April Evolutions and a Potion Flask (Patreon)

Howdy, wonderful people!  

As always, scrolling back to the start of the month feels like looking back to a long time ago.  The side-drive geared box was April?  Crazy!  It feels like so much longer ago!

The Lost Flask!

Now, there were a few "flask" models posted this month, but there was one that I didn't end up publishing because it didn't really fit in with the style of the others.  That's it in the picture above - the Potion Flask.  As before, the lid is the one that's consistent with the other flask models.

Why didn't I like it?  Well, not for any technical reasons - it prints just fine (though my example is a little scruffy), and it's quite robust.  It's a bit big, though, and ultimately felt like it was just lacking some imagination.  I put it aside and ended up making the Pixel Flasks instead.

The model for this one is on Dropbox, though, if you're interested!  It's under "Potion Flask"

 The Evolution of a Saloon Box

Well, this one took a while!  Here's a pile of test prints of different versions along the way: 

They're so shiny!  I love the look of metallic silk filaments at the moment, and it worked really nicely with this model.  Fortunately, I got to a point where I was happy with the model before I used up the entire spool, or else this one would have been in white :)

You might notice that it started with similar roots to the Chained Hatch Container.  Both at this point have a screw-down lid.   But where that container used a loose chain to connect the lid, the Saloon Box began with a  rigid track that let the lid move vertically.

Take a look at the screw threads at the end of the box.  I love those!  It really had a nice feel to it.  However, don't get too attached, because by the final version those disappear :P

So, the way the lid worked was that it printed flat alongside the box, then slid upwards and pivoted over at the top, then screwed down vertically.  The multiple tracks keep the lid in place, as a single track-hinge-thing would let the lid fall out the moment it went on any kind of angle.

Of course, there's another significant feature in this box, and that's the handle in the rotating section.  By this next version that handle had been enlarged and it works much better.  

I actually really liked the box at this stage, but getting it closed was a bit tricky, and it was easy to jam the thing up if the lid wasn't straight.

So, I moved the screw part to the middle!

This worked a bit better in that it allowed the lid to be more easily positioned, but now the thread didn't work quite as nicely, being somewhat truncated.  I toyed with the idea of extending the thread section into the box body further, but that seemed a bit awkward.

Instead, though, the screw was discarded, and a slot-style latch added instead!

The latch made a fundamental change to things, too - the lid could be closed without the latch being engaged at all, unlike the screw which required a progressive closure that moved the lid down at the same time.  And, so, the tracks up the side could be swapped out for a much more robust hinge approach, and that's where we ended up!

A kind-of work-in-progress...

I just thought I'd share this thing, though I  have no idea where it'll end up.  It's a print-in-place mitre gear assembly where the central handle drives two cog halves downwards.  The plan was to use that to latch a box closed, but despite some interesting experiments I haven't really decided how that's going to happen.

The main thing, though, is that the cogs are really fun to fidget with :) 

Bring on May!

So, thank you all once again for your wonderful support, and let's see what May brings!

xoxo

Sven.