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Print-in-place: three-stage telescoping tube with stops (Ø40)

How do you 3D print a telescoping tube in one piece? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design: revolved profiles; 45° flanges and lips; one designed running gap of 0.40 mm

Also called: print in place telescoping tube, telescoping tube stl, 3d printed collapsible tube, print in place telescope

Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.

length
40.0 mm
width
40.0 mm
height
68.0 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 three tubes stand nested, coaxial, all on their bottom ends.
  • Support while printing: every lip and flange is a 45° diamond or wedge: the inward lips of tubes 1 and 2 have 45° undersides, the outward flanges of tubes 2 and 3 have 45° undersides and tops. Tubes are open both ends; nothing overhangs more than 45°.
  • Captured both ways: each inner tube's flange (reach 1.6 mm) sits between the outer tube's bottom lip and top lip, so it can neither drop out of the bottom nor pull out of the top.
  • Freeing it: hold the outer tube, pull the inner tube up a few millimetres and push it back; then the middle one; turn each a little.
  • Motion: stage 1 slides 50.8 mm, stage 2 54.8 mm (computed to the flange-on-lip stop): 68 mm collapsed, 173.6 mm extended. Each tube also turns freely in the next.

Print-in-place: three-stage telescoping tube with stops size chart

keyvaluewhat
gap_mm0.4running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance
tube_1_od_mm40.0outer tube
tube_2_od_mm32.0middle tube
tube_3_od_mm24.0inner tube
wall_mm2.0every tube
tube_1_h_mm60.0
tube_2_h_mm64.0
tube_3_h_mm68.0
lip_reach_mm1.6radial overlap of each flange behind its lip
travel_1_mm50.8tube 2 out of tube 1, drawn (collapsed) to flange-on-lip stop
travel_2_mm54.79tube 3 out of tube 2
length_collapsed_mm68.0as printed
length_extended_mm173.59all stages out to their stops
bottom_play_mm1.98each tube can drop this far below the drawn position before its flange sits on the lower lip

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

Xem StudioPrint-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator)webXem Studio design

Free files

★ Free files 4 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-telescoping-tube-assemblyThe whole print as laid on the bed (3 bodies, already assembled); STEP keeps each moving body a separate solidSTEP · STL
print-in-place-telescoping-tube-tube-1-outerOuter tube Ø40 × 60, wall 2, 45° lips top and bottomSTEP · STL
print-in-place-telescoping-tube-tube-2-middleMiddle tube Ø32 × 64, wall 2, 45° flange outside, 45° lips inside top and bottomSTEP · STL
print-in-place-telescoping-tube-tube-3-innerInner tube Ø24 × 68, wall 2, 45° flange outsideSTEP · STL
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Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=print-in-place-telescoping-tube

Print-in-place: three-stage telescoping tube with stops (Ø40), isometric render of a generated part
Render of print-in-place-telescoping-tube-assembly from the free STEP; not to scale.

Fits with

Questions

What stops the tubes pulling apart?

Each inner tube has an outward 45° flange near its bottom that meets the outer tube's inward 45° lip at the top — a cone-on-cone stop.

How far does it extend?

105.6 mm in total (50.8 + 54.8), from 68 to 173.6 mm.