The manufacturing of clearance features is the crucial issue for direct manufacturing non-assembly mechanisms. To improve the processibility of clearance feature, tilted display is adopted to reduce the support within the clearance. A dimension error model for overhanging structure is established and a verification experiment is conducted, firstly. Then clearance feature of 0.2 mm with a series of tilt angles is manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) to investigate the effects of process parameters, such as layer thickness, tilt angle and energy input on clearance size. Finally, a collapsible abacus is manufactured. Results show that the clearance size increases with increasing tilt angle, decreasing layer thickness or energy input when the tilt angle is lager than 40°. It shows that the theoretical dimension error fits the experimental results well. With laser power of 150 W, scan speed of 800 mm/s and layer thickness of 25 μm and 35 μm, the clearance sizes are 140 μm and 120 μm,respectively. A collapsible abacus manufactured under the above process parameters can achieve designed performances well. It provides a feasible method for direct manufacturing of mechanisms.