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Print-in-place: linear slider on a dovetail rail with end stops (100 mm)
How do you 3D print a linear slide (carriage on a rail) in one piece? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design: 45° dovetail hexagon rail; one designed running gap of 0.40 mm
Also called: print in place slider, print in place linear rail, 3d printed linear slide, dovetail slide stl, print in place carriage
Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.
- length
- 124.0 mm
- width
- 28.0 mm
- height
- 20.0 mm
Notes
- 3D print in place — prints already assembled, moving, in one job. Drawn at true size with no printer tolerance added; the 0.40 mm running gaps are part of the design.
- Running gap 0.40 mm per side, 0.80 mm on diameter — part of the design, drawn as is. On the 45° faces the same 0.40 mm is measured square to the face (0.57 mm along the axis).
- Bed: the rail lies along X on its 6 mm foot with an end block at each end; the carriage stands on the bed straddling the rail, both of its legs reaching the bed beside the foot.
- Support while printing: the rail is a dovetail hexagon — it widens upward from the foot at 45° and closes at the top in a 45° ridge, so the carriage's channel has 45° walls and a 45° peaked roof; nothing is flat over air.
- Captured: the carriage's legs close under the rail's 45° flanks (the rail is 14 mm wide, the gap between the legs at the bed 7.1 mm), so it cannot lift off; the end blocks stop it at both ends.
- Freeing it: hold the rail and slide the carriage gently to each end stop and back a few times.
- Motion: 69.9 mm of travel, 35 mm each way from the drawn centre position; hard stops are the carriage ends on the end blocks (computed).
Print-in-place: linear slider on a dovetail rail with end stops size chart
| key | value | what |
|---|---|---|
| gap_mm | 0.4 | running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance |
| rail_l_mm | 100.0 | between the end stops |
| rail_w_mm | 14 | across the widest flanks |
| rail_h_mm | 13 | to the 45° ridge |
| stem_w_mm | 6 | rail foot on the bed |
| carriage_l_mm | 30.0 | |
| carriage_w_mm | 22 | |
| carriage_h_mm | 17 | |
| travel_mm | 69.95 | stop to stop |
| travel_each_way_mm | 34.97 | from the drawn (centred) position |
| end_block_mm | 12 × 28 × 20 | each end stop, 2 × Ø4.5 |
| carriage_holes | 2 × Ø3.4, 30 apart | from the top into the channel |
Where the files are
Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.
| Xem Studio | Print-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator) | web | Xem Studio design |
Free files
★ Free files 3 parts. Xem Studio design: free to use, print and sell things from; not to be republished as files. Xem Studio Design License. index.json
| print-in-place-dovetail-slider-assembly | The whole print as laid on the bed (2 bodies, already assembled); STEP keeps each moving body a separate solid | STEP · STL |
| print-in-place-dovetail-slider-rail | Dovetail rail 100 mm with two end-stop blocks (4 × Ø4.5) | STEP · STL |
| print-in-place-dovetail-slider-carriage | Carriage 30 × 22 × 17 with the 45° dovetail channel, 2 × Ø3.4 | STEP · STL |
https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=print-in-place-dovetail-slider
Fits with
Questions
How does the carriage stay on the rail?
The rail widens above its foot at 45°, like a dovetail; the carriage's legs wrap under that widening, 0.40 mm clear.
What limits the travel?
The end blocks: the 30 mm carriage runs between blocks 100 mm apart, so 69.9 mm.