Reversible Hinge

pinshape

I had an idea for printed-assembled, reversible hinges that I wanted to try out. I started by modifying the HingeBox Printable As An Assembled Unit Without Supports design from profhankd. I cut off the hinge section from the STL file and remodeled it in SketchUp using his design as a guide. My hinges are essentially double hinges or links between two rotating plates. In my first test, the links were too thin and resulted in a floppy hinge that allowed the two sections to twist freely because there was nothing holding them parallel. To fix this, I removed a link and made them about the same length as the solid sections of the plates in my second test. This hinge was much more stable and the twisting was almost eliminated. In my third and final test, I made the links as long as possible and the solid sections of the plates very thin, which required flipping the conical pins and hollows within the hinges. This resulted in the most stable hinge of the three and to me it's also the most aesthetically pleasing. If you end up using these hinges in any projects, let me know! I used the following print settings: No rafts, no supports, 0.2mm resolution, 20% infill, 230.0°C extrusion temperature, 60.0°C bed temperature, Toner Plastics PLA filament from Micro Center, and 1.75mm white PLA filament. Print time was approximately 30 minutes.