Spacing

I have asked this question a few times but I am not sure I am getting the meaning across so here is an example

These are made as a single print and are iphone cases the gears really work. I want to make this for my Samsung Galaxy 3 so how do I draw this. I understand on the vertical axis from the table top up you can use supports but what I am more concerned is where it is all on the same layer such as the gear teeth. In this example you can see there is actually enough space between the teeth of different gears so you could easily say print here and not here. But in the case of other items that are built as complete assemblies but have much tighter tolerances say between the teeth of different gears such as they are always in contact at some point how can those prints be done Obviously there is a gap but what size. I saw one example of two pieces being fitted together with a puzzle piece type connection and he made the female side of the piece .01mm larger and it was an extremely tight fit which what he wanted. Trying to draw something like this is impossible without that starting information so I am asking those that have printed before and have experienced something like this what they think the answer may be. Other examples may be something like planetary gear sets.

 

Jeff, it seems that this question can be 'geared' (pun intended) toward someone who is experienced in solid modeling. From my experience, you can print these gears out practically touching each other, and once fully printed, you should be able to break the bond between the gears and they should rotate freely. I can do a test print if you would like, send me a file and we can work on something

 

Jeff, its just not an easy 'one size fits all' answer. You're going to have to play around with it once you get your printer. It is going to vary based on how well your printer is calibrated, variability in filament diameter, material, not to mention any number of slicer settings.
If you set up your parametric dimensioning schemes in solid works, then you should be able to design, print a few layers, tweak, and repeat.

Also, are you sure that those phone cases are print in one? looks more like an assembly to me. How would you get the gears and the caps that hold the gears on to stay apart from the phone case in the z direction? Also looks like more than 2 colors in the same z-plane in the case on the far right. Looks cool regardless of whether or not it is a print in one. Can you post the link?

 

Hey Printed after looking at it a bit closer I think you may be right but there are instances of item print as one units that are even more complex than this I will try and find some links
After looking at the links I found for the iphone 4 and 5 it is an assembly. I couldn't find the actual drawing of the thing I was looking for this time but there is the video and it is one print as seen in the video



LOTS of SUPPORT

You did mention something I did not know you mentioned slicer settings I don't really know how I can play with these without a printer but do you think you could give a list of some of the more common options the slicer program has and what they actually do. If you could I think everyone would appreciate it.

 

will do thanks ...... I think LOL

 

Dean's right. Trial and error as well as reading the wiki for the slicer you are going to use is the way to go.
I've used skeinforge almost exclusively, but even there, there are a ton of settings I haven't touched.