Stackable Fabric Pattern Weights

thingiverse

I made this little thing for my sewing friend who has trouble with big heavy metal washers that she uses for cutting fabric on her mat. Many people like these big washers because they are easy to use but some get greasy or rusty depending where you buy them and what they are made of. The worst part is they have no handle so you can't easily move them around. Some folks wrap these heavy washers in fabric and add a button which makes them easier to handle. But that takes extra work and sometimes they fall off. That's why I wanted to create something better, faster and more efficient for my friend. I came up with small pieces made of ABS plastic to go over the metal washers. These things make it super easy to handle heavy washers and they are also stackable. You can use one washer or two in each piece and if you need extra weight just add another piece on top. These little helpers were designed for big washers with a 70mm outside diameter and a 20mm hole. You can easily adjust the outside size using my FreeCAD file but make sure to leave enough space inside so they stack well together. To make them, I used thick walls (at least 1mm) with three top and bottom layers that are 0.2mm thick. They work great in ABS but PLA should work too. I've never tried Nylon before but maybe you want to give it a shot? Here's how to customize: just open the FreeCAD file I use (version 0.14 or 0.15) and locate the revolution object. Turn its visibility off so you can see the sketch inside. Then click on that sketch and find where it says 26,5 mm. Change this number if you want your custom piece to be bigger or smaller. When done save it as a STL file, slice, print and voila! P.S. If someone's really interested: just follow these steps again if the picture doesn't appear properly. Instructions How do you customize this? Here are simple instructions: 1. Open the FreeCAD file I use (version 0.14 or 0.15) 2. Locate the revolution object in the model tree and turn its visibility off to see the sketch. 3. Double click on that sketch and find where it says 26,5 mm. Change this number if you need a bigger or smaller custom piece. 4. When done save it as a STL file and print your new pieces.