Mechanical Iris Dome Box Print-In-Place

Prints (-1)

Description

It's a dome with iris style opening that opens when you twist the dome.

It's all printed-in-place (as one piece), so no assembly required. The shells are separated by a very fine gap. There are hidden hinges, slots, and pins between the shells to create the mechanism. The door pieces actually still stick to the print bed and are cut free with a knife/pliers once the print is done.

I wrote a detailed tutorial on how to design this: my website http://eleccelerator.com/mech-iris/

Please check it out, there's a few dozen screenshots, alone with detailed explanation of what I did, and most importantly, why I did it that way. The goal is not to teach you what button to press, the goal is to teach you the logic behind creating a certain shape that has functions and requirements.

The CAD model is available in the tutorial but to save you a click, it's here hosted by Onshape

And because it's a Onshape model, you are free to fork the design and immediately make modifications. The model is created in a fully parametric fashion and with extensive use of relationships/constraints. To change the size, only the top variables need to be edited and the changes should propagate throughout the model without errors. This is how I am able to easily create three sizes without too much work. This is another important part of my tutorial.

Design Files

File Size

Mech Iris Tiny.stl
29.5 MB
Mech Iris Large.stl
26.7 MB
Mech Iris Medium.stl
26.1 MB

Comments

AkashMan
No layer height or other slicing parameters you'd suggest?
Reply7 years ago
Steve Gomes
Click on the print uploads, and you will see some of the parameters each of us used. Good luck.
Reply6 years ago
Lego Man
looks hard to print
Reply6 years ago
Fito Rasia
Got it OK the second time. It appears that a rough finish surface at the slot makes it too hard to slide, so slowing down the printing speed solved it. Beautiful design!
Reply5 years ago
yanfali
What speeds and layer heights did you use? My first attempt on a bed slinger for the tiny didn't move after printing with 60mm/s perimeters and 0.8mm layer height. I'm thinking of dropping to 30-40mm/s and see if that helps since this is basically all perimeters.
Reply5 years ago
FlightRisk
I printed the medium. Thought it came out perfect. Needed to print about 40mm/sec, 30 on the first layer. I cut the petals on the bottom and they are wiggling nicely. But the base won't budge. Which way should I try to spin the top relative to the bottom. I guess the top is stuck to the bottom somehow? Any ideas?
Reply3 years ago
FlightRisk
Finally figured out a way to break the upper outside shell from the bottom base shell without damaging the bottom ring. I took a teaspoon and stuck it into the gap between the bottom ring and the top sphere. I put the spoon with the concave side towards the center of of the sphere as if I was trying to scoop out the entire toothed sphere. I centered the spoon over each bubble protrusion as I went all the way around. I heard a popping sound once and it hadn't freed yet. Further around the perimeter, I heard another pop and that was it. I used a pretty decent amount of force and watched what I was doing so as to not scar the surface of either the inside lip of the bottom section or the face of the top section. Works perfectly and smoothly. If I can figure out what stuck and maybe print at 190 instead of 195 as a test, I would like to print these as gifts. This is the medium box, so I'll try the small and large as well. This is on a Voxelab Aquilla X2 and sliced with Cura 4.12.1. Layer height .2, all line widths .4, wall thickness .8, wall line count 2, infill 100% lines, temp 195, plate 60, speed 40mm/s, 20 for the walls and the initial layer.
Reply3 years ago
federicosilvamd
Printed fine on ABS, 240/80 hairspray on bed with enclosure. I printed the largest one, haven't tried the smaller ones. its very cool
Reply3 years ago
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Reply2 years ago
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