If you don't like waiting for glue to dry and want instant, solid joints for your 3D printed projects, friction (spin) welding might be for you.
All you need is a rotary tool and a small enough collet for a short length of 1.75mm filament, turn it on and move it along the joint.
SAFETY: Also make sure to wear eye protection. The filament is spinning at high speeds and will very often snap off and go flying. Little pieces of plastic are also ejected by the process depending on your technique, angle, and the quality of your filament.The spinning filament creates heat via friction and fuses itself along with both pieces of plastic along the joint.
We use PLA, but have had success in the past using ABS as well. Practice makes perfect so be patient and make use of those failed prints!
We have done a written tutorial on how to fill large gaps here.
Follow ProgressTH.org on Facebook here, Instagram here, or on Twitter here. We also put all of our 3D printed models online for free at Thingiverse.com here.
