Incredible Folded 3D Printed Mechanisms

[@leearft8605]

Prior to retirement I was a coatings chemist for over 30 years. Preparation of the substrate, in your case the plastic cup, to remove any residues on the surface is critical, wash in soapy water and/or solvent wipe the surface before printing to it. Our company did a lot of business in coating plastics and worked with a number of difficult types like EPDM and TPO. There are several approaches to gaining adhesion, one is to use a chlorinated polyolefin tie coat at very low solids (not at all green) another is to immerse the plastic in a heated solution of bleach and water for a few minutes then rinse and dry. This might be worth a try to help solve your adhesion problem. Age of the formed substrate and the forming temperatures used to make the plastic sheet can also effect adhesion.

[@MakersMuse]

Very interesting insight, thanks!

[@xXTepicwinTXx]

What concentration of bleach and water, also would heating/tempering the plastic during the adhesion process as well as mechanically abrading the surfaces to adhere to help?

[@satibel]

sandblasting might work too maybe?

[@DaveSmith-cp5kj]

@@satibel Sandblasting will leave a dusty residue. You would have to chemically clean the surface.

[@martindinner3621]

Chlorine bleach, I'm assuming?

[@3DPrintingNerd]

Iced coffee AS A BUSINESS EXPENSE! BRILLIANT!

[@MakersMuse]

What could possibly go wrong 😂

[@Cattissosilly]

that is the question

[@kwaaaa]

First attempt was wagyu steak based live hinges, but that for some reason failed immediately.

[@mikepettengill2706]

@@kwaaaa I need a sample of this material, can you have it here by 5-5:30?

[@bobosims1848]

@@MakersMuse "Hold my coffee; watch this!"... Nah, doesn't sound right without the beer, does it?

[@kharan1623]

I love when you go through all your failure. Many people edit those parts away, but showing us all your attempts allow us to learn more. Thanks man.

[@robertkeyes258]

Indeed. It's good to see what doesn't work, so you know why the final project was done by a specific method.

[@DocBree13]

Definitely!

[@keithwins]

Agreed! You're pushing against the negative results reporting bias that plagues science!

[@agepbiz]

Nice research. This is interesting

[@Nabikko]

I love how these KZbinrs conduct these experiments and prototypes in these videos

[@ZappyOh]

Buy some Document Lamination Pouches They are flat, has adhesive on one side pre-applied, and can be bought in all kinds of thicknesses.

[@VagabondTE]

Good idea

[@jonmusgrov]

Was going to suggest that too

[@Nialija]

good idea but that stuff shrinks when heated

[@wilfriedklaebe]

@@Nialija not much, otherwise it's crumple on use

[@kieran977]

I have a feeling that fiberglass drywall tape would work fantastically here. Essentially the same as the nylon mesh fabric but much tougher and less stretch. I think I'll try that out and see how it fares

[@BliffleSplick]

Assuming it's on the straight grain and not on the bias, yes.

[@ghostmanscores1666]

Sounds good. It won't wear out

[@TheTechAdmin]

I like that you include all of your mistakes and solutions. It will help a lot more than most people think.

[@aerohard]

Non-repeatability in a LASER cutter is an unacceptable abomination for what those cost.

[@CKOD]

Agreed, even just your cheapie 3d printer using microswitches can have better repeatability than that. Not even asking for the repeatability of a CNC that uses limit switch/encoder index to home

[@henrymach]

Tell me about it! Mine sometimes gets lost in the middle of the engraving

[@monad_tcp]

so their firmware is already getting crappier, just like inkjet bullshit.

[@toxicloafy7914]

@@CKOD 𓅷

[@LucasHartmann]

Since you are using a flat insert, why not filament swap just a few layers for the hinge?

[@AmaroqStarwind]

You'd probably want to also insert some really tough pins to keep the different layers from sliding over eachother when you're using different materials.

[@henrydavis2660]

I was thinking the same thing, like a layer or two of tpu would probs work really well, I’m gonna go try that out

[@rikilshah]

@@henrydavis2660 Problem is that TPU doesn't weld well with other material.

[@henrydavis2660]

@@rikilshah yeah I thought about that, if I set the first layer of pla to be hotter it might work, I’ll try it out tomorrow, (11:36 pm rn) and let you know how it goes

[@zyrain]

@@rikilshah What about making the two materials comb together?

[@TobyRobb]

Having trouble sticking paint to plastic I used to flame treat it quickly and that works. Also we use a lot of tape hinges in radio control foam aircraft. You can even get tape with strands embedded for strength.

[@UnitSe7en]

Fiberglass tape embedded between layers would probably work out the best. It won't tear, is very floppy and cycle count should be much higher than a printed live hinge, or one made out of the PET or acetate sheet.

[@cambridgemart2075]

Flame treatment or electrically generated plasma treatment both work well for low surface-energy materials, it's used commonly to enable printing onto plastic substrates.

[@adamrak7560]

@@cambridgemart2075 NaOH (drain cleaner) can treat the surface of PET too, but I am not sure how effective it will be for bonding the two plastics.

[@ytrichg99]

At one time I made some r/c planes out of Coroplast (real estate signs). It was common to run a propane torch over the sheet material wherever one was gluing anything. A light blue flame flashed (in fact, the process was called "flashing").

[@TobyRobb]

@@ytrichg99 ive done the same thing. Especially with cowlings, canopies and heli bodies before painting.

[@kingblob17]

Angus's shirt collection is very recognisable at this point

[@MakersMuse]

I certainly have my favourites haha

[@animaToy]

@@MakersMuse I love CyberDog too

[@ngocbannguyen]

You're one of the few guys who dip their toes into the unknown and get something out of it, keep up your good work

[@radicalxedward8047]

I love that you put the work into figuring all this out and doing a comparison, explanation AND video of it all. Massive amount of work and it’s definitely noticed and appreciated.

[@macswanton9622]

It's a joy to follow the processes of someone who thinks the way I do! I found myself finishing your sentences once or twice, and that is encouraging, as well as seeing ahead if time something overlooked, like the size of the reference dots, which is easily missed when everything is in prototype phase. Thanks again for all your efforts, and know that your ideas can be universally adopted for their principles

[@radmakerbro]

I would strongly recommend Polypropylene (PP) material for live hinges due to its strain hardening characteristic. You will have a hard time getting PLA or PETG to stick to it so perhaps PP filament with a PP sheet would be the best bet. PP is used to make things like tic-tac containers and bathroom stall dividers. The latter application is solely because it is very difficult for markers to stick to it thus preventing graffiti in the stalls.

[@olivernissen9386]

You’re right PP has many good mechanical properties. However PP sheet warps lots at fairly low temperatures in my experience. The warping is especially problematic under a laser cutter (in industry they’re normally CNC cut with a tangential knife system - outside of die cutting - and I can only wish I had one of those.) I occasionally sew pp sheets (with industrial sewing machines) but find it too much of a pain to cut to make more with it.

[@randomkiwidude3181]

brilliant video as usual, if anyone reads this... you can print PLA directly onto a single layer of TPU with a normal single material hotend and extruder set up by exploiting the initial layer settings... all you do is manually swap filament after the first layer (which is easy because we all watch the first layer go down don't we...?), the bond between the two types is surprisingly strong and once parts are cooled the TPU doesn't sag.

[@FilamentFriday]

Well done. Great step by step and quite interesting.

[@Sundiale]

Angus You're probably aware that the reason for an Ackerman steering linkage is to make the inside wheel turn more than the outside wheel because the inside wheel has to go around a smaller radius. Only saying this because in the straight ahead position it looked like the two trailing arms were at 90 degrees to the centre of the vehicle body so you would not get any Ackerman angles.

[@MakersMuse]

Yeah it's a parallel linkage for now, but I'll modify it a little.

[@101rotarypower]

This is the nbest channel for experimental DIY 3D printing and pushing the limits of what has been done, always interesting!

[@MihaiDesigns]

Cool experiments! Looking forward to seeing how this evolves.

[@gregzambo6693]

Good work Angus, I can see a lot of potential in this idea.

[@rentaspoon219]

I've been using plastic bags I can't get rid off for hinges for lightweight RC planes for a year now, works really well

[@radicalxedward8047]

This is exactly why I like using regular nuts and bolts whenever possible. So much simpler.

[@tfabien]

I think a few holes in grid pattern, cut on the surface of the plastic sheet would help the printed pla/petg to stick. The melted pla/petg would go through the holes and expand a bit on the other side of the sheet, forming a sort of "rivet"

[@ronnetgrazer362]

I'm afraid that wouldn't work because the nozzle would bump against the sheet material as it was depositing the first layer on the bed - unless you can instruct the extruder to make hops from one hole to the next? One might choose to just start printing, and have it pause when the pocket for the sheet is done, including tiny posts everywhere. You'd laser cut holes in your hinge shapes that fit right over those studs. Just insert all the laser cut parts in the paused print, hit resume, and presto! I think this embedded approach obviates the need for plastic-to-plastic adhesion.

[@rmdcade1717]

Really enjoy seeing each step--brainstorming followed by iterative process. Thanks for showing us all the failures on the way.

[@GhostRyderFPV]

TPU live hinges have worked very well on my fleet of RC planes. Extremely flexible and robust, I have yet to have one fail.

[@MakersMuse]

Good to know! Definitely a great use case.

[@bennylloyd-willner9667]

I've been a subscriber for quite some time now, researching 3D-printing hardware and techniques for over a year. I am getting closer to getting my first 3d-printer, and I'm so impressed with the consistent content. Not only well presented but also very thorough and easy to understand all the steps towards great engineering. I can't see any other future than this channel going north of 1 million subs very soon. Thank you Angus, and keep it up! 🏆

[@shuflie]

Another option for doing all this is to print one or two layers of a flex material, insert a filament change instruction and continue with whatever material you want the rest to be made from. You just need to make sure that the two filaments are compatible and will bond together.

[@reasonsvoice8554]

Love this channel You still have kept the enthusiasm after all these years

[@adrenalinemedia]

I have been using a single layer as integrated live hinge for a press button mechanism. If you play around with the parameters (layer height, temp, first layer pattern) this works like charm for me and is quite durable. I have not ever broken one single, by bending it too often. Anyhow, I think your idea on using thin plastic foils as print surface deserves more research and is a good idea. Thumps up and please continue to explore out-of-the-box ideas !

[@LabRatJason]

I printed a hinge I designed where the hinge printed vertically, each barrel using the previous one for support, and then using a 2.5mm RC car axle as the hinge pin. Worked a treat!

[@cathedrow]

I wonder if laser printable OHP film would work. 'Laser printable' means it should cope with the bed heat.

[@LariKovanen]

What I was thinking about too. It's easy available and there are versions that are 100 microns thick (thin?).

[@6yjjk]

I couldn't get it to work, but that's not to say someone smarter and/or more persistent can't.

[@beng6044]

What about a thick plastic bin bag? They're usually LDPE so might be resistant to sticking. Or an acetate sheet for projector overlays?

[@VagabondTE]

LDPE gets EXTREMELY sticky when it's up to temperature.

[@someguy2741]

Ooops. I copied your transparencies sheet idea. That used to be available eveywhere but maybe not so much. I wrote a comment above suggesting those cheap nasty binders for schoolkids. The ones with a living hinge must be the right material to perform and they are stupid cheap and you get two letter sized sheets in any colour you want :) I think the melting point of the LDPE would be very very bad. I had one blow onto the muffler of my motorcycle... it sucked onto it like it was drawn to it since it shrinks as it melts... it was however a very durable finish :p

[@mattergain]

@@someguy2741 Ah crap i did the same thing and suggested transparencies

[@shivamchopra9683]

Try printing on Polycarbonate sheet! We have tested that method in our lab. Let me know if you want to discuss more

[@William51115]

You can also make a hinge with a 3d printed pin with threads on the end or basically a 3d printed nut and bolt. They work pretty good

[@rackbites]

This experimentation is brilliant ... it's how we learn. Thank you for sharing your thought processes / mistakes / correction ... so many people just share final outcomes ...

[@rpgiacon]

I used adhesive plastic sheets in the past to print petg with awesome results (petg wont stick to my creality print bed at all). Those adhesives plastic sheets are really easy to use

[@reverse_engineered]

Really cool! It's amazing what you can do when you start combining these tools, taking advantage of the strengths of each. I look forward to your continuing experiments with this.

[@daveyJ213]

It's great you are willing to experiment and endure the inevitable failures that go along with it. Very cool. Great information and fun to watch. Thanks.

[@MrRadicalMoves]

This is a fantastic idea! I don't know why I never thought of this! I used to make foldable mechanisms out of construction paper as a kid... I never thought to do anything like this though!

[@slimsqde7397]

honestly impressed you figured this all out in a week. glad your pushing to find these solutions even though how difficult it is, been there lol its not always the funnest

[@wbwarren57]

Great video! And congratulations! The world-famous Warren university has awarded you a doctorate in 3-D printing experimentation! From now on, you should be referred to as Dr. Muse.

[@shanekenne9859]

Give the cup material a scuff with a Scotch Brite or a very light kitchen scourer. The micro trenches give the deposited filament something to bite into by increasing surface area. 3M also make a plastic primer in no spill, single use applicators. Love your work mate.

[@brettwad360]

Very interesting for some niche applications. For most hinges I recommend press-fit dowel pins.

[@JacksonTravel]

angus over here killing it

[@marsgizmo]

very nice tips! 🙂

[@danielreed5199]

Thank you, may I put my bra back on now?

[@underengineered_1077]

@@danielreed5199 nice! 😄

[@danajorgensen8943]

If you want the coffee cups to work better, consider this: The cups are not simply a clear plastic cup - they bear printed logos and the like. There is probably some sort of coating on the cups to either protect that screen sprinting or simply allow the ink to adhere better. Try giving them a light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper and printing on that to see if the 3D printed material adheres better. And pay attention to extent and way any deformity occurs. The coating could also be causing the warping by two different materials having different thermal behaviors. The sanding also provides a rough surface for the printing to adhere to even if the problem is in fact the smoothness of the plastic surface itself.

[@andreaudio]

Hey! I do this kind of bed leveling for multi material with the BL touch… regardless the height of anything I put in the bed, it’ll consider it as the zero. Just remember to remove that purge line from the beginning of gcode, and disable mesh leveling. Great content as usual!

[@baschz]

Great video. I love these types of smart combinations of materials, tools and approaches. Very Maker's Muse

[@mikemartin6165]

Love your videos. I've had success using a thin layer of printed PETG as a live hinge

[@kevinpezzi6777]

What brand and thickness?

[@mikemartin6165]

@@kevinpezzi6777 Never mind. PETG is not as durable as I thought. I've changed to using plastic snap rivets to hold my printed parts together and to act as hinges where needed. They are cheap, easy to use, and easy to design into my parts

[@gillisdebilio4516]

Wow, you are not just thinking like a 3d printer, you are also thinking like a cnc milling machinist. Printing the dots for locating your laser cut sheet is like us drilling dowel pin holes to locate our parts for second operations.

[@gtube6913]

The fun of plastic and glue! Thanks for the detailed analysis.

[@Veptis]

Love that great makers never stop innovating.

[@jpaugh64]

That's a very sophisticated build process! Thanks for sharing! It gives me some ideas for my own 3D printing.

[@6yjjk]

Very interesting stuff. I messed with the idea of printing onto plastic sheet a couple of years ago, with the idea of making architectural models (think something like Heathrow Terminal 5, 4 big glass walls and a curved roof), but could never get the print to stick. I may well revisit the idea now.

[@MakersMuse]

Yeah, for clear windows and details it could be a good option! I didn't even consider that.

[@jimmyscott5144]

I like the new background and layout

[@matthewlim-dot-ml]

awesome! please keep making more of these experimental design methods. they are really interesting

[@moth.monster]

Lovely little grumpy frog.

[@Macrochine]

Have you thought about using a piece of filament as the hinge material? The piece gets press fitted into printed holes and you can change hinge properties by either changing tolerances in your model or by drilling out the printed holes.

[@jorrdanna6219]

Super clever. Your perseverance really paid off.

[@someguy2741]

I think the bonding issue you had with the tape is because the tape has thickness. You arent getting squish because the plastic sheet has a gap under it. You could put slips of paper between the tape as a packer.

[@glabifrons]

@Maker's Muse: The heated bed is to help PETG stick to a dissimilar surface, like PEI or glass. PETG to stick to PETG (so likely PET as well). Please try using the PET sheets bed heat. You may have to crank the 1st layer speed up a bit to from heating up the sheet too much. A side thought about holding it down: You could replace the heat-bed with a thin () aluminum plate (unless you have a dead heat-bed already) and drill an array of tiny holes in it, apply vacuum to have it hold the sheet flat (kind-of like an inverse air-hockey table).

[@JessWLStuart]

*Very* well done! I love it when people get really creative and push the limits of technology in new and useful ways! I'm looking forward to having a job again, so I can support you on Patreon!

[@abarasabwehttam]

Very cool project! Could definitely see doing this with my younger robotics classes to open up more ideas instead of using off the shelf components. Really the BEST way is to be able to print and cut on the same machine. The XChange can allow for printing and laser cutter or drag knife on the same machine

[@richhowe7585]

Good job. I have found that thin plastic films in sheet protectors may be usable. I also have been able to buy thin film materials from commercial printing shops that make signs etc. I enjoy your ability to solve problems and present with enjoyable character.

[@JakeMcIvor]

Vary cool. Lots of interesting possibilities combining the 3d printer and laser cutter. Would be nice if someone could characterize the fatigue performance of different filaments so you could design the compliant mechanism appropriately.

[@MacroAggressor]

For a re-visit, you could try using a more durable fabric (even one without gaps) and punch holes in the fabric in the areas where it will be printed through. You may need to create a modified layer to only fill the holes depending on the thickness of the fabric. The cross section might look something like this: =============== =============== == == == == =============== The gaps being the spaces where the fabric isn't cut/punched out.

[@richardcampbell4506]

Fantastic, I love how you document your learning process. Thanks

[@tdata545]

You know what's really fun, trying to find SHEETS of plastic, even on AMAZON. OH BOY, is that just the funnest thing ever.

[@ReedCBowman]

Wouldn't it be an advantage to break the live hinges on that rack mechanism into two parts, divided by a little gap, so that when a split starts in the hinge through fatigue, you have at least a chance that it'll stop at the gap and you'll still have the other half of the hinge for a little while? You'd maybe get a warning break that way without a full failure. Great video as usual.

[@marksainsbury2422]

Blooming brilliant, dude. Seen a few of your great projects and discoveries now and you are great! Fascinating content! Subscribed!

[@licensetodrive9930]

PETG & TPU will stick together, meaning you can print first couple of layers in TPU for the hinge part(s) and the rest in PETG.

[@licensetodrive9930]

I tried blending PETG & TPU using Thingiverse 3565827, "3D-Printable Filament! -Print Your Own Filament for Multi-Color!". The initial dual-filament print worked well, but had layer adhesion issues when I tried printing with it so might try increasing the temperature beyond 240C in a future test to try and help the melting & bonding.

[@Evinosx]

You could try printing on heavy duty packing tape. That stuff is pretty durable and would have no issues sticking to the bed of your printer. You can also find it with imbedded fibers that further increase durability.

[@Donorcyclist]

Thank you for taking us through this process! Sorry that your lack of liberty is restricting your material choices, but way to work around the challenges!

[@designersmind3140]

I would strongly recommend you get Lightburn; it's a vector graphics software specifically for laser cutters, and has all sorts of invaluable features like automatic tab generation, multiple layers with different cutting/engraving settings, a materials + settings library and a lot more.

[@dleland71]

Do you think you could get the PLA to stick to the 'coffee cup" plastic by burnishing it a little with sand paper or steel wool? It would give the print something to 'grab' on to. Don't scratch the 'hinge' as it could weaken it.

[@Morpheus852]

Nice experiments. I'd go for a 3d printed hinge in combination with a 1mm wire/rod or even a paper clip, worked very well in the past!

[@tdnam_9989]

PP filament is the way to go for live hinges! Its semi-flex but quite rigid compared to TPU filament

[@awo1fman]

I would be inclined to go the separate printed hinge parts route myself. Many such small linkages simply have a press fit between parts and work quite well. Of course, gluing parts together is easy if that's necessary. There are two problems with live hinges: one is that there is always some resistance to bending, however small, and that can add up and be a problem; the other is that they have a tendency to eventually fail, especially if they are subjected to large angles of travel. I have so many bad experiences with live hinges so often - pretty much every day - that I really, really hate them. Live hinges are common for RC model aircraft, but aircraft control surfaces generally have relatively small angles of movement and for the more aggressive and larger aircraft they still use a pivot pin type hinge for reliability.

[@fricki1997]

Thumbs up for compliant mechanisms!

[@varkboys9999]

I actually was planning on making a pegboard 3d printed guantlet. This is super useful stuff to know

[@Themullins573]

Excellent and intriguing video as always! Always pushing the limits, love it!

[@JustinDrentlaw]

Really impressive stuff here Angus. You've given me some ideas to try out on my printer.

[@boonjabby]

For those who do not have a lazer. You could use a paper print and a hobby knife; with the understanding that it will not hold a candle to the quality the print could do

[@mattergain]

This is really interesting. I can't wait to see what people do with this.

[@BRUXXUS]

Super cool! I've thought about trying to print clear PETG directly onto a sheet of acrylic/polycarbonate to see if I could get the same effect of edge-lit engraved acrylic. (still need to try it). I love the idea of printing onto or embedding non-printed parts for novel applications. Can't wait to see more of this sort of thing. Oh, I also have that exact same double sided tape, and it's CRAZY strong. haha

[@SirDragonClaw]

lightly sand the sheet before printing on it. Works great!

[@elmariachi5133]

I generally don't associate live hinges with durable products.. but more with disposable products. But maybe in comparison with micro-3d-prints it's wort the lot of effort.

[@carpdog42]

I was thinking the exact same thing; but I think he makes a great point at the end that the actual motion isn't extreme; so there really shouldn't be a lot of wear on the hinge at all. I would bet that the hinge outlives the service life of the vehicle its used to build.

[@elmariachi5133]

@@carpdog42 Yeah, I don't think he is lying us xD It's just the impression, that I had, yet

[@authorizeduser6507]

I love printing calibration fixtures on the bed.

[@zaqwsx28]

Make a video about friction welding with rotary tool! Welding bent pieces together eliminates unoptimal layer orientation and the part becomes stronger.

Yeah, that is a technique I've only used like one time several years ago, but it's very usable.

[@mintzbuck]

You could use the same technique you settled on to embed the laser cut sheet mid-print. It would work more like how over molding a metal piece. You'd need features around the outside of the part to help lock things together. The problem there is it would be a bit thicker overall.

[@AdityaMehendale]

Ikea and other home-shops have a drawer-liner material that is a chunky TPU-like sheet (~2mm). This seems to soften around ~ 60-80'C and you can lay this on the heated bed and print PLA _directly_ into it. (you do have to Z-offset the first layer by ~2mm then). This works for me, but I had to experiment with 2-3 liners before I found a good one. For bed adhesion - I am fond of 3D-Lak - a single can lasts me years. It is water soluble. (usually not needed for the live-hinge material).

[@MakersMuse]

Very interesting! I always assumed they were silicone and not suitable, but will have to investigate when able.

[@JamesGames.]

I would assume the cup plastic probably starts as a thicker sheet then is formed to that shape which thins it a bit. You may be able to use your vacuum former to get your sheets to the desired thickness.

[@dordagiovex9989]

I saw kevlar tissue for building composites being used for elevon hinges on rc planes. Really tough and durable apparently

[@matthewkapala9243]

Very cool idea, it'll be really interesting to see how this develops!

[@marienspek812]

What about engraving the hinge lines in the thicker plastic sheet with the laser cutter? That way you keep the rigid structure to print on and make the hinge parts less stiff

[@simonmaton]

With regards sticking the filament to the bed, use the timber routing trick of sticking masking tape to each surface then supergluing the two together.

[@martylawson1638]

Might also try running the first layer extra hot and extra wide. This will help it melt into the plastic sheet without having to drag the nozzle on it.

[@tonysfun]

Very creative! You are just a smart and creative young man!!! Thanks for sharing!

[@WileHeCoyote]

I LOVE EXPERIMENTS LIKE THIS!! Up coming solar car race prototypes will probably feature 3d printed plastic living hinge steering systems now! Lol