Bag Clip / no supports / many sizes / customizable via FreeCAD

prusaprinters

<p>I was looking for a bag clip I could use to seal opened up but not yet empty bags (stuff like spices, snacks and the like). Although there are a ton of designs floating around already I couldn't find one I really liked. Most designs are pretty basic and need supports to print the hinge part (I really hate having to use supports). The only one I could find that seemed like a pretty nice design was <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/46590-bag-clip">this one</a>, but just like many others, it needs supports and is only available in a very limited number of sizes. So I spent much more time and resources than I'd like to admit and designed something, trying to improve upon existing designs. I am however, very pleased with the final result.</p><h4>Features</h4><p>The design I came up with …</p><ul><li>prints in place as one piece and requires no assembly</li><li>has absolutely no steep overhangs and only a tiny amount of bridging which means it's very easy to</li><li>print without supports and/or ugly surfaces</li><li>has no parts that need to break free after printing</li><li>is easy to open and close and <i>(personal opinion)</i> very satisfying to use</li><li>closes securely and won't open by itself</li></ul><h4>Customizing</h4><p>Since I am trying to get away from Fusion 360 I designed this thing with FreeCAD. I tried to design it in such a way that it's very easy to customize in case you need a size that I don't provide as STL file. Creating the size you need with the FreeCAD file is literally as easy as changing a value in a spreadsheet - there is absolutely no need for any FreeCAD or 3D modeling knowledge. Just open the document in FreeCAD, switch to the Model Tab, open the Spreadsheet called "Const" and edit the "Groove Length" parameter. Then in the Model tab select the "Part" node and press "Ctrl+E". In the file dialog make sure "STL Mesh" is selected as file type.</p><p>A word of caution though: I tried very hard to design this in a way that the model won't break when changing the length parameter. It can happen though due to the way FreeCAD handles constraints. If the model breaks, go back to the original file. If the model breaks for the size you could try to apply the changes in incremental steps</p><h4>Printing</h4><p>Prints and works fine with PETG and PLA. I would recommend PETG since the snapping mechanism is a bit harder to open and close with PLA due to increased stiffness of the material. There is absolutely no need for Supports. I would recommend a brim for lager version to make sure there is enough adhesion.</p><p>If your hinge won't move after printing use the FreeCAD file as described above and increase the "Hinge Tolerance" parameter in the spreadsheet.</p>