Flippity Cup!

Hi there, wonderful people!

Are you tired of storage options that are devoid of noisy, dynamic features?  Then this is the model for you!  It's a cup of sorts, but with a lid.  A lid that flips open and curls in on itself by way of a tab above the handle.

Enjoy the clattering of hinged components as they flip up over, then flip it back with your thumb, and repeat!

So, let's look how this is put together.  

The lid is contained within the body of the box, and prints in that position, hinged by a rotating assembly that forms the top of the handle.  The hinge only rotates 45 degrees, though, because at that point the push tab encounters the handle itself.  All that energy has to go somewhere, so the segmented lid curls up and over, because it can't bend downwards.  

You see, the hinges have blocking faces at the bottom (which prints as the top) of the hinge to limit flexing in that direction.  Those raised bits around the hinges are there for that very purpose - to further decrease the opportunity for motion, and thus force the hinge to be bent in the other direction instead.

You'll also notice that the underside of this cup has a fancy conical shape with curved walls, which is of course because the whole thing prints upside-down, and thus we can't have a flat base inside.  The outer of the base could disguise the fact that the inside is angled, but it's far more fun to work interesting shapes into it instead! :)

Printing Tips

No supports are required, and everything prints assembled!

This is an articulated model, so you'll want to make sure your bottom layer is nice and neat, and that you don't have any print issues like stringing or overextrusion that might bind together moving parts!

The Flippity Cup prints upside-down, like so:

Print Dimensions

The Flippity Cup will occupy 107mm x 80mm on the printer bed, and is 100mm tall.

File Location

You'll find this on dropbox under 735 Flippity Cup

(Dropbox link post:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/dropbox-and-are-31697592 )

Further Thoughts

As is probably obvious, I like making printed things move!  With this one, I had a concept in mind, but it wasn't until the actual printing that I got to see how things like hinge placement in the lid affected the actual dynamics.  That's one really great thing about 3D printing: we get to experiment and test ideas, and get feedback very quickly!

Anyway, happy printing and happy flippity-ing :P

xoxo

Sven.