Shrinkage and hole dimension checker

thingiverse

A simple test piece designed primarily to measure the shrinkage rate of the filament used. As a bonus, you can check horizontal/vertical hole accuracy as well. 3D prints shrink. It's not obvious with small aesthetic prints, especially if printed in PLA. But it does require special attention if you print, typically, large functional objects that need to fit other parts, and out of ABS or ASA. So here is the simple 3-step solution: 1. Print. Print this test piece in any material you're planning to use for any upcoming project. When done, you could also deburr the two 10mm holes at the ends. 2. Measure. The end holes are 100 mm apart in design. You can use your vernier caliper to measure the inside/outside distances between the holes and calculate the mean value (99.30, for example). This way, your measurement is not affected by over/under-extrusion or hole dimension inaccuracy. 3. Scale. From now onward, you can scale your models accordingly (to 100.7%, for the same example) on your slicer to get accurate prints out of this filament. Yay! Additional notes: Needless to say, every filament has its unique shrinkage rate, but they all shrink to some extent. Shapes affect shrinkage too. Bulky (cubic) objects seem to shrink less, so be careful not to overcompensate.