Preassembled Pliers

thingiverse

I'm working with a fully functional set of pliers that can be printed in only one piece, no assembly required. They function pretty well and are very durable. One clever thing about the design is it used only 10 boolean operations to make the entire model. While going through a box of old prints I came across a pair of pliers that really stood out - they were one of my first prints, but unfortunately, they didn't work too great at the time. It was clear the settings were the problem and not the design itself. Rather than printing another identical pair, I decided to upgrade them by designing a print-in-place model instead. While it may not be extremely useful, this challenge was an exciting project - my inspiration came from russrobot's printed pliers as well as emmett's innovative in-place designs. Below you'll find instructions on how to prepare your 3D printer for the best results. When choosing between V2 and V1, I highly recommend going with the former. However, be aware it may have a tighter tolerance of 800 microns, which might make it tricky for some printers. My experience was good, as my Solidoodle 2 Pro managed to produce an almost perfect print with V2. If you find yourself struggling with the V2 file, you should give V1 a shot - and if that works then you simply have too much tolerance flexibility, so maybe tighten it up and try again! You may need to adjust the orientation of your model: printing on its side as presented in the .STL file. My suggestion would be to go for the standard 200 microns with a layer height provided by MakerBot. It is best to set your infill level no less than 15% - I print using two shells and have found that having an additional two bottom/top layers yields more impressive results. Since I've only tested this model in PLA, don't let it scare you from attempting other materials - as far as ABS, there doesn't appear to be any good reason why you shouldn't go for it! In order to split your 3D printed pliers once the print has finished, take a sharp tool and wedge it between both halves of the top/bottom sections. Gently twist it, and snap them apart smoothly - check out this video that shows how to do this for some visuals.