Ear plug - 00 gauge

thingiverse

PRINT IN PLA ONLY (body safe) I cannot stress this enough! A plug in 00 gauge is presented, featuring a slightly larger flare than its concave body. The design was born out of a challenge to create an ear stretcher with maximum star insert size. The star's insert is at its largest possible size, any further enlargement would cause it to cut into the external walls of the plug due to its concave shape. Another plug could be designed without this concave effect, allowing for a larger star size. Two STL files are provided: one featuring a plug with a boolean star and another just containing the star itself, which should be printed separately and inserted into the boolean model. The star is removable and it's suggested to print it in a different color to create a visually appealing contrast, such as white and blue. This design was an exercise in understanding heat effects versus bulging. If you decide to print the star insert, make sure to print it at -10% size (90% of its actual dimensions) due to heat deformation affecting the filament during extrusion, which can cause bulging. This problem-solving exercise has applications in other projects with close tolerances and may help minimize issues on your printer. Designed using 3ds Max Units: MM Gauge: 00 (10mm, with a -.02 allowance for heat deformation) Resolution: .01 rez Infill percentage: 50 % Layers: 5 top/bottom Perimeter count: 3 Print slowly and allow for ample cooling.