Incredible Folded 3D Printed Mechanisms
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ค. 2021
- Live hinges are incredibly useful for simple, lightweight mechanisms - but 3D Printed hinges aren't all that great. This video documents my experiments in trying to overcome these limitations by combining 3D Printing with thin plastic sheet and laser cutting!
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Prior to retirement I was a coatings chemist for over 30 years. Preparation of the substrate, in your case the plastic cup, to remove any residues on the surface is critical, wash in soapy water and/or solvent wipe the surface before printing to it. Our company did a lot of business in coating plastics and worked with a number of difficult types like EPDM and TPO. There are several approaches to gaining adhesion, one is to use a chlorinated polyolefin tie coat at very low solids (not at all green) another is to immerse the plastic in a heated solution of bleach and water for a few minutes then rinse and dry. This might be worth a try to help solve your adhesion problem. Age of the formed substrate and the forming temperatures used to make the plastic sheet can also effect adhesion.
Very interesting insight, thanks!
What concentration of bleach and water, also would heating/tempering the plastic during the adhesion process as well as mechanically abrading the surfaces to adhere to help?
sandblasting might work too maybe?
@@satibel Sandblasting will leave a dusty residue. You would have to chemically clean the surface.
Chlorine bleach, I'm assuming?
Iced coffee AS A BUSINESS EXPENSE! BRILLIANT!
What could possibly go wrong 😂
that is the question
First attempt was wagyu steak based live hinges, but that for some reason failed immediately.
@@kwaaaa I need a sample of this material, can you have it here by 5-5:30?
@@MakersMuse "Hold my coffee; watch this!"... Nah, doesn't sound right without the beer, does it?
I love when you go through all your failure. Many people edit those parts away, but showing us all your attempts allow us to learn more. Thanks man.
Indeed. It's good to see what doesn't work, so you know why the final project was done by a specific method.
Definitely!
Agreed! You're pushing against the negative results reporting bias that plagues science!
Buy some Document Lamination Pouches
They are flat, has adhesive on one side pre-applied, and can be bought in all kinds of thicknesses.
Good idea
Was going to suggest that too
good idea but that stuff shrinks when heated
@@Nialija not much, otherwise it's crumple on use
Angus's shirt collection is very recognisable at this point
I certainly have my favourites haha
@@MakersMuse I love CyberDog too
I have a feeling that fiberglass drywall tape would work fantastically here. Essentially the same as the nylon mesh fabric but much tougher and less stretch. I think I'll try that out and see how it fares
Assuming it's on the straight grain and not on the bias, yes.
Sounds good. It won't wear out
Non-repeatability in a LASER cutter is an unacceptable abomination for what those cost.
Agreed, even just your cheapie 3d printer using microswitches can have better repeatability than that. Not even asking for the repeatability of a CNC that uses limit switch/encoder index to home
Tell me about it! Mine sometimes gets lost in the middle of the engraving
so their firmware is already getting crappier, just like inkjet bullshit.
@@CKOD 𓅷
Since you are using a flat insert, why not filament swap just a few layers for the hinge?
You'd probably want to also insert some really tough pins to keep the different layers from sliding over eachother when you're using different materials.
I was thinking the same thing, like a layer or two of tpu would probs work really well, I’m gonna go try that out
@@henrydavis2660 Problem is that TPU doesn't weld well with other material.
@@rikilshah yeah I thought about that, if I set the first layer of pla to be hotter it might work, I’ll try it out tomorrow, (11:36 pm rn) and let you know how it goes
@@rikilshah What about making the two materials comb together?
Nice research. This is interesting
I love how these TH-camrs conduct these experiments and prototypes in these videos
Having trouble sticking paint to plastic I used to flame treat it quickly and that works. Also we use a lot of tape hinges in radio control foam aircraft. You can even get tape with strands embedded for strength.
Fiberglass tape embedded between layers would probably work out the best. It won't tear, is very floppy and cycle count should be much higher than a printed live hinge, or one made out of the PET or acetate sheet.
Flame treatment or electrically generated plasma treatment both work well for low surface-energy materials, it's used commonly to enable printing onto plastic substrates.
@@cambridgemart2075 NaOH (drain cleaner) can treat the surface of PET too, but I am not sure how effective it will be for bonding the two plastics.
At one time I made some r/c planes out of Coroplast (real estate signs). It was common to run a propane torch over the sheet material wherever one was gluing anything. A light blue flame flashed (in fact, the process was called "flashing").
@@ytrichg99 ive done the same thing. Especially with cowlings, canopies and heli bodies before painting.
You're one of the few guys who dip their toes into the unknown and get something out of it, keep up your good work
I love that you put the work into figuring all this out and doing a comparison, explanation AND video of it all. Massive amount of work and it’s definitely noticed and appreciated.
I would strongly recommend Polypropylene (PP) material for live hinges due to its strain hardening characteristic. You will have a hard time getting PLA or PETG to stick to it so perhaps PP filament with a PP sheet would be the best bet. PP is used to make things like tic-tac containers and bathroom stall dividers. The latter application is solely because it is very difficult for markers to stick to it thus preventing graffiti in the stalls.
You’re right PP has many good mechanical properties. However PP sheet warps lots at fairly low temperatures in my experience. The warping is especially problematic under a laser cutter (in industry they’re normally CNC cut with a tangential knife system - outside of die cutting - and I can only wish I had one of those.)
I occasionally sew pp sheets (with industrial sewing machines) but find it too much of a pain to cut to make more with it.
It's a joy to follow the processes of someone who thinks the way I do! I found myself finishing your sentences once or twice, and that is encouraging, as well as seeing ahead if time something overlooked, like the size of the reference dots, which is easily missed when everything is in prototype phase. Thanks again for all your efforts, and know that your ideas can be universally adopted for their principles
Cool experiments! Looking forward to seeing how this evolves.
Angus You're probably aware that the reason for an Ackerman steering linkage is to make the inside wheel turn more than the outside wheel because the inside wheel has to go around a smaller radius.
Only saying this because in the straight ahead position it looked like the two trailing arms were at 90 degrees to the centre of the vehicle body so you would not get any Ackerman angles.
Yeah it's a parallel linkage for now, but I'll modify it a little.
What about a thick plastic bin bag? They're usually LDPE so might be resistant to sticking. Or an acetate sheet for projector overlays?
LDPE gets EXTREMELY sticky when it's up to temperature.
Ooops. I copied your transparencies sheet idea. That used to be available eveywhere but maybe not so much. I wrote a comment above suggesting those cheap nasty binders for schoolkids. The ones with a living hinge must be the right material to perform and they are stupid cheap and you get two letter sized sheets in any colour you want :)
I think the melting point of the LDPE would be very very bad. I had one blow onto the muffler of my motorcycle... it sucked onto it like it was drawn to it since it shrinks as it melts... it was however a very durable finish :p
@@someguy2741 Ah crap i did the same thing and suggested transparencies
Really enjoy seeing each step--brainstorming followed by iterative process. Thanks for showing us all the failures on the way.
I like that you include all of your mistakes and solutions. It will help a lot more than most people think.
I wonder if laser printable OHP film would work. 'Laser printable' means it should cope with the bed heat.
What I was thinking about too. It's easy available and there are versions that are 100 microns thick (thin?).
I couldn't get it to work, but that's not to say someone smarter and/or more persistent can't.
Well done. Great step by step and quite interesting.
I've been a subscriber for quite some time now, researching 3D-printing hardware and techniques for over a year. I am getting closer to getting my first 3d-printer, and I'm so impressed with the consistent content. Not only well presented but also very thorough and easy to understand all the steps towards great engineering. I can't see any other future than this channel going north of 1 million subs very soon.
Thank you Angus, and keep it up! 🏆
Good work Angus, I can see a lot of potential in this idea.
Really cool! It's amazing what you can do when you start combining these tools, taking advantage of the strengths of each. I look forward to your continuing experiments with this.
This experimentation is brilliant ... it's how we learn. Thank you for sharing your thought processes / mistakes / correction ... so many people just share final outcomes ...
Super clever. Your perseverance really paid off.
Love this channel
You still have kept the enthusiasm after all these years
honestly impressed you figured this all out in a week. glad your pushing to find these solutions even though how difficult it is, been there lol its not always the funnest
It's great you are willing to experiment and endure the inevitable failures that go along with it. Very cool. Great information and fun to watch. Thanks.
Fantastic, I love how you document your learning process. Thanks
That's a very sophisticated build process! Thanks for sharing! It gives me some ideas for my own 3D printing.
What a neat concept, thanks for sharing!
Love that great makers never stop innovating.
Blooming brilliant, dude. Seen a few of your great projects and discoveries now and you are great! Fascinating content! Subscribed!
I have been using a single layer as integrated live hinge for a press button mechanism. If you play around with the parameters (layer height, temp, first layer pattern) this works like charm for me and is quite durable. I have not ever broken one single, by bending it too often. Anyhow, I think your idea on using thin plastic foils as print surface deserves more research and is a good idea. Thumps up and please continue to explore out-of-the-box ideas !
TPU live hinges have worked very well on my fleet of RC planes. Extremely flexible and robust, I have yet to have one fail.
Good to know! Definitely a great use case.
Excellent and intriguing video as always! Always pushing the limits, love it!
This is a fantastic idea! I don't know why I never thought of this! I used to make foldable mechanisms out of construction paper as a kid... I never thought to do anything like this though!
*Very* well done! I love it when people get really creative and push the limits of technology in new and useful ways!
I'm looking forward to having a job again, so I can support you on Patreon!
This is the nbest channel for experimental DIY 3D printing and pushing the limits of what has been done, always interesting!
Great video. I love these types of smart combinations of materials, tools and approaches. Very Maker's Muse
Wow, impressive project!
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us 👍😀
Great job experimenting! Loved the journey
I think a few holes in grid pattern, cut on the surface of the plastic sheet would help the printed pla/petg to stick.
The melted pla/petg would go through the holes and expand a bit on the other side of the sheet, forming a sort of "rivet"
I'm afraid that wouldn't work because the nozzle would bump against the sheet material as it was depositing the first layer on the bed - unless you can instruct the extruder to make hops from one hole to the next?
One might choose to just start printing, and have it pause when the pocket for the sheet is done, including tiny posts everywhere. You'd laser cut holes in your hinge shapes that fit right over those studs. Just insert all the laser cut parts in the paused print, hit resume, and presto!
I think this embedded approach obviates the need for plastic-to-plastic adhesion.
Really impressive stuff here Angus. You've given me some ideas to try out on my printer.
Very interesting! I'm always impressed with how deep you drive into these kinds of really unique techniques. Super cool stuff!
brilliant video as usual, if anyone reads this... you can print PLA directly onto a single layer of TPU with a normal single material hotend and extruder set up by exploiting the initial layer settings... all you do is manually swap filament after the first layer (which is easy because we all watch the first layer go down don't we...?), the bond between the two types is surprisingly strong and once parts are cooled the TPU doesn't sag.
I printed a hinge I designed where the hinge printed vertically, each barrel using the previous one for support, and then using a 2.5mm RC car axle as the hinge pin. Worked a treat!
awesome! please keep making more of these experimental design methods. they are really interesting
This was genius!!! I really enjoyed watching it and it opened up ideas in my mind! Thanks!!
Very interesting for some niche applications.
For most hinges I recommend press-fit dowel pins.
Super cool! I've thought about trying to print clear PETG directly onto a sheet of acrylic/polycarbonate to see if I could get the same effect of edge-lit engraved acrylic. (still need to try it). I love the idea of printing onto or embedding non-printed parts for novel applications.
Can't wait to see more of this sort of thing. Oh, I also have that exact same double sided tape, and it's CRAZY strong. haha
Impressive.
Good idea and good research!
This was very interesting! Thanks for your efforts on this
Nice experiments. I'd go for a 3d printed hinge in combination with a 1mm wire/rod or even a paper clip, worked very well in the past!
Very creative! You are just a smart and creative young man!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thumbs up for compliant mechanisms!
This was amazing piece engineering work. Good job. More of these plz
Great stuff, thanks for sharing this try and error process :)
The fun of plastic and glue! Thanks for the detailed analysis.
Very cool project! Could definitely see doing this with my younger robotics classes to open up more ideas instead of using off the shelf components.
Really the BEST way is to be able to print and cut on the same machine. The XChange can allow for printing and laser cutter or drag knife on the same machine
I’ve been recently trying to figure out how to make folding polyhedra, so this could be very helpful!
Try printing on Polycarbonate sheet! We have tested that method in our lab. Let me know if you want to discuss more
Very cool idea, it'll be really interesting to see how this develops!
I've been using plastic bags I can't get rid off for hinges for lightweight RC planes for a year now, works really well
Cool project can tell you put some real time and thought into it. !
Another option for doing all this is to print one or two layers of a flex material, insert a filament change instruction and continue with whatever material you want the rest to be made from. You just need to make sure that the two filaments are compatible and will bond together.
I actually was planning on making a pegboard 3d printed guantlet. This is super useful stuff to know
angus over here killing it
Enjoy the channel and vids! Great work!
Nice work, I hope You will find good plastic sheet for this so we can see more of this in the future. Keep up the good work.
Hey! I do this kind of bed leveling for multi material with the BL touch… regardless the height of anything I put in the bed, it’ll consider it as the zero.
Just remember to remove that purge line from the beginning of gcode, and disable mesh leveling.
Great content as usual!
Love the concept I used a push hinge on a project 3mm stainless bar printed into one housing then the hinge printed in PLA clipped on to it but I liked the idea of living hinge
Innovative! good job, also inspiring!
You can also make a hinge with a 3d printed pin with threads on the end or basically a 3d printed nut and bolt. They work pretty good
This is really interesting. I can't wait to see what people do with this.
Dang! Thats an innovative idea! 👍👍👍
Great video, love the idea, very well done.
Vary cool. Lots of interesting possibilities combining the 3d printer and laser cutter. Would be nice if someone could characterize the fatigue performance of different filaments so you could design the compliant mechanism appropriately.
I like the new background and layout
Lovely little grumpy frog.
Good job. I have found that thin plastic films in sheet protectors may be usable. I also have been able to buy thin film materials from commercial printing shops that make signs etc. I enjoy your ability to solve problems and present with enjoyable character.
Great video! And congratulations! The world-famous Warren university has awarded you a doctorate in 3-D printing experimentation! From now on, you should be referred to as Dr. Muse.
Very cool bro. Thank you for sharing this experiment with us. This gave me some new ideas to explore in my own designs. Again, thank you.
Thank you! Cheers!
Great video, I have always wanted to get into these types of printers but they were always a tad too pricey. As I was watching you trying to find a thin flexible material to print out your hinges on my first thought was the thin vinyl sheets used on cricut machines or the Transfer Tape you use to transfer your vinyl design to whatever you are wanting to put it on. I don't know much about either one or if you would even begin to have the 3d print stick to either of those. Just a thought.
Very good idea. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is actually really smart! I like it! 🔥
PETG & TPU will stick together, meaning you can print first couple of layers in TPU for the hinge part(s) and the rest in PETG.
I tried blending PETG & TPU using Thingiverse 3565827, "3D-Printable Filament! -Print Your Own Filament for Multi-Color!".
The initial dual-filament print worked well, but had layer adhesion issues when I tried printing with it so might try increasing the temperature beyond 240C in a future test to try and help the melting & bonding.
Cover page protectors that you would use in a binder work well. Have used them before in a similar fashion.
Also overhead projector sheets work as well. Though not sure how available those are now a days.
Great idea and exploration :)
Love your videos. I've had success using a thin layer of printed PETG as a live hinge
What brand and thickness?
@@kevinpezzi6777 Never mind. PETG is not as durable as I thought. I've changed to using plastic snap rivets to hold my printed parts together and to act as hinges where needed. They are cheap, easy to use, and easy to design into my parts
I would strongly recommend you get Lightburn; it's a vector graphics software specifically for laser cutters, and has all sorts of invaluable features like automatic tab generation, multiple layers with different cutting/engraving settings, a materials + settings library and a lot more.
New subscriber today...I like the multi-pronged approach to the problem solving...well done.
Fusion 360 sheet metal is quite interesting and has application “outside the box” -
You should check out the Diabase hybrid printer and how they are approaching additive/subtractive, multi-material builds.. right up your alley...
Thanks again
I LOVE EXPERIMENTS LIKE THIS!! Up coming solar car race prototypes will probably feature 3d printed plastic living hinge steering systems now! Lol
wow you're so much braver than me, glueing things to your print bed!
Very interesting stuff. I messed with the idea of printing onto plastic sheet a couple of years ago, with the idea of making architectural models (think something like Heathrow Terminal 5, 4 big glass walls and a curved roof), but could never get the print to stick. I may well revisit the idea now.
Yeah, for clear windows and details it could be a good option! I didn't even consider that.
I really like the cute content with laser cutting and 3D printing
Hi Angus, love your content.
Have you considered printing as though you were using a live hinge, then covering the hinge with either a strong tape or fabric/flexible plastic and flexible CA glue. Then breaking the PLA live hinge leaving the 'fabric' hinge
I used adhesive plastic sheets in the past to print petg with awesome results (petg wont stick to my creality print bed at all). Those adhesives plastic sheets are really easy to use
This is exactly why I like using regular nuts and bolts whenever possible. So much simpler.