FlexiBit Self-Connecting Shape

prusaprinters

This is a little tile I devised in 2018 that self-connects and so can be used for making three dimensional constructs or flat shapes or whatever your imagination might dream up. Since designing this and sharing several years ago, there have been breakthroughs in the space of mathematical tessellations, about which I know little and knew even less when I shared this little item with the world. This was my first exploration of a flexible tile that could connect onto replicas of itself. It's a handy item to print when you want to test your 3Dprinter, or to use up a bit of filament, or while you're thinking up something more fancy to print. When I sliced it for printing, it only needed about 0.82m of filament, or about 2grams.A single unit STL is provided, as is a five-piece array. They're not arranged to print pre-connected though, so after printing just break them free of any brim you may have and clean them up a bit with a knife (ensure the split area of the tongues are free to flex) and snap them together.With a bit of pressure they snap together as shown, then you can arrange them as you wish. Print in multi colours for various effects.If nothing else, they make a nice drink coaster in either 3x3 or 4x4 shape, and is a good fidget item while not supporting a drink.(I will share a snap-in strut connector I have in progress at some point too. This would allow a cross-member in cylindrical structures or other shapes.)Have fun and please do share your results. Design Date:  July 2018 Category: Math Art