Saloon Box! (Patreon)

Hey there wonderful people!  The end of April already - crazy!  Now, this isn't actually my end-of-month retrospective, it's a model!  That said, the retrospective post will talk through the evolution of this design, with photos of several other versions that preceded this one!

But first, let's talk about what we have here!

Well, clearly it's a hinged box (though it wasn't always, that bit appeared near the end), and it has a rotating latch mechanism (originally a screw!).  And most interestingly there's a handle for turning that latch, and it prints in place against the bed, embedded in the lid.  

So, there's a handle that hinges out of a rotating latch set into a hinged lid, and it's all print-in-place, with no support required! 😁

The box on this one prints right-side up, and the lid is upside-down (and attached during printing!).    Which brings us to....

Printing Tips!

This model prints with the box base down and the lid open and lying flat on the bed alongside it.

As usual, the first layer is the most important consideration, especially since the upper surface of the lid will be printed against the bed.  So, take extra care to make it look nice!  

As for the moving parts, there's a generous clearance between the parts, and it'll be resilient against some degree of elephant footing, but you'll want to make sure stringing isn't a big issue or else you're liable to get moving elements welded together!

I test printed this with 0.2mm and 0.15mm layer heights, with a 0.4mm nozzle.  

File Location

You'll find this on Dropbox under Saloon Box!  Just one single STL since all the pieces print in place together.

Other Thoughts

This one was fun.  I thought for a long time (this one's been on the go for weeks) that it would never quite get to a point where I was happy with how it worked, but it eventually got there!  It'll be fun to recount the course this thing took, which I'll be posting tomorrow, along with that rejected flask model I mentioned and a sneaky look at a cog-based work-in-progress...

So, until tomorrow, thank you as always from the bottom of my heart for your support and encouragement!

xoxo

Sven.

PS: that rejected flask model is already uploaded to Dropbox, just in case you want to wade through and find it! :)