Answers.Body: <p>The tolerance of a LEGO brick is 10 micrometers, while most customer-grade 3D printers are orders of magnitude worse than this, according to <a href="https://all3dp.com/3d-printer-resolution/" rel="noreferrer">this site</a>. The best I see there is 25 micrometers, which is still 2.5 times.</p>
  
  <p>I'm in no way a 3D printing specialist and haven't used any tricks to enhance my print quality as I haven't printed any bricks ever, but I've heard of various methods like brushing the prints with a thin solvent to unify the layers (of course this would wreck the precision), or printing the parts a bit larger and then machining them to the proper size (which would involve a lot more planning and work for each piece).</p>
  
  <p>The up side is that bricks with lower tolerances could still work in most cases (see the various clone brands, whose tolerance is definitely not up to par with LEGO, but their products still are compatible in practice), just do not expect the same homogenity, surface sheen and accept variations in the clutch power.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T16:43:24.743Z
Answers.Text: Thanks zovits, I'm guessing you're the one that +1'd me?  I have a little troll that follows me around down voting my answers.  I'm flattered to have a fan ;)
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnnyB
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T17:05:58.907Z
Answers.Text: Yes, in principle your answer is correct, that's why I was puzzled by seeing it downvoted, so I tried to compensate. Mine is more populistic, so I think these are complimentary.
Answers.UserDisplayName: zovits
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T16:39:20.360Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-09-12T16:39:20.360Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: zovits
Answers.Body: <p>There have been various questions asked here previously regarding 3D printing, with very mixed results.  Here is a link if you are interested in the responses to those questions.  </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bricks.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&amp;q=3d%20printing">https://bricks.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&amp;q=3d%20printing</a>  </p>
  
  <p>The experience you are looking for to answer your question is slightly out of the scope of what we generally do here on <em>Bricks StackExchange</em>.  I would urge you to check out this more specific <em>3D Printing StackExchange</em> site as it would seem more fitting and hopefully more helpful then what we may be here.  </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/">https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/</a>     </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T15:36:10.840Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-12-27T14:20:46.310Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-12-27T14:20:46.310Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnnyB
Body: <p>I know Lego has high quality bricks, but would like to know how 3d printed quality compare ? I would also like to see the kinds of tricks you use to enhance your print quality.</p>
  
  <p>For what it's worth, I don't use 3d printed bricks. Just thinking about it, but searching on Google only give me information on how to convert from LDR to STL.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T16:38:59.887Z
Comments.Text: Related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/2094/which-resolution-is-necessary-to-print-bricks-with-a-3d-printer/2096#2096
Comments.UserDisplayName: JohnnyB
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-09-12T16:40:13.027Z
Comments.Text: Also related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/215/has-anyone-made-their-own-custom-lego-bricks/1283#1283
Comments.UserDisplayName: JohnnyB
Tags: <3d-printing>
Title: 3d printed bricks quality?
UserDisplayName: kbenoit
ThreadText: # 3d printed bricks quality?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-12)
  
  I know Lego has high quality bricks, but would like to know how 3d printed quality compare ? I would also like to see the kinds of tricks you use to enhance your print quality.
  
  For what it's worth, I don't use 3d printed bricks. Just thinking about it, but searching on Google only give me information on how to convert from LDR to STL.
  
  **Tags:** 3d-printing
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/2094/which-resolution-is-necessary-to-print-bricks-with-a-3d-printer/2096#2096  
  > **username_1**: Also related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/215/has-anyone-made-their-own-custom-lego-bricks/1283#1283  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2019-09-12. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
  
  The tolerance of a LEGO brick is 10 micrometers, while most customer-grade 3D printers are orders of magnitude worse than this, according to [this site](https://all3dp.com/3d-printer-resolution/). The best I see there is 25 micrometers, which is still 2.5 times.
  
  I'm in no way a 3D printing specialist and haven't used any tricks to enhance my print quality as I haven't printed any bricks ever, but I've heard of various methods like brushing the prints with a thin solvent to unify the layers (of course this would wreck the precision), or printing the parts a bit larger and then machining them to the proper size (which would involve a lot more planning and work for each piece).
  
  The up side is that bricks with lower tolerances could still work in most cases (see the various clone brands, whose tolerance is definitely not up to par with LEGO, but their products still are compatible in practice), just do not expect the same homogenity, surface sheen and accept variations in the clutch power.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Thanks zovits, I'm guessing you're the one that +1'd me?  I have a little troll that follows me around down voting my answers.  I'm flattered to have a fan ;)  
  > **username_2**: Yes, in principle your answer is correct, that's why I was puzzled by seeing it downvoted, so I tried to compensate. Mine is more populistic, so I think these are complimentary.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-12. Score: 5
  
  There have been various questions asked here previously regarding 3D printing, with very mixed results. Here is a link if you are interested in the responses to those questions.
  
  <https://bricks.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=3d%20printing>
  
  The experience you are looking for to answer your question is slightly out of the scope of what we generally do here on *Bricks StackExchange*. I would urge you to check out this more specific *3D Printing StackExchange* site as it would seem more fitting and hopefully more helpful then what we may be here.
  
  <https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/>
  
  
  ---
  
  