One-Way Triangle Polypanel

myminifactory

The standard Polypanel is designed to rotate about 270 degrees - from as close together as you can get them to 90 degrees "backwards" to form a right angle. For my application, I wanted to create a structural support in the form of a truss that would be completely flat, i.e., I wanted the polypanels to not be able to bend at all in the "backwards" direction. To stay together under load, I found that reinforcing the polypanel connection with cable ties was necessary, so I added small internal triangles at each corner to guide cable-tie placement between the Polypanels and for attaching the whole polypanel structure to the object being reinforced. The picture shows the application for which I designed the polypanels. I have a "grill gazebo" with a soft roof that makes it easier to use my grill when the weather isn't cooperating, but unfortunately, the soft roof distorts under load and forms large puddles. To eliminate this, I made a truss with one-way polypanels to keep the roof flat. So far, partial success has been achieved - the truss (pictured) has reduced the size of the puddling, but more is needed to keep the entire roof flat and eliminate the puddle completely. My printer is running as I type, and if only there were a contest to win a 2nd 3D printer so that output could be doubled... The panels for this application were printed at 200% scale.