Pocket Calipers

thingiverse

I've got my mind wandering throughout the day, thinking about various projects to work on, but unfortunately, I only have calipers at home, so I'm stuck making educated guesses. With these convenient pocket calipers, those guesses just got a lot more accurate! Although it's impossible to match digital calipers for precision, these will still allow you to make fairly precise measurements up to 50mm (width) and 40mm (depth). There's even a screw to secure your position in case you can't jot down the measurement right away. I hope these will come in handy for makers everywhere. All three parts are already correctly oriented for printing, with no need for supports! Be sure to leave the right side upside down unless you plan on adding supports yourself. This project is perfect for students and makers of all ages to learn how to use calipers as well as the importance of tolerances between parts. Not to mention, the value of printing in very low layer heights and printing text vertically to preserve its quality. It's a remarkably simple project that even novice makers and students should be able to complete easily. I was able to print it in just over an hour, so it has potential as a classroom or maker space project. Assembly takes about 1 minute. This is my first project, and my entry into the #MakerEdChallenge2. Print Settings Printer: TEVO Tarantula Rafts: Doesn't Matter Supports: No Resolution: 0.1 Infill: 20% Notes: I recommend using a layer height of 0.1mm at most to ensure good print quality for the numbers. I also suggest using at least 20% infill and 3 perimeters so that they will be less likely to break on your key ring. Post-Printing Instructions Print (1)Right Side, (1)Left Side, (1)Screw. Insert the screw into the screw hole on the Right Side. Tighten it all the way down to align the threads and remove any burrs. Remove the screw. Insert the Left Side into the Right side. It can only be inserted one way. Re-insert the screw. To measure, pull the Right Side away from the Left Side until they are wide enough to fit around the object you want to measure. Squeeze both sides toward each other tight against your object. Tighten the screw to hold your position. Pull your object out and look at the numbers to get your measurement in millimeters. To measure depth, use the stick that pokes out of the far right side. How I Designed This A simple idea, a few iterations, and a really cool tool. This project wasn't as difficult as some because calipers already exist. I just needed to figure out how to adapt their design into a compact, portable package. I started by sketching out a rough outline of each piece in 3D space. Then, I thought about what feature would allow me to carry these around without having to think about bringing them with me everywhere. So naturally, I decided to include a hole so that I could add it to my key ring. Now that I knew it was going to be on a key ring, I realized that at least part of it needed to be slightly thicker to accommodate the screw threads later. So, once again borrowing from the design of existing calipers, I added a hole to the top of the right side piece, making sure to add about 0.3-0.4mm to the diameter to account for tolerance issues with the screw. In order to get the threads built into the design, I sketched a 1.2mm x 1.2mm x 1.2mm triangle on a vertical plane that intersected the edge of the hole I just made and gave the outer point a 0.2mm filet. The triangle was made at 1.2mm to accommodate the screw threads later, which would be made at 1mm equilateral. There must be extra room for the threads to slide past each other or they will simply not fit. The rest of the modeling process was fairly straightforward, but I did end up printing 3 slightly different iterations of the design. Two were due to tolerance issues between the left and right sides fitting together. The third was to add a hole at the back of the right side to allow easier separation of the two sides. This project was really fun, and completing it was very satisfying. I'm excited to start the next one.