Customizable Chain Link

thingiverse

I modified chain link that can be customized in terms of amount of links, type (if chain loops back into itself or is straight) and how close the links are to each other. Leave at five usually, though normally five works best. I found source code online on OpenSCAD github wiki but made enough changes to make it significantly different. It may print without a lot of supports since floating sections are included, though plastic isn't recommended material for chains. You might need to scale up/down depending on the slicer software you're using, but scaling is an easy operation. Currently, each link has a 4mm diameter on both ends and is about 24mm from one end to another (approximately seventeen millimeters the other way). This isn't accurate though. A person printing a plastic chain doesn't need precision or strength either. Setting stretch at zero causes problems in certain configurations with some links fusing together, while having less than eight links can cause similar issues if you haven't configured the chain right yet. Straight chains don't have these sorts of issues no matter what number of links are included but stretching levels near extreme may still be problematic. I noticed Thingiverse's server performs slowly for rendering which results in lesser part quality rendered there. I built a selector for selecting print resolution, though that isn't something the average person might prefer since the process was overloading their servers and resulting longer times waiting. This file does contain this function though so that OpenSCAD installed users can try different settings themselves. Higher res models like ten link straight or twenty link circular can be found and downloaded right away if high quality is desired now instead. First two pictures of model set for the higher print quality (quality setting: thirty), a higher setting than using customizer with settings between six and ten. Second picture was done in the same manner but this is actually a photo generated through thingiverse, or a model you can make by your own adjustments after creating account with them. Note this setting doesn't apply to the openSCAD tool $fn used. This setting works on any computer. You may also choose settings from an OpenSCAD customizer so as to fine-tune some qualities before you finalize model settings. To make a perfect version, you can go here to download high quality files directly for most popular 3d printer file type - .stl, however it would take your slicing program like Slic3r some seconds depending on its performance but normally only takes less than one minute so do it quickly while you wait