Tolerance is the allowable variation in a part’s dimension, while clearance is how much space there is between components. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, apparently it is an engineering bad to do so. To further confuse the issue, and possibly do more bad, tolerance gap seems to be another way of saying clearance.

Undeterred, I set out again. My second attempt succeeded. Hooray! I had to hit that sweet spot between the very bottom and the reflexive bounce-back, but I did it. Now to push a holed cylinder through a cylinder. That working exactly as expected, I moved on to more interesting shapes, pushing and prodding my way through the ‘verse.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It made the learning process fun, and I could see the results of my lessons in real time. I did most of the work in the book, save for converting real-world models. When I get to that bit, I’ll write an article on it :)

I went home and immediately made the necessary changes to make this set safe for smaller children. I made the ends even rounder, ensuring that they couldn’t accidentally scratch someone. I also angled the spatula, then created a ladle for left-handed people.

A pause while I considered this new information. Filament quality can be different? The rolls look basically the same to me, but for the color. Clearly I was missing some important knowledge.

I went to Thingiverse first. Due to the struggles I had in placing the mini magnets the other day, I had planned on designing a set of long plastic tweezers. I typed in ‘long thin tweezers’ and was instantly rewarded with literal pages of just that.