My first 3D project – So refined, more refined than anything else. The most refined.

Two short posts in one day, lucky you, my occasional reader. So, this morning I complained that my ball joint was a bust. I mean, yes it worked, but more like a 1984 Yugo than something useful. So I worked on a new design, a more traditional hinge, but I still wanted it to swivel around the axis so I did some stuff. You’ll see, or maybe not. You’ll see what I mean if you can avoid going into a coma from my rambling before you get to the pictures.

I felt like my ball joint and early clamp designs were bulky and not refined. I wanted something that looked less like it was hacked out of a piece of raw wood by a hairy early hominid using a piece of chipped stone using a design scribbled on a rock with a charred stick and more like a slightly less hairy, more recently evolved hominid using advanced CAD/CAM software and a 3D printer. So I set off to do just that and keep it refined. I created a design I was relatively happy with. I knew it had a few issues but I wanted to see how it worked (remember from previous posts that I’m not very patient) and so I exported the parts from Fusion 360 to STL files, read them into Ultimaker Cura, made a few adjustments to the settings and hit print.

I watched the print go for a couple of layers and when I was happy there were no adhesion issues I started working on something else. And then, it finished. What? Like 10 minutes. The tiny Berny I printed took longer.

So, I went to look if something had gone wrong and this is what I saw.

Now that’s a refined hinge. The quarter is there for scale. Look how small these are. And the ball joint above is an example of what I wanted to replace with this.

There are the 2 parts that kind of look like they should go together, unfortunately, I couldn’t get them to fit. The little screw thing is supposed to be the pivot point of the hinge. And the other thing is a threaded post that is supposed to slide into the groove at the top of the hinges so you can pivot whatever you attach.

I am impressed though with how well the printer did. I was able, once I managed to scrape out the support material, to slide the pivot pin in. And the 4mm diameter screw, had threads. I may print a 4mm nut just to see if the threads actually work. Unfortunately, the two main parts don’t fit together and the hole would need to be drilled out. It was so small the support material (and I’m not sure why Cura put support material in a 4mm hold) just filled it.

That’s it, I hope this was a good laugh for everyone, I’ll be here every Tuesday until my liver gives out.

Happy printing.