clockspring3D
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Unified Vault! (or, Vault Box Re-Hinged)
🕑 Added 2020-09-17 15:41:32 +0000 UTCHey there, wonderful people!
I got half way through explaining why this wouldn't work, and then realised that I could indeed make it work! :D
This design may well look familiar! Yep, the Colossus Vault and the Vault Box are the ancestors of this, but they differ in a key way. You see, the Vault Box has a lid separate to the box itself, specifically so that the box can have a flat base. The Colossus Vault, on the other hand, has a hinged lid, but prints upside-down to accommodate that, which means the box base ends up angled, and thus needs to be huge!
The question posed to me was: could we have the flat-based Vault Box, but with a hinged lid?
My first thought was: Nope!
But that didn't last long...
It's the best of both worlds! So, how's this achieved?
Well, you may recognise the hinge style here from the Saloon Box. It's an approach that allows the lid to print upside-down on the bed and swing up externally to fit on top of the box. Was the Saloon Box the first time I used that approach? I'm not even sure! It's a hinge design I'm exploring right now for new, asymmetric versions of the Clamshell Cases, so it was at the front of my mind, and solved all my problems!
I did of course have to modify the box rim to accommodate the rotating lid, but the actual usable interior space remains unchanged.
The end result is the best version of the Vault Box concept yet! The big, chunky hinges are quite satisfying to use, and who doesn't love a nice hinged lid?
Printing Tips
The model prints with the lid open and the box base-down, like so:
This is an articulated design, so as usual watch your bottom layer quality, and watch for any printing issues like stringing or overextrusion that bind moving parts together!
It's a fairly wide design and might push the limits of dimensions on some printers, but thankfully it scales down reasonably - the grey one in the photos was test printed at 80% on an Ender 3.
File Locations
You'll find this one on dropbox under 799 Unified Vault.
Link to dropbox post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31697592
Final Thoughts
Well, I didn't expect I'd be returning to this model, but I'm glad I did, since the result is a much more elegant, practical version of the Vault Box idea than its predecessors!
Enjoy!
xoxo
Sven.
Comments
Now I finished the box :) Check it out: https://imgur.com/a/0MLn5GP I plucked out every loose drooped filament strand with pliers and now the wheels turn much more freely. Since the locking bars can be removed I reprinted them in Wizard's Voodoo (purple) to add another color and thus make the box more interesting to look at. I think it came out great. Especially with the handle now permanently installed. For this I made a tapered handle which sits nicely flush and is a tight press fit. And I made some inserts to cover up the unused holes in 2 corners. I made these "quick and dirty" in Mesh Mixer. (well, it wasn't that quick, actually, and took quite some time.) I inserted a cylinder in the hex hole and a cuboid in a corner hole and did a "Boolean Difference". After playing with the parameters I got the shapes of the handle tip and the corner holes quite accurately. I then cut the old tip off of the original handle and put on the new one. As always when using MeshMixer the meshes aren't perfectly clean and have some "zits", but these can't be seen on the finished print. I uploaded the STLs on MediaFire. Here's the link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/p7uc2vtnvj60sic/Vault_Box_new_handle_and_corner_inserts.zip/file (will expire on 31st August) (Sven, if for whatever reason you don't like to have these publicly available, please message me, then I can remove the link. Or most likely you can edit my post yourself. Or even better - make an own clean version of these and add them to your STL package. ;) Handle: So, the handle has 2 variations. 1 where the tip is aligned to the handle spokes. The other one is deliberately off so that in the end it aligns nicely when inserted on the box (see picture no.1) Print the handle 100% to get a nice press fit. (If it turns out too large scale down to 99% or sand a little off.) Inserts: I included the insert at 100% just so you have the original shape. However, printing at 100% didn't fit well for me. I added a "ready2print"-Version that is scaled to 98% width and height and 9.5mm thickness to sit flush or a tiny bit inset. Print with the little square on the build plate. So when you glue it in later on you have a flat top surface and on the sides the layer lines match up with the ones from the box. (see pictures) Have fun :)
Clockspring3D
I totally missed this question! Did you come up with a solution? Printing on an angle is going to be problematic, since there are internal 45 degree angles that will get steeper, and you can't really use supports in there without, like you said, gumming up the gears! Depending on how dialled-in your settings are and what overhang angle you can handle you might be able to get away with a little bit of a lean, but at some point you'll get sagging overhangs and those will mess up the gears instead :) Might be better to just print the version that has the box and lid as separate objects!
Clockspring3D
Sounds awesome!
Got this printing right now on a ender 3 v2 in silver metal filament canβt wait to see how it turns out!
brian dale
This is great. I need a little advice. I need it just a little bigger then i can print on my ender (200mm). Any ideas of how to print this at an angle without supports jamming up the gears?
Clockspring3D
Yay! π
Printed very nicely
Clockspring3D
I look forward to seeing your filament choice
Clockspring3D
Awesome, glad you like it!
Clockspring3D
Printing more is always the best solution π π
Visually I just love this box. Plan to print it this weekend.
Scrapjack
Printed. However one of the arms on the side got one extra bit of filament and jammed. Print looks amazing, just can't lock the box... yet! Guess I'll have to just print more!
Cathy O'Malley
I know what I am printing when I get back from my road trip.
Clockspring3D
ππ€©
Loved this !
