Chain mail - rings

thingiverse

This is my first attempt at crafting chainmail with circular links. The challenge lies not in designing the pattern itself, but in making it printable: curved bridges are notoriously difficult. The bridges in this model start off straight before being supported by the first bridge layer's curvature. This creates a fairly dense mesh that's stiffer than similar chain mail with square links. Links on the edges and corners receive excellent support from adjacent links.\r\n\r\nThe OpenSCAD script is included, you'll likely need the nightly build rather than the latest release (and even then rendering of a large mesh takes a considerable amount of time). All dimensions are adjustable, but be mindful of gaps between links, as it's easy to merge them in a dense mesh. To achieve proper bridging, set the line width parameter in the script.\r\n\r\nThe sample was printed on a Prusa Mk2.5 with a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.2mm layers. The printing process isn't particularly challenging, but adhesion is crucial: the print begins as numerous small disconnected pieces, and if one piece peels off the bed, the entire print is ruined.\r\n\r\nUpdate: I posted a mesh with a similar weave pattern featuring hexagonal links, which renders and slices much more easily:\r\nhttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3229872