Grab Toy ++

cults3d

Human: Grab Toy ++ Introduction: Printing the amazing Scissor Snake family by ricswika proved to be a challenge due to hinges fusing together and some parts snapping apart. I decided to design a simpler hinge that could also be printed in place using OpenSCAD, where I could experiment with different spacings between moving parts. Next, I developed the code for the rest of the toy while learning OpenSCAD along the way. This software is very cool! Tips: Instead of printing the largest grabtoy and being disappointed when it fuses together, you can first check which spacing works best for your printer settings by printing the HingeSlackTest() model. The default slack of 0.5mm is a good starting point. The lowest I achieved when printing PLA at 0.2mm resolution with my Anycubic I3+ at normal speed was 0.35, but only at very low temperatures (190 degrees), which results in a poorer surface finish. I discovered that the robustness of the toys varied greatly depending on the slicing software, with some not adding extra material to thin regions that are structurally important, mostly the cores and shoulders of the hinges. By experimenting, I found that carefully placed thin slits forced the slicers to create extra walls, thus reinforcing key areas. Enable or disable these features by setting REINFORCE_CORE and REINFORCE_SHOULDER to true or false. Main Routines: HingeSlackTest() generates a 4-hinge test model with slacks of 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, and 0.3mm. Print it to see how small the spacing can be set for the hinges before they fuse together. Then, adjust the slack parameter accordingly and render one of the grabtoy models below. GrabToyPlusPlus4hinges() generates the simplest grab toy model with just one expansion frame. GrabToyPlusPlus10hinges() creates a bigger grab toy with 3 expansion frames. Included STL Files: GTpp_HingeSlackTest.stl: A render of the hinge test model. GrabToyPlusPlus_4hinges_slack05.stl: Render of the short grabtoy, using 0.5mm slack for the hinges. GrabToyPlusPlus_10hinges_slack05.stl: Long grabtoy render with 0.5mm slack. Enjoy!