Null Capsule (Patreon)

Howdy, wonderful people!

There are so many ways to approach making boxes!  This one started as a pointy diamond, believe it or not!  Imagine an elongated cube with one point chopped off and turned into a lid - that's what this was!  I had curved all the edges and points, though, and really liked the feel of it, but it wasn't very practical (okay, okay, it's creative 3D printing, things don't really have to be practical, but still!).  So, I reworked the concept into something a bit more rectangular.

You'll notice, though, that the box kind of prints on an"edge", in that the sides angle up at 45 degrees and then back inwards, meaning there are no overhanging faces (and that curved upper edge is actually much sharper on the interior for the sake of printability).  This all works because that lid folds down at 45 degrees, too, with the threaded handle sticking out into the space where a corner might have been.

That threaded handle changed a few times, too, and it's amazing how many variations there can be on that style.  The original was an internal thread in the handle that grabbed a protrusion set into the opening of the box, but that occupied rather a lot of the opening space.  The approach that's there instead is far superior and keeps things nice and tight without any looseness or rattling, which is always a risk in articulated designs like those!  

Print Description

This is a regular-mode print, and infill percentage won't matter too much since it's mostly perimeters!  This is an articulated model so be sure to watch for any print issues like stringing or overextrusion that might bind moving parts together!

Print Dimensions

The Null Capsule occupies 100mm x 138mm on the printer bed and is 67mm tall.

Supports needed?

No supports needed!

Scalability

As an articulated model there are some limits to how far you could scale this one.  The tolerances are fairly generous, but scaling down will eventually lead to parts binding during printing.  Scaling up will work a bit better, but things will get looser!  

Print Orientation

The Null Capsule prints with the lid open and flat on the print bed, like so:

File location

You'll find this one at at 649 Null Capsule

Link to dropbox post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31697592

Further Thoughts

Filament used in this print: eSun eSilk-PLA Magic

It really is interesting to look back on a design and think of all the decisions along the way that made it end up the way it did.  Even the lid orientation during printing was up for grabs: rather than folded out and open it could have printed closed, which would have meant an inset handle but much more flexibility in how the hinges are formed and the ability to go much larger on the print bed if desired...

Happy printing! 

xoxo

Sven.