Print in Place Latch Mechanism | Design for Mass Production 3D Printing
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2024
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In this episode of Design for Mass Production 3D Printing, we showcase 3D printing's ability to enable the creation of intricate parts that were impossible to mass-produce just a few years ago. We dive into the detailed design process of a print-in-place latch mechanism, compare it with traditional injection molding methods, and highlight the advantages 3D printing provides. Learn how to leverage additive manufacturing to produce complex geometries, and reduce upfront tooling costs, as well as downstream costs like assembly and warehousing. Watch now to learn about the full potential of 3D printing for your manufacturing needs!
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A few improvements:
1. Never use silk filament for anything that requires any strength or flex. It's horribly brittle and has the worst layer adhesion of any filament I've used. It's only useful for pretty dust-collectors.
2. Don't just add reinforcements for the latch-end screw-hole, connect it front-to back. This can be done with two intersecting cones eliminating any possibility of sag, and will allow the end-user (who may not realize there's a gap) to tighten the screws without crushing the mechanism.
3.a. Add a very thin slot for a blade (using the same gap mentioned for the support) from the back at the same layer as the spring to allow a thin blade to not only break the contact between the spring and body, but to remove any edges that would result in clicking or catching when the spring flexes back and forth.
3.b. Alternately, leave two diagonal cylindrical slots from the back for the insertion of two narrow metal springs to replace the in-built spring. While this would add one assembly step, it eliminates any possibility of failure of the flex-spring (allowing more rigid materials be used). The diagonal insertion would hold the springs in place as well (once they straighten out inside, they cannot fall out).
I designed a vacuum cleaner attachment and once i started selling alot of them i had to change so it didn't need supports at all. Saved me hundreds of hours. One of the things i did is what you did at 3:40
How did you get the bottom of the slide to not connect to the bottom?
Similar to the designed-in support he mentioned perhaps? .3mm offset that you apply light pressure to to unstick.
The support he made, latch, and spring were all printed with a slight gap below them.
There is a difference between normally printing layers, and extruding on top of a layer. I don't know the exact vocabulary on this but I will explain it as best as I can.
When you print at 0.2mm layers the nozzle actually squishes the plastic onto the layer before it. When you leave a gap (0.15-0.30) the nozzle will just place the bead of plastic on top of the previous layer. The amount of surface contact between those layers is much less so they do not fuse.
Think of it like putting down a bead of caulk. The right way is to put the nozzle right up to the surface you are working on and when you push the material out you want it forced into the work surface. If you however raise the nozzle off the work piece and let the caulk just drop onto the workpiece, it won't stick well. I hope this helps!
@@mawoodmain that was thinking the Same
you can see in the slicer that it has 2 layers of separation, it sags the first layers but at the end works
@@themexyeti so it's still weakly attached at the bottom?
If you made the handle a bit more angled, you can remove the in-build support just by using the mechanism for the first time :)
thanks for actually teaching us practical lessons like printing on a slant, (great name, the first lesson) because your helping literally improve home manufacturing quality of products appearing around the world
How do you design the spring so that it "breaks free" when you first use it?
Probably have a small 0.15mm gap or so between the bottom of the spring and the base it's printed on. Not sure about the exact number, but it's the same idea with printed supports, you leave additional space between these 2 layers so they don't fuse all the way and easily break off.
I was wondering the same thing. Also on that support that he put in. How would you do that without it fusing to the surface it is sitting on? It seems that it would be tough to do without it leaving ugly marks.
Very small interface between the bottom of the spring and the top of the surface it rides on. Have a single extrusion width tapper up to the full width of your spring. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this very well. Let me know if I need to clarify my point.
@@Deathbysnusnu125 There is a difference between normally printing layers, and extruding on top of a layer. I don't know the exact vocabulary on this but I will explain it as best as I can.
When you print at 0.2mm layers the nozzle actually squishes the plastic onto the layer before it. When you leave a gap (0.15-0.30) the nozzle will just place the bead of plastic on top of the previous layer. The amount of surface contact between those layers is much less so they do not fuse.
Think of it like putting down a bead of caulk. The right way is to put the nozzle right up to the surface you are working on and when you push the material out you want it forced into the work surface. If you however raise the nozzle off the work piece and let the caulk just drop onto the workpiece, it won't stick well. I hope this helps!
I can't imagine the spring lasting more than one to two hundred cycles, and I think even that is optimistic.
I worry about that too. I haven't found any great videos testing springs in different materials. And different types of springs. I've seen a few close videos, but not quite.
Same lifetime as a molded version. This is very standard design
@@slant3d I thought the comparison would be print in place plastic versus traditional injected molded with steel spring. Like in the video.
@@slant3d OK, do you know the lifespan of a molded version? Also, the sample molded version you used at the start had metal springs in it, so not comparable.
I'm going to give this a try myself, see how it goes. I'm going to design in a bit of preload, too, to stop the rattle when the 'arm' is at rest. Fun project... :)
@@imacmill how is it not comparable if it is the same thing but different production methods?
The right video at the right time. I’ve been struggling about a spring-loaded mechanism for a geocache for weeks-now here’s the solution! 👍
And how is the latch piece gets disconnected from the bottom of the enclosure it lays on during the printing process? The latch will be one piece with the bottom of the enclosure.
The same way you do supports: Print it in the the air but very close to the underlaying surface. That prevents sagging but minimizes the fusing area, so the first time you pull the lever it will detach.
The support he made, latch, and spring were all printed with a slight gap below them.
There is a difference between normally printing layers, and extruding on top of a layer. I don't know the exact vocabulary on this but I will explain it as best as I can.
When you print at 0.2mm layers the nozzle actually squishes the plastic onto the layer before it. When you leave a gap (0.15-0.30) the nozzle will just place the bead of plastic on top of the previous layer. The amount of surface contact between those layers is much less so they do not fuse.
Think of it like putting down a bead of caulk. The right way is to put the nozzle right up to the surface you are working on and when you push the material out you want it forced into the work surface. If you however raise the nozzle off the work piece and let the caulk just drop onto the workpiece, it won't stick well. I hope this helps!
What gap do you use between the spring and top surface?
This video helped me clear up my connector for the product we are building, thank you!
Thanks for the lesson 😊
Ok now how to add this for the joint locker's lid so it doesnt keep getting lost, its much smaller and this sliding door mechanism wont fit so I've thought of a garage door
Love your idea 😮
What is the longevity of a print in place spring like that compared to a metal one?
Unhelpful answer, but my guess is longevity will be low.
This is a very standard design even in molding. Springs are to be designed to flex only in the elastic region of the material used. If that is the case little to no fatigue occurs.
@@slant3d I dare you to do a lifespan test on this. Could be using the new filament channel to show the results.
The spring in injection molded version is made from steel, while the spring in the 3d printed version is plastic. it cannot be compared. you can't use a spring made from PLA because that spring will hardly last 50 cycles same with ABS. probably nylon will work but that makes it expensive because you require a multi-head 3D printer. If you living in the West it is always the best choice to get the mold designed and made in Asia as it will be cheaper even compared to the 3D printing
Love the video and love my 3d printer even though it is very basic.
In your print farm I see you had a glass bed for the example of the auto eject, does that style printer only print PLA?
I ask because doesn’t PETG stick to glass too well and ABS would require an enclosure?
I assume PETG would be the best material for a component with a spring, but is there a better material you would recommend?
Thank you for the great content!
Great example of integrating removable support structure and functional components into the part being produced.
From a engineering and user experience perspective, designing the amount of tension a 3d-printed spring produces could use few calibrated references. A data aid starting reference for designers providing a couple reference parts with integrated springs that have measured properties using Slant 3d filament and manufacturing process. Additionally a bit more detail on the spring design (sliding parts), so designers get a working spring as first parts are produced. No weld of part facets to bottom, or sides internally.
Do a few chamfer and a bridge just won't cut it for the overhang ?
Thanks
Great description of the design process and how 3D printing can be a superior solution to traditional injection mold manufacturing. One huge advantage that you highlighted is how you significantly reduced the part count to include metal springs that can rust or present assembly challenges-saving time, money, and part reliability.
What's the cycle lifetime of the spring?
It can be whatever you want it to be. It would depend on the material they were using, how thick the spring is, how much stroke it has, etc. As an engineer, you need to understand what the criteria the product needs to work under and what the customer expectations are. This is too open-ended of a question to give you an answer.
@@tomsko863 it is definitely not "too open ended to answer". If he prints another identical latch, same material and settings, how many cycles will it last? We aren't asking hypothetical minimum and maximum lifetimes across all possible materials here, just trying to get an idea of what an average print farm owner / hobbyist maker could expect Vs say, the same design with a metal spring
@@alfiegordon9013 I'm concerned that any answer that's given, would be very misleading because of all of the variables. If I was to print this and it didn't meet my target cycle life, then I would change it. And continue changing it until it did function properly. From looking at it, the overall design of this part is NOT optimized. It was made to illustrate some design points and that's all. So whatever current cycle life this spring has, doesn't matter. It doesn't tell you a thing about how practical using this design as a spring is.
@1:15...figuratively set in stone. Literally set in metal. Had to ding you...but LOVE your videos.
I might have missed it, what about the supports for the spring?
They completely forgot the most important question that people would ask - how the heck does the latch not fuse to the base?
You don't need supports, you have minor contact point that break the first time you actuate the spring/latch
@@lovecastle7154 By having a 0.3 mm space between the parts. They explained with the removable support piece.
Basically the bottom wall is the support and there has to be enough clearance for the bond to be weak.
I personally would also flip the entire thing so that the contact spot of the latch remains flat, i think thats sort of important for the latch function.
We could easily make the other side diagonal and it would not even be visible. This would require extra support under the latch though.
@@lovecastle7154you've probably never 3d printed before if you don't know how to avoid mininum fusing gaps
The printed part lacks tension. Thats why you can hear ir rattle. How to solve that?
Hmmm, you could probably connect the back of the spring to the back of the latch box.
I wonder if there is some design that would have a spring that starts a bit too long and shifted a bit out of place, but then breaks free and snaps into the proper position on its first, and only its first, compression. I can almost see it, but it's just a thought.
@@ionymous6733 You're onto something. My solution would be (a simplified explanation here), to print the latch slightly out of the opening (pushed "out"), then the first time you push the latch into the housing it will latch into position. It would "catch" onto a feature inside the housing and be in the position he showed in the video. That way the spring will be always be in tension, reducing rattle.
He did make the part quickly, it wasn't supposed to be perfect in every way. It was just to show off some techniques.
@@ionymous6733you might put holes in a feature that is part of the spring that lines up with the mounting holes. Then, when the part is put in place, the fixings (screws) lick the spring in place.
Or, as with the "remove" support piece, you could print a peg that needs to be pushed in.
The moving part and the roof got chamfer so they are 2 separate parts. But how about the bottom side of those 2 parts - the moving piece and the floor of the case - they are 1 over the other with flat surface. How you deal with it? Minimal support or?
The support he made, latch, and spring were all printed with a slight gap below them.
There is a difference between normally printing layers, and extruding on top of a layer. I don't know the exact vocabulary on this but I will explain it as best as I can.
When you print at 0.2mm layers the nozzle actually squishes the plastic onto the layer before it. When you leave a gap (0.15-0.30) the nozzle will just place the bead of plastic on top of the previous layer. The amount of surface contact between those layers is much less so they do not fuse.
Think of it like putting down a bead of caulk. The right way is to put the nozzle right up to the surface you are working on and when you push the material out you want it forced into the work surface. If you however raise the nozzle off the work piece and let the caulk just drop onto the workpiece, it won't stick well. I hope this helps!
How do you keep the bottom of the latch and the bottom of the spring from sticking to the inside bottom of the housing?
The support he made, latch, and spring were all printed with a slight gap below them.
There is a difference between normally printing layers, and extruding on top of a layer. I don't know the exact vocabulary on this but I will explain it as best as I can.
When you print at 0.2mm layers the nozzle actually squishes the plastic onto the layer before it. When you leave a gap (0.15-0.30) the nozzle will just place the bead of plastic on top of the previous layer. The amount of surface contact between those layers is much less so they do not fuse.
Think of it like putting down a bead of caulk. The right way is to put the nozzle right up to the surface you are working on and when you push the material out you want it forced into the work surface. If you however raise the nozzle off the work piece and let the caulk just drop onto the workpiece, it won't stick well. I hope this helps!
Hi! Could You please tell me how to find a proper shelve for a few 3D printers? Just like for print farm - what to look for? or maybe what You guys have? Thanks!
Heavy duty shop racks you find at most home improvement stores. They're relatively inexpensive (a single rack cost me about $150 with 3 layers), modular, and sturdy. I can say from experience that you can easily get 3 large printers onto a single shelf, maybe up to 4 "standard" size printers depending on the footprint of the printer.
I use a table fastened to the wall. You are really looking for stiffness. If you fasten most shelves to the wall you should be fine.
@@eslmatt811 Good solution if you have finished walls, not ideal if you are working in a basement or if your walls are concrete/block/metal though. You can anchor to those surfaces, but they tend to be outward facing, which increases the risk of moisture ingress by a lot.
You can get around the "stiffness" issue by putting garden pavers under your printers on even relatively flimsy surfaces and it will dampen most of the motion transfer. CNC Kitchen has a video on it, something like "The Best $2 Printer Upgrade"
Do you have any resources for designing springs like on this video? Are there cad plug-ins to easily generate springs like this with parameters?
I saw your living hinge video but looking for linear springs like this.
Great videos
I saw in your living hinge part 2 short you kind of showed the process of manually making a similar spring.
Do you always design these manually like in that video?
Really glossed over the bottom side supports with this one such as on the spring
There are none
@@slant3d thank you
Its awesome, dont get me wrong, but i feel like the spring will just snap over time. I guess its not meant for heavy use, some context on what filament to use would be useful
I'm working on a print In place design I want to sell via the slant api. My design has parametric tolerance which I've set to 0.3mm while testing on my machine.
Do Slant 3D have a recommended tolerance for print in place designs to prevent fusing?
Nice one - but what is it for??? :)
A door or gate or cabinet...
Hey, just went on your Etsy plugin link and the first paragraph is riddled with errors, didn’t check the rest
Thanks for letting us know. On it. Should be fixed soon
This is awesome to see! I've been hunting something like this.
I love your content in general.
Now, slant3d; please, can you explain how it would be to create something like this with a notch/lock? So the sliding door, but it friction fit locks into place at the end of actuation, and beginning, so it will stay open and stay closed
Same principle, just applied with a spiral spring.
Depends if your making a one-off or trying to make a 1,000. What Slant3D is doing is trying to see their services as a manufacturing facility. So they focus on mass production designs. When you make a 1-off, you can make it out of as many parts as you want, or buy sub-components like coil springs, leaf springs, pins, bearings, etc.
What you are describing is a "detent". Google that and you can find alot of examples. A ball bearing added into the slide with some ramps and notches would do it.
A noob question, would not that spring mechanism break after a while?
It will break for sure. This is not really a long lasting part, but I guess it was just used to convey the idea.
@@pcdoc2000Might have been a good idea for him to mention that at the start, so people don't blindly copy the design and try to use it as a functional part.
@@imacmill I disagree guys. You can make it as robust as you want. It would depend on the material they were using, how thick the spring is, how much stroke it has, etc. As an engineer, you need to understand what the criteria the product needs to work under and what the customer expectations are. I have appliances that were made in the 70's/80's that have plastic snaps, living hinges, and other features that are still functioning. I also have newer, metal components that failed well below their expected lifetime. If something is made correctly, it can last for quite awhile, regardless of what material they were made of.
I see that you guys like to use the gantry to push a print off the plate to remove operator assit.
Have you looked into using a metal plate, and underneath fixing an actuator to bend the plate in the middle, and 'pop' the contact of the print before sweeping it off with the gantry?
Might make it easier for prints with large contact patches with the print plate to be removed?
So you designed a latch lock that can only use FDM 3D printing to manufacture, but I don't think it is strong enough for its purpose
This print does look ugly but I like seeing the layers. I like noticing how things are made
This guy reminds me of if Adam 22 had a smarter older brother
It'd fun to share this STL - I didn't see that in your STL shop.
I mean it is just an example, butt if you did want to recreate it he did outline all of the steps
@@TS_Mind_Swept Agreed, but I'd like to see if I can printer can handle his model before spending the time to design my own.
@@redamaleki butt if you already printed it, you wouldn't have to design your own..
@@TS_Mind_Swept Just based on what I am seeing in the design, it wouldn't fit in the application I have in mind. I just don't have enough time to spend designing something if my printer can't handle it.
@@redamaleki I'm pretty sure your printer can handle it if you design it right; most printers can do quite a bit, even the cheap ones
Love to see how to do embedded non plastic part at manufacturing volumes... pause print anyone?
Uhh.. what exactly is this thing for? 🤔 like the manufacturing processes are all fine and good, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand the use case(s) for the latch 😅
You are not the only one lol. The concepts are sound. But what the heck is this funny thing particularly used for? Doesn't matter really
There's a reason for why springs aren't made of plastic.
Right, but anyhow there are some. Look at Audi A6 ultra i think Modelyear 2020 or so. They have GFK springs for their f* suspension. I really dont know how they managed to do this 😅
If you're literally making your molds out of stone, you're doing it the hard way. Metal is a far better choice. :/s
There is a subtle issue for designed in supports, you can no longer adjust or tweak offset heights to optimize surface finish and reduce break-away forces, you are stuck using exact layer heights, which might or might not be idea for any given customer or manufacturer's machine. Being able to tweak those by 0.05mm at a time makes a world of difference for the peel forces and reliability. Getting stuck on a 0.20mm grid might be a too close/far scenario.
You can upload two stl for different layer height.
If the bottom of moving parts is chamfered, as is the top in this example, a small horizontal offset (0.05mm)will have the same effect as a similar vertical offset for horizontal surfaces.
@@nobocks Actually it's more nuanced than that, modern slicers can now do offsets that aren't aligned with uniform layer heights. So yes you could do that.. but now you are stuck in 2 states of offsets instead of a precision tunable one.
3:58 I completely missed what the collar thing was to prevent screws splitting a part?
Hi, He explains about the holes in great detail on this video
watch?v=9ERY20MRJPo
Or check his videos for "Design Custom Electrical Enclosures for Mass Production"
The collars are to keep from splitting the* part when tightening the screw
i did reply also but i think my comment was removed, i linked to Slant3d's other video so I'm confused why the comment was removed. The other video Slanted3d has shows about the collars. I do apologise, wasn't trying to cause any problems :/
@@wo88les "i linked to Slant3d's other video"
CZcams automatically hides any comment with a link unless the video uploader finds it and manually makes it visible again. Think about it, how often do you see links in CZcams comments from someone other than the video uploader?
@@Phoen1x883 Yup, I learned this the hard way. Regardless what you are linking it will hide your comment. Same if you used a word that the video channel blacklisted.
Would you be open to releasing the file you produced?
I like 3d printing, but what you did here is definitely not more reliable than a moulded part you are comparing your design to.
First of all you can't say for sure that the 3d print will be more reliable/sturdy than an injection moulded part. Especially that piece that is supposed to be holding doors or some other thing in place. And you sharpened that edge so now there's smaller surface to spread the force onto. Secondly the printed spring will definitely wear down faster than the metal spring.
Finally your design doesn't allow for repair of the inside - if something were to get stuck, then you can't open it up to fix it. If the spring breaks, you can't open it up to fix it.
Hey Saper! Good technic videos.
I agree that in these Slant3D videos the guy often presents his videos in a way that makes it sound like there are no issues with the 3d printing process. He's doing a little bit of over-compensating I would say in trying to change the perception of 3D printing. His use of words sometimes infuriated me and it makes it sound like he's just lying. Anyone that constantly likes to use worlds like "better", "improved", etc., sounds like a cheap salesman to me. Because it always "depends".
If this latch is just holding back a cabinet door that barely gets used, then this could be perfect. If this latch is supposed to hold up an industrial garage door, then probably not. So it all depends.
About your comment: most-likely yes, metal springs do have many advantages over plastic. There is a thing called the "S-N curve" where under a low enough load, a spring "should" never fail from fatigue. But any spring, if designed improperly, will fail. As an engineer, you need to understand what the criteria the product needs to work under and what the customer expectations are. Some springs, even if they're made from brittle material, will work fine for years.
What email is best to reach your team for inquiry of design optimization and production? I have emailed the website provided email but haven’t received a response. Would love to work together.
this is the best video youtube
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but... STL?
The "remove" block could have a ready made stl foe a negative soace to turn ut into a little phone holder or screwdriver bit handle so all your printer support blocks become useful bonus tools with your logo on them
Can guarantee that printed spring will break fast
what kind of advertisement this is
the kind a mass production 3d print service company makes
Shameless and misleading)
Video is poorly framed on a tablet.
You might want to view your material on more devices and re-upload.
Literally set in stone?
Who is making stone molds?
I MEAN
WITH THESE MANY LIMITATIONS AND ADJUSTEMENTS JUST TO MAKE IT WORK
I DONT REALY SEE THE BENEFIT OF *DESIGN FLEXIBILITY*
No molds, lower volumes, more reliable. Thousands saved for a better product
@@slant3dmost of ,our point are valid, but how more reliable ?!
With the long time that a 3d print take its Affected by so much parameters that I can't call it reliable
@@teamllr3137The long time? For us with a handful of printers sure, each hour is a big deal.
For slant3d, being able to make 1000 of these in a hour via 1000 printers is an entirely different ball game.
Is there a design process that doesn't have limitations and require adjustments?
The benefit of design flexibility is you can iterate on that part to make adjustments, if you create a mold for injection molding you now have 0 ability to change the design without significantly increased cost. What if you made an error on your mold design and now you've got a useless mold?
@@teamllr3137 Are you saying the part isn't reliable or the manufacturing process isn't reliable? With experience and fine tuning 3d printing can be very reliable and repeatable.
If you wanted someone in their garage with a couple of off the shelf printers to manufacture things reliably I'd agree that's not going to go well. But these are professionals, with millions of hours of printing, custom designed machines and probably decades of experience.
@Sland3d, there is an issue with your website that forwards the "quote" link in the description to a 404 page. The "production-3d-printing-quote" is being forwarded to "production-3d-printing-quote-auto-2". This happens even happens if click "Get Quote" (top right) from home page.
Odd. It seems to be working fine right now
@@slant3d It appears to be browser dependent. Different browser, and it works. (problem on my end)