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  • So when should you partition your design?
  • Between materials
  • When the part is otherwise too big to print
  • When there are overhangs to deal with
  • To make the design easier to manufacture or assemble

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  1. Design Process
  2. Model

Partitioning your design

How and when to split up your 3D model

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Last updated 5 years ago

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Satisfying the constraints of 3D printing often requires that you split your design into multiple parts. There are nearly infinite ways to do this, so the purpose of this post is to pare down those options to the most reasonable ones and demonstrate some critical instances in which you should introduce a partition into your design.

So when should you partition your design?

Between materials

The most frequent split is between portions of your model intended for different materials. If one portion is meant to be printed in one material and an interfacing portion is meant to be printed in another, be sure to introduce a parting line between the two in your 3D model. It’s essential that these bodies are able to exported and printed separately.

When the part is otherwise too big to print

It’s often the case that a body within your model is larger than the build volume of our 3D printers. In such cases, split the body and implement a set of assembly features allowing the parts to come back together. The resulting parting line can often be painted over, making the assembly appear as if it is one part. The final result looks the same, and the partitioning makes the print possible.

When there are overhangs to deal with

Occasionally there’s a portion of your part that would fail during printing due to an overhanging surface, and adjustments to that feature to mitigate the overhang would compromise the design. Instead of changing the form of the design, simply splitting the body (and again, implementing assembly features) will allow the part to be manufactured.

To make the design easier to manufacture or assemble

Be wary of tall, thin features in your design. Features printed with the “long” axis pointing up will comprise of layers with small cross-sectional areas, and these features will be susceptible to breaking. While tall, thin features are possible to print in this orientation, the design would benefit significantly from separating these portions from the main body and printing them separately with their “long” axis parallel to the build plate. This way, the layer lines are printed parallel to the “long” axis, and the part is much less likely to fracture.