clockspring3D

It's April! New Resupply Boxes! Steampunk Egg Update!

Happy April, everyone!

I have a habit of posting updated models, but then only making that apparent from comments on posts, or in passing mentions on Discord, or whatever!  So, let's just cover a couple of recent ones...

Resupply Boxes

In addition to the original three resupply boxes, there are a few new ones!

* A combo AA + AAA version, pictured in orange, above!  

* Compact versions of those four boxes, which will fit in th...

Swirly-Whirly Egg! (vase mode!)

Hey there, eggselent people!

It's vase mode time!  And screw-together vase mode time, at that!  Here we have an egg that is comprised of two individual vase mode prints, one of which forms a thread on its exterior, while the other forms a matching one on its interior (with a little tolerance gap for good measure). 

So, what's the deal with those swirly lines?  Well, obviously they're decorative, for a start, and add some fun texture to the classic egg form. &nb...

Steampunk Easter Egg!

Celebrate your favourite egg-oriented occasions with this mechanically-inspired riveted ellipsoid!

Yes, my amazing friends, it's a steampunk-style egg-shaped thing that holds stuff, and is related conceptually in some degree to our recent strawberry friend. This one's a two-part container where the top slides onto the base, and is fastened with two stylish bolts.

I set myself a constraint on this one in terms of aesthetics - no cogs!  I really wanted to explore industrial tex...

Torture Toaster!

Hey there, wonderful people!

So, a few months ago I had a guest spot on the Edge of Tech YouTube channel, where I rambled on and on about printing and design.  They were awesome and passionate people, and the show was a lot of fun!  After the show they challenged me to make some kind of fun torture test that they could use when testing printers, and just to make the world a slightly mo...

Resupply Boxes: Battery and Utility Containers

Hey there, my favourite people!

There are some limitations to doing things upside-down!  This model prints right-side up but was inspired by comments on the original Battery Crate models from a little while back that print assembled, closed, and upside-down, but which made it difficult to extract batteries.

These Resupply Boxes, by contrast, print right-side up, which means the walls around the batteries don't need to fit in with the laws of upside-down printing physics. &nbs...

Turbine Bowl Lid and Bracelet!

Howdy, wonderful people!  You would think I would have learned to include lids with bowls by now!  I was too caught up in interesting swirly shapes and didn't even think of it - but now that terrible omission has been corrected, and there's a lid that sits inside the top of the bowl.  That's a significant advantage of an inner profile that slopes inwards, it's easy to just make something rest inside nice and neatly.  

The main thing with the lid was styling it so tha...

Turbine Bowl

Howdy, wonderful people!

This texture-y bowl started life as a vase mode print, believe it or not!  I was fresh from working on the Reciprocal Vase and was exploring bowl shapes.  When things developed to a point where those vane shapes ran vertically between the twisting main struts, I had to make a decision.

You see, the gaps between those vanes, those bits that make the vanes actually exist, have flat bottoms, and in vase mode that's essentially a gruesome overhang. &...

Steampunk Strawberry

Howdy, wonderful people!

It's funny how designs evolve.  I desperately wanted to do something with a kind of plate-style texture, and so started making some interesting shapes and seeing how I could break it up with flat planes.  But, I didn't really get anywhere useful, so I put it aside, and worked on something else.  

That something-else was a nice smooth strawberry.  Quite the opposite, style-wise, all curved and organic.  You can see where this is goi...

Reciprocal Vase: A Tale of Two Vases part 2/2

Hey there, wonderful people! 

So, vase mode!  After reworking the Wicker Concentric Vase with its layers and criss-crossed sections I wondered how close I could get to the same kind of effect using a single spiraling line of filament...

The key element of the original design is the criss-crossing of the two layers, so I started out by building those twisted strips, then laying another set underneath, inset from the first set.  The idea was go give a sense of the sam...

Wicker Concentric Vase: A Tale of Two Vases part 1/2

Howdy, wonderful people!

It's a vase, I think!  Do vases need to hold water?  That could be problematic on this one.  What this does have, though, is an inner that rotates freely inside the outer!  If this looks vaguely reminiscent of the stuff I was working on in late 2019, there's a reason for it...

Brains are strange things.  I had had a version of this model sitting around for about a year, since about the time I was working on the Swipe Flask, in fact...

Twist Bolt Lids, AAA Box and Eyeball Adaptors

Hey there, wonderful people!  Today we have a few updates and accessories for existing designs, plus something with a poop emoji on it.  Let's begin!

Twist Bolt Lids

It seems the Twist Bolt just wasn't complete without a lid, but the lid from the Jigsaw Bolt, while technically compatible, just didn't fit the bill since it reflected the shape of the jigsaw parts within.  So, now there's a Twist Bolt specific lid that has two semicircles inscribed upo...

Guess who has eyeballs! :D

Look at that hopeful, optimistic expression!  That's right, wonderful people, our faithful annoying clacky skull now has cartoony eyeballs!  Bring new, er, life, to your day with this sunny fellow! 

So, what's changed from the original?  Well, the eye sockets now have a threaded post for eyeball attachment, but is otherwise the same as always - still print-in-place, support-free and noisy :)

The eyeball itself screws onto into the eye socket, and the threaded p...

A Taller Jigsaw Bolt!

Just a quick write-up for this one!  There's a new, taller set of body pieces for the Jigsaw Bolt!  It's otherwise the same as before - just with a few extra thread windings :)

Printing Tips

To reiterate...

This is an assembly rather than a print-in-place design, and so much more tolerant to print issues.  The tolerances between parts is 0....

Micro Flasks Resized!

Howdy, wonderful people!

It's always interesting to look back on how we've hopped from one idea to the next, choosing one path rather than another.  The Micro Flask was right in the middle of things like the Oilcan Flask and the Square Flasks, a stepping stone in 50mm cylinder form.  I had a request, though, for a longer version, so here we are! 

The big question, though, w...

Twist Bolt!

Hey there, wonderful people!

You've probably already worked this one out from the pictures - it's like the Jigsaw Bolt, but with two twisted components that slide together to make a whole.  The two parts are almost symmetrical, but not quite - much like the quadrants of the Jigsaw Bolt each component carries a section of the overall thread.

The thread profile and diameter of this mod...

Almost February Already!

Happy end-of-January, my favourite people!

Not only is it no longer 2020, but it's almost not even January 2021 anymore.  How time flies!  If there's one thing that's been a constant for me in January, it's... having Dice-O-Matic Geared Dice Roller prototypes printing :P  

(I'm assuming you've already read the other two posts that just went up :P)

So many times I thought "okay, this one will be the final version, I've covered everything!" only to test things a...

Jigsaw Bolt

Hey there, wonderful people!

Did I ever mention that I love threads and bolts and connectors?!  This thing is basically a box that's pretending to be a bolt.  Or a bolt that's pretending to be a box.  Or a jigsaw, or something... 

Anyway!  Whatever it is, it's a storage vessel that is formed from four interlocking compartments that together form a threaded body over which a ring can be fastened to hold them together, and onto which a lid can be screwed. 2021-01-29 14:17:48 +0000 UTC View Post

The Dice-O-Matic Geared Dice Roller!

Hey there, wonderful people!

Dice rolling got you down?  Need to add some excitement, dynamism and, well, gears?!  Then this is the model for you!  Load your dice into the top hopper, turn the side handle and hear the dice fall into a lower scoop.  Now turn the handle back the other way and behold as the dice rattle forth into the tray in a display of glorious randomness!

Yes, it's a dice tower/roller/thingy that incorporates all sorts of moving parts!  Tw...

Logarithmic Roller

Hey there, wonderful people!

It's good to be back home and printing all the things once more!  The last few models have been shuffled over to the regular directory and the posts updated accordingly.

Some models really do defy photography in terms of demonstrating what they actually are, and leave me puzzling over what angles really show how something works, or even what it is!  The Sprocket Box is a good example, as is this one!  It's a box, kind of, but perhaps it'...

Mechani-Valve Box

Howdy, wonderful people!

This one should look familiar!  Yep, it's the Mechani-Bow Box made less festive.  And even more industrial!  Taking the place of the already mechanical-looking bow is a classic valve handle.  Those handles are, of course, usually a web of struts, but that wouldn't work well for printing.  So, I aimed to come up with a solid, easily-printable representation that still captured the essence of the classic shape.

Now, the body objects ...

Exponent Box

Hey there, wonderful people!

This might be my new favourite.  It's a combination of new and subtly complex gear design and some aesthetic nods to some old favourite models.  It also has hexagons.

If we think back to about a year ago, I designed a model I called the Chomper Box, which had two circular gear segments attached to lid halves.  It was a top-down-printed model that forced me to develop some new approaches to the ones I'd been using, and the things I learne...

Droplet Carrier

Howdy, wonderful people!

Sometimes it's fun to make it obvious that you have 3D printed stuff hanging around, possibly literally.  This industrial-looking fellow really is a handy carrying case for small things, but it's also an excuse to carry around something printed and eye-catching. 

Let's look at some of the design features of this thing.  First and foremost, the larger part that has the lanyard hole in it is actually the lid of this container.  That's rig...

Happy New Gear? :D

(TL;DR: I'll be out of contact for the next two weeks, but there are posts scheduled!  You'll want to use the links in the posts to access the models, they won't be in the regular dropbox folder!)  

Sorry, that title pun was terrible :P  But here we are on the cusp of a new year already, after what seems like both a very short and a very long year.  While it's been a year that will long be remembered for many reasons, I can say that personally it's been a ye...

Mechani-Bow Box

Happy holidays, wonderful people!

This one might be a stretch to get printed by xmas :P  Allow me to introduce a more mechanically-oriented gift box to the collection.  I mean, the others already have bolts and such, but this one has cogs!  And rack gears!  And a decidedly industrial aesthetic.  I can't deny that I have a soft spot for utilitarian, industrial lines, even when it's entirely gratuitous like it is here :D

The angular bow on top is fixed to a ...

Square Bow Gift Box!

Happy Holidays, my favourite people!

Yes, it's another box with a bow on it, but as usual it's really an excuse for me to experiment with yet another style of print-in-place box construction.  Let's have a look!

So, first thing - it's a two-part lid.  That's because the whole point of this one was to have a lid that could be locked closed from the middle of the top with the use of a threaded bow.  So, the lid halves carry half a thread as well.  In fact, there'...

Flourish Gift Box

Hey there, wonderful people!

For many of us it's that time of year where we're faced with how best to wrap cylindrically-oriented gifts.  Well, now there's an answer!  That's right, with the amazing powers of 3D printing we can now perfectly package our presents.

So, what do we actually have here?  Well, it's a cylindrical box that has a lid with a twist-locking mechanism.  And a bow.  The bow fits into an inset in the lid, and a bolt from the underside of...

Caboose, Flat Bed, Box Car and a New Version!

Hey there, wonderful people!

I never realised a little desk toy train would get so much love!  I've had lots of feedback, seen so many prints, it's just great!  But there was room for improvement.  First, though, let's talk about some new carriages...

Caboose!

Yes, a caboose!  Apparently every train needs a caboose at the back, so now we can have some closure :)  It's a bit taller than the regular carriage, and slightly ...

Roller Train Tilt Carriage and Some Gear Thoughts!

Hey there, wonderful people!

I guess this is my end-of-month rambling post, but let us start by talking roller trains.  As you've probably already noticed in the photo, we now have a side-tilting carriage, and as usual it's print-in-place and requires no supports.  The wheels and connectors are exactly as in the original carriage, so this one can just join onto the end of any existing train :)

Talking about wheels, though, I'm currently revising how all that works!  ...

Roller Train!

Hey there, wonderful people! 

I really enjoyed putting the Roller Van together, but the obvious question was: how can we join a bunch of these together.  And so, the Roller Train was  born!  However, from a design perspective, it has a few differences.  Read on!

Most obviously, the wheels on this one are different.  The van had huge exaggerated buggy wheels, but that didn't really work so well for a train, so I went back to the (virtual) drawing board...

Roller Van - print in place rolling wheels

Howdy, wonderful people!
Let's roll!  Sorry, couldn't help that :P  But that's right, this is a print-in-place rolling van!  The whole thing prints on its side, and the wheels and axles are single pieces that rotate within the van body.
The idea of print-in-place wheels has been bouncing around in my head for a while, but went to some silly places before ending up in a relatively simple place.  Hinged axles were a prominent feature for a while, even one version where...