Post · bonfire.cafe

I ended up with way too many IKEA Allen keys. And this may sound a bit silly, but instead of throwing them away, I designed a connector system to turn them into a construction set for my kid. 🤷

It took a few iterations to get the parts strong and robust (prints well in ASA/ABS).

Would this be something you’d like to see on Printables?

Sharing a few design challenges in this thread.

#3DPrinting @3dprinting

A 3D model of a cube with holes on all sides to hold Allen keys.

A mini abstract sculpture made from Allen keys and 3D-printed plastic cubes to hold them together.

Two 3D printer plastic cubes with flexible features to hold Allen keys.

Iakov Davydov

@idavydov@mstdn.science replied · 2 weeks ago

@3dprinting

First, how do you make something that holds well and doesn’t degrade quickly? You add flexible fins. There’s a great video from Slant 3D about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzg_NXM-NRs

This works great on the top and bottom, but what do you do with the sides? You can’t print those angles on the sides.

No problem — let’s just use a cube net. We also add some angled pins for a reliable hold.

A 3D model of a unfolded cube with fin grip features to hold Allen keys and pins and holes to be assembled in a cube.

Iakov Davydov

@idavydov@mstdn.science replied · 2 weeks ago

@3dprinting

This almost works but requires a fair bit of assembly; the last side is difficult to clip in. There are also annoying gaps between the sides. It turned out much better than I expected, but still too involved. It might be possible to fix, but let’s try making it work with no assembly at all.

Iakov Davydov

@idavydov@mstdn.science replied · 2 weeks ago

@3dprinting

Which type of grip features can we print on the sides? How about two fins on each side?

This might work at a larger scale, but at this size the grips will just snap along the layer lines.

A 3D model of a cube with holes and flexible features to hold Allen keys. Holes on the sides have flexible semi-circle fins.

Iakov Davydov

@idavydov@mstdn.science replied · 2 weeks ago

@3dprinting

What if we make the grip feature horizontal? This almost works — the only problem is that the slicer prints all the overhangs at once, which causes some pretty severe sagging.

Sliced 3D model showing overhang perimeters in dark blue and bridge infill in light blue.

3D model of a cube with holes on each side for Allen keys. Side holes are using a horizontal edge to hold keys reliably.

Iakov Davydov

@idavydov@mstdn.science replied · 2 weeks ago

@3dprinting

The solution is to shift the X-axis holes by 1–2 layers along the Z-axis.
And that seems to work quite well, when printing from ASA/ABS at least.

Sliced 3D model with overhang perimeters and bridge infill along another axis.

Sliced 3D model with overhang perimeters and bridge infill only along one axis.

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