height of a gate where it meets the part, from the plate up. Low, so its scar is at the foot of the part.
Width
How wide the sprue may grow before the parts go on to a new row.
Gates at the corners
A gate by each end of every straight side instead of one in the middle, so the frame holds down the corners that lift first. A round part is still held from the middle.
Good to know§ 03
- The sprue is an object of its own beside the parts. A slicer’s Arrange would pull them apart, so print the plate as it is laid out.
- It is made for small parts: the pieces of a model kit, game tokens, spare clips.
- Gates are low and narrow so the scar is small and out of sight. Trim it with a knife or a file.
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