OpenSCAD Parametric Honeycomb & Foundation Library

thingiverse

This is a parametric generator for plastic foundation for honeycomb, utilizing a proper rhombic cell base at the ideal angle. It's designed to be used in other projects rather than printed directly. The STL file serves as an example visualization, and please refrain from attempting to print it independently. Note that this is an untested concept with actual bees, and it may take some time before I can conduct thorough testing. If you have any success or lack thereof, kindly let me know. Upon opening and rendering the file, a 100x100mm example sheet of foundation is generated, featuring a 1mm thick backbone. You can incorporate this generator into your project by dropping the honeycomb.scad file into the same directory and running: `use <honeycomb.scad>;` To generate sheets of foundation, utilize the foundation_sheet module with the following parameters: * w - Foundation sheet width; this should align horizontally in the hive. * v - Vertical length; this should extend up and down in the hive (aligned with point direction). * cell_size - Size from horizontal upright to upright, including cell wall space. * backbone - The thickness of the backbone. Consider your printer's feature size to ensure it's not too weak. Thicker backbones require more plastic but are ultimately unimportant to bees. * gap - Creates a small flat ridge between cells for the wall to be drawn from. Keep this relatively thin, yet printable. * draw - Print drawn comb by adding depth to each side of the comb. This is likely only suitable for decorative purposes; use at your own discretion. Remember that bees are particular about the orientation of the foundation. Hexagons should point up and down vertically in the hive, not horizontally. Calculating the thickness of the whole sheet, including the rhombic cell base, can be complex. A helper function called foundation_sheet_thickness is available to assist with this calculation, taking into account the cell size, backbone, and draw for the sheet, and returning its thickness. The license for this generator is BSD, allowing you to use it freely in any project.