clockspring3D

Mechanical Valentine (single- and multi-material)

Happy approaching-Valentine's Day!

Funny thing, I'm usually terrible about modelling things for specific events like that, and the timing on this one, I have to admit, is purely luck - the whole Valentine's Day thing wasn't something that occurred to me until this model needed a name!

You see, I started out to make a box with a hidden latch.  Somewhere along the way I ended up deciding to see if I could make some hidden hinges instead, and I figured the box needed to be a mor...

Stanchion Box (vase mode!)

Howdy, wonderful people!

Stackable boxes are just the best.  These vase mode boxes are an exploration of texture and layers in vase mode, and are made to stack in somewhat industrially-inspired columns.

Most models have some key feature that drives the design, and in this case it's the layering of the I-shaped outer panels over the vertical ribbing underneath.  That would be trivial in regular printing, but vase mode of course requires a little more care and consideratio...

Tentacle Treasure Chest and Happy 2023!

Happy new year, wonderful people!

Yes, it's that time when we all gather around our printers and welcome the new year, one layer at a time!  

Presenting the Tentacle Treasure Chest!  This print-in-place treasure chest with suckery tentacle has a lid that pivots on a hidden internal hinge and rotates to the side, which is also how the chest prints.

This is quite a sizeable ...

Elaboration Bowl

Hi there, wonderful people!

Nope, it's not a multimaterial print, it's an assembly!  This bowl features voids for separately-printed coloured panels, and the whole thing is kept securely together by a ring that screws down over the top.  If you really wanted to, you could print all the parts in one colour, but that would be far less fun.

The walls of the bowl follow a circular arc - it's essentially a section of a sphere.  The advantage of this is that the inserts h...

Orb Jar (Vase Mode!)

Howdy, wonderful people!

If you stretch your memory back some way you might recall one or two vase mode container designs that had threaded lids, like the Swirly-Whirly eggs, and, er, what did I call that cylindrical one again?  Anyway, the thing with those designs is that the threads on those are internal forms and the lid surrounds the thread on the body.  I wondered if I could do the opposite, and thus we have the Orb Jar!

The default size of this container is really ...

Would you like fries with that?

Howdy, wonderful people!

By popular demand, we have fries to go along with the burger and shake boxes!  Yes, your delicious and nutritionally-questionable printed fast food meal will now be more satisfying, with the addition of some fried goodness.

This box differs from the others by having a lift-off lid rather than a threaded one, since this one isn't circular.  If you want to, you can pop some magnets into the lid and base to hold it a bit more securely.

2022-12-18 15:50:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Teardrop Baubles

We're only a week away from Christmas but that doesn't mean we can't have last-minute baubles!

Yes, in case you haven't already printed too many baubles, here are some more, and this time they're shaped in a teardrop form.  I just like vase mode and couldn't resist exploring another shape for these things!  There are six different designs, and they're all swirly in some way.

The previous vase mode baubles, both this year's dodecahedra and last year's round ones, incorpor...

Integral Box

Hey there, wonderful people!

It's been a while since I've designed a mechanically-latching box!  I've made cogs that drive other cogs, cogs that drive rack gears, but not a box that has a side-to-side rack gear that drives a cog latch.  And, that's how this one operates - there's a latch in the lid that can be moved sideways to lock and unlock the box.

You can put magnets in the latch and box to keep things a bit more secure, but that's strictly optional! 

I'v...

Rocket Jar - multi-part assembly

Hey there, wonderful people!

It's a rocket!  It's also a container, but you don't really *have* to put anything inside it.  Other than astronauts, obviously.  The lid attaches firmly via a screw thread, so it won't go falling off if the rocket has to go zooming around.

This retro-looking piece of rocketry is printed in separate pieces then joined together using threaded par...

Doughnut Bites, Multimaterial Upgrades, and Mini Hexmas Tree

Multimaterial Doughnut Box Lid and Partly-Eaten Version

By popular demand there is now support for printing the sprinkles on the Sugar Rush Doughnut Box as part of a multimaterial print!  It's actually only the sprinkle models that are new - the lid itself is the same, which also means that the sprinkles should be usable on the Raspberry Doughnut Pi case, too (though I haven't actually tested that out!)

2022-11-30 14:08:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Hex Headphone Hooks

Howdy, wonderful people!

Modern, thin monitors can be a convenient place to hang your headphones!  This little hook hangs over the front of the monitor just a little so as not to obscure the display on small-bezel setups, and provides a curved platform at the back on which to hang ones trusty headset.

Since the depth of the monitor needs to be just a little smaller than the hook width there are a few different sized hooks provided.  The profile of the front also needs to...

Accordant Box (single- and multi-material)

Ahoy-hoy wonderful people!

Proportions, shapes and textures are a big part of what I love about 3D printing design, and some models show that more clearly than others - like this one!  Those corner curves that correspond to the strut widths, the satisfying fit of the lid into its recess, and of course the repetitive texture of those side panels.  It might be a storage box, or it might just be something to fidget with, I'm not entirely sure :)

Now, this one was created or...

Dodecabaubles! (vase mode baubles!)

Hey there, wonderful people!

Merry festivity-oriented season!  You might remember last year's vase mode baubles, and if so you are probably thinking "needs more dodecahedron", am I right?  Well, fear not, because now we have vase mode dodecahedral baubles!

Now, the big difference between those round ones and these dodecahedral ones is that the upper "face" on these is much larger, which posed some problems with getting hook components to meet in the middle.  So, the...

Nautilus Box

Howdy, wonderful people!

Do you like articulated, multi-segment lids on boxes?  Who doesn't?!  The Nautilus Box has a lid with five segments that pull and push against each other to form a semicircular enclosure, and there's space for a pair of 6x3mm cylindrical magnets to hold things closed.

So, let's look at the bits that make this work!

Most obviously, there are some huge hinges.  These are large and deep in order to stay connected even when the big lid seg...

Rectangular Tube Boxes

Texture is a wonderful thing!  These little boxes are as much for tactile fidgeting as they are for storing small things.  The sides carry rows of grooves and the cap closure is knurled for extra grippableness.

The two halves also have locating features to keep them aligned when being closed - a ridge and protrusion on one side match indentations on the other.

You might notice that the smallest size of these boxes is a vaguely familiar dimension.  It's roughly the s...

Hidden Hex Stacky Vase Box

Hey there, wonderful people!

This one has been on my to-do list for way too long: simple, stacking cube organising boxes in vase mode!  But, of course, I had to find a way to make it more interesting along the way :)

There are some recurring themes in the vase mode stuff I do, and one of those is the idea of having an interior that's different to the exterior.  Sometimes that's a purely functional thing, like the threaded vase mode containers, but in this case it was mos...

Dice Containment Capsule

Hey there, wonderful people!

Transporting a set of dice in this perilous world can be a hazardous experience.  Fortunately, the magic of 3D printing can keep our dice safe and stylishly encapsulated!

This twist on the twisty-box idea started out with a regular hexagonal profile, but magnets changed all that.  There's an allowance for magnets to fit into the base and lid, you see, to keep the lid closed.  A lid that fits in six possible orientations means working out...

Hexmas Trees!

Yes, it's that time of year again when we all celebrate vase mode printing!  Merry vase-mas!  Okay, okay, so here we have a Christmas tree (or a tree for any other festive/non-festive tree-oriented occasion) that is intended to also celebrate the wonder of hexagons!

This stylised tree is made of twisted panels dotted with a hexagonal pattern and all the angles in those little hexagons are set up with angles that are friendly to vase mode printing.  So, the whole thing can...

Milkshake Box and More Nice Buns!

Hey there, wonderful people!

People like variety in their burgers.  The moment the Nice Buns Burger Box was out there I was getting requests for more ingredients, so here are a few!  If you check out the photo above you'll see....

* Sauce!  Delicious, drippy sauce.

* Pickles!

* Beetroot.   Or maybe tomato.  Or a slice of anything, really, depending on what colour you print it.

* A taller threaded bun base to hold all the delicious in...

Radical Flask (single- and multi-material)

Hey there, radical people!

Yes, this design is named entirely based on the fact that I printed it in a dazzling 80s throwback colour scheme.  All the elements of the texture food pyramid are represented here, from nourishing hexagons to delicious three-axis circular perforations.

This screw-top flask comes in both single- and multi-material versions, but the original design intention was to build a patchwork design in which sections were differentiated by texture alone.  ...

Imperator Chess Board

Howdy, wonderful people!

A fancy chess set needs a fancy board!  It will come as no surprise that we've ended up in the land of tessellation, because tessellation is great and really does lend itself to making a form that's as large as a full-sized chess board turns out to be!

The primary consideration here was a board style that looked as ornate and snazzy as the Imperator Chess Pieces.  Coming up with a tessellating grid that looked stylish was trickier than I'd expect...

Nice Buns Burger Box

Hey there, wonderful people!

It's a burger!  And it can hold stuff!  How much stuff depends on how many layers are stacked together...

The Nice Buns Burger Box parts print separately and each component screws onto the bun base, with the bun top lid screwing on to close things up.  The cheese obviously needs to screw in on top of the patty, but the greenery could really go either above or below the patty and cheese.  Don't skip the greenery, it's what makes the ...

Updates 2: Vase Cauldron, Magnetic Planar Dish, Multimaterial Coasters

Vase Mode Cauldron

You might remember Skeleton Soup from around this time last year!  Well, I had a request for a vase mode version of the cauldron from that!  Of course, it wasn't a model that was directly viable to print in vase mode, so a few changes had to be made, most notably to the handles, so that all the angles were vase-friendly.

There are a few other changes, too - a set of texture lines around the top and the addition of circular pits around ...

Updates 1: New Clamp Spool Holders, More Bambu Buckets

Clamp Spool Holders V2!

There are two more print-in-place clamp spool holders!  These don't replace the previous one, though, so much as add options (and a little refinement).  Requests for spool holder mods included:

* Allow a piece of PTFE tubing to be inserted to reduce friction

* Support holding the spool at 90 degrees to the clamp

* Allow the spool to be mounted upwards, rather than just downwards.

So, the two new versions are much...

Imperator Vase Chess Pieces

Howdy, wonderful people!

Here we have swirly-style vase mode chess pieces, sized according to tournament standards and waiting to line up on a board near you.

I've had endless requests for chess sets over the years, but it wasn't until a recent call for vase mode chess pieces that I really got inspired.  Chess pieces have certain characteristics that can pose problems for support-free printing, and adding the constraints of vase mode make it doubly challenging!  What I r...

Printer Stuff: Clamp Spool Holder, Bambu X1 Bucket

There are two things here related specifically to printers, one which is fairly generic, and one quite specific.  But they're both related to printers so they get to share a post!

Clamp Spool Holder

Inspired by the Clamp Hook, this much larger version is intended to hold a spool of filament below a shelf!  Like the Clamp Hook before it this model incorporates a print-in-place clamping mechanism to attach it to a shelf.

It's oriented such that the s...

Clacky Cog Contraption

It's a noise maker!  And it's an excuse to put cogs and gearing to work in the service of making really annoying sounds.

So, wonderful people, let's look at what this is and how it works!  The core of this model is a series of interlocked cogs, and those are actually from another model that I've been working on.  Sometimes projects get unexpectedly derailed and turned into annoying noisemakers instead, it seems.  So, we have these cogs, and the one at the end is doub...

Resplendence Vase

Howdy, wonderful people!

More vase mode, more textures and shapes.  Where the Zither Vase played with light and shadow, the Resplendence Vase is all about all the shine, all the time.  A showpiece for the gloriously glossy filaments we are lucky enough to have these days!

There's still texture aplenty in this one, but it's designed to just catch the light on different angles and make patterns out of highlights, making long sweeping lines and chains of bright dots.

...

Zither Vase

Hi there, my favourite people!

Do you like vase mode?  Of course you do!  Vase mode is the best!  For me, though, vase mode is often a way to explore textures and shapes, and this Zither Vase is exhibit A on that front.

Those wavy lines, which get wavier as they progress down the vase, add an amazing rigidity to the vase, and this one is a little more firm than usual.  There's really no cross-section that isn't intersected by a bunch of those finely-detailed li...

Foldy Box

Howdy, wonderful people!

Me and geometry, best friends forever!  I get caught up a lot in dodecahedra, cuboctahedra and more elaborate forms whose names I have to look up on Wikipedia to have any chance of getting them correct, but it's important not to overlook the joys of the humble cube!

Now, this cube is just a little thing - it'll sit neatly in the palm of your hand, and it'll fit unfolded neatly on most printer beds.  Folded up, the cube is about 44mm across.  ...