Springloaded book-like wallet with a trigger

prusaprinters

DescriptionThe contest description said that funcionality shouldn't be the only consideration. Well, it seems that what I remembered was “funcionality shouldn't be a consideration. Like at all”. This wallet certainly isn't the most practical out there, but it sure makes a statement!The rubber band keeps it tightly squeezed until you pull the trigger, which makes the cards fan out like a book. I have done a little oopsie when tying the string and it doesn't spread as majestically as I would have hoped, but I'll adress that in the instructions.List of materialsYou'll of course need all the printed parts, just remember that SideFrameInner and SideFrameOuter need to be printed twice! Apart from that you'll need:A paperclip or something else around 1 mm in diameter to act as a pin for the hinge. The diameter of the hole is 1,3 mm. I used 50 mm paperclips and straightened them out with needle-nose pliers.A rubberband. The model is made to either accept one bigger one wrapped around exactly as I have shown in the pictures or if your rubberbands are too small (no shame), you can wrap two smaller ones - one along the top and one along the bottom cutouts (that's what that second unused cutout is for)Some kind of string. I advise you to learn from my mistakes and find something different than a random cotton thread. I had it snap on me, it was very floppy which made it hard to thread and in general it wasn't a pleasant experience. Maybe fishing line would do the trick? Holes for the thread are also 1,3 mm.(Optional) CA glue and activator. I gave up on trying to tie the thread to the frames and keep it tight at the same time. CA glue made it way less painful(Optional but will also make your life easier) Binder clips (or other form of securing the trigger in place when fiddling with the thread) and tweezers. Made getting this thread into tight spots and through the holes much easier. Don't know if you'll need them if you choose a stiffer string.Print and assembly instructionsI printed all the parts out using a 0.2 mm nozzle with a 0.1 mm layer height. I'm sure a well dialed printer could pull it off with a 0.4 mm nozzle, but I have already commited and didn't really have time to test it out. None of the parts need support material, they all should print flat on the bed. I used 3 perimeters and 3 top/bottom layers, although you can surely experiment.Assembly isn't very difficult but can be fiddly and frustrating, so make yourself a nice drink and try to relax.First of all, you need to assemble the hinge. Take your straightened paperclip or whatever you chose to use and push it through the holes of the frames. It should be pretty obvious which frame goes where, but you have the pictures to reference. That was the easy part.Next you should tie 8 pieces of string to the holes in the trigger. There are 8 pairs of holes, that makes 16 holes so the knots look neat (refer to the pictures if you need to). The string theoretically doesn't need to be very long, but I cut my pieces to around 15 cm, which left some offcuts, but made my life a bit easier. And let me reiterate what I said earlier: don't just grab some random thread unless you really can't find anything else that would be more sturdy.When you made sure that the thread is securely tied to the trigger (you can use CA glue to be sure, although I didn't need it at this stage), you can loosely position the trigger in the center frame and thread the string through the 8 guiding holes in the center frame. The purpose of this step is to keep the string from tangling and guide it safely to the hinge, you don't tie anything here! And again, pictures are your friend.When that's done, fully assemble the trigger by pushing in the trigger side (press fit was enough in my case), slide the assembled trigger all the way forward and preferably secure it in place with binder clips or tape. This is also the time to put the rubberband around the frames or at least tape them together. It's crucial that that the trigger and frames stay in the same place when you do the next step or else your string won't be tight enough to pull the wallet open! Pics!!And the most annoying part of the whole process. There are 8 parts of the hinge which need the string tied to them. It's not exactly rocket science which piece of string goes where (and you've got pictures to refer to after all), but if your string is as flimsy as mine, you're in for an experience. That's also where I messed up a bit. I should have left some slack in the string connecting to the inner frames, so they dont open all the way like the outer do. That would create more of an even spread. You could leave some slack by wrapping the string around some thin object like a toothpick or a match and taking it out after the whole process is done. And if you don't feel like tying knots, then just thread the string through the holes, tie it once to keep the tension an dab on some CA glue -  that's what I did. Just keep the frames from glueing themself to each other - that's what I failed to do. Some gentle prying did the trick though.After all that, you should be able to snip all the loose string and trim the hinge pin if you haven't done that already. Your most impractical wallet is ready! It probably won't quite fit in your pocket, but who would want to hide away such beaty anyway? I hope you enjoyed the model, if so post some pics of yours or just gimme a like if you don't feel up to the challenge! Thanks!