- [Kevin] 3D printable
hinges that print in place. Stick around and I'll show you
a simple way to design them in Fusion 360. Special thanks to thangs.com
for sponsoring this video. (logo chiming) I've set up a demo file,
so be sure to download it from the link below this video. The hinges are attached
to this parametrized box so both the box and hinges
can adapt to various needs. In this tutorial, we'll discuss
wall thickness, clearances, using the parameters, how this hinge actually
3D prints in place, and how to test your 3D printed hinge without printing this entire box. Let's also take a look
at the new Chamfer tool that was released in Fusion
360's December 2020 update. Before activating Chamfer, we'll want to roll the History Marker to before the Shell command. This will ensure the shelled thickness follows the inner corners
of the chamfered edges. Simply right-click on the
construction plane feature in the timeline and select
Roll History Marker Here. The Chamfer tool can then be found under the Modify dropdown list. With the latest version of Fusion 360, you'll see that the Chamfer
tool is completely revamped. We're now able to select
Edges, Faces, or Features just like we can with the Fillet command. Let's start by selecting
the four edges of the box. Now I set up a parameter
called edgeChamfer. We can type that out and
let's go ahead and divide this by two as we'll make
the corner edges smaller than the top and bottom. Notice how we're now able
to add a New Selection Set and we no longer have to create
sequential Chamfer features. This is a huge improvement, especially when applying chamfers on faces that converge together. This time, I'll select both the top and bottom faces of the box. Selecting the face will
automatically apply the chamfer to all four edges. For this chamfer value, I'll simply use the edgeChamfer parameter. You may have noticed
that each selection set has a second input field. Now when the type is
set to equal distance, this will be grayed out. However, if we set the
type as Two Distance or Distance and Angle, you'll see that we can
type out a second value allowing us to further define the Chamfer. Let's go ahead and leave
this set to the default of Equal Distance. The other new addition to Chamfer feature is the ability to change the Corner Type. Notice how you can now
change this to a mitered edge where it merges the bevels
into a mitered corner. Now you can also select Blend
where it merges the chamfer with the surrounding faces. Take a look at how
different the results are when switching between
these three Chamfer types. I like the rugged look
of the standard Chamfer so I'll switch it back to that
followed by the OK button. We can now drag the timeline marker back to the end of the timeline and let's start dissecting
our 3D printable hinge. If you open the user parameters
from the Modify dropdown, you'll find that I've set
up seven parameter values. If you're new to Fusion 360 then be sure to check
out my other tutorials that cover creating parameters. With these seven already set
up, we can change the length, width, and height of the box. We can also change the
wallThickness of the box which drives the
thickness of the 3D print. The edgeChamfer will change the chamfers that we just applied and the hingeExtent will change the width of
the hinge ensuring it adapts with the length of the box. You'll see this one requires an equation which helps make it adaptable
to the other parameters. The one that I skipped over
and probably the most important is the hingeGap parameter. This hinge gap is equal
to the amount of clearance you'll want to factor into any
3D printed parts that move. A general rule of thumb is
to start with .4 to .5mm and then tweak from there based on your printer's
tolerances, slicer settings, and any other variables at play. I've set mine to .5mm which
is a little bit more forgiving for those printing hinges
for the very first time. If I change this to 1mm for exaggeration, you'll see that each gap grows in size. This parameter simply
drives the extrude cuts that divide up the hinge body. They also change the gap between the pin and the inside of the hinge. I'll set this back to .5mm and
click OK to close the dialog. I've applied a revolute joint to the hinge so we can click and drag
on the lid to open it up. As you can see, the inside is hollowed out with the shell command. You'll see that the shell command is driven by the wallThickness parameter. I have the wallThickness
parameter set to 2.4mm. Now this number is divisible by .4mm which is a standard nozzle
size for 3D printers. This ensures the Wall
Thickness in your slicer is divisible by the Wall Line Count. 2.4 will produce fairly
strong 3D printed walls. If you want to print something quicker, you can change this to as little as 1.2mm. However, I wouldn't recommend
going any lower than that. Let's now take a look
at how this hinge works and what allows it to print in place. It's important to first
call out the structure of the Fusion 360 file. I've used components for both
the top and bottom halves. Components are not only required
to use a Revolute Joint, but they'll also help us
dissect what's going on. If I hide the top component,
you'll see that the bottom half is made up of three simple flanges along with a pin connecting them. Even though these are
technically separate 3D bodies in the software, they would print as one single body because we'll export the entire component. If I turn the top component
back on and turn the bottom off, you'll see that we have the opposite. The top half includes only two flanges and they both have a hole where the pin is able to run through it. With the Section Analysis tool
from the Inspect Dropdown, we can view the inside of the hinge. Notice how the top hinges
do not touch the pin of the bottom hinges. There is a .5mm gap, driven
from that hinge gap parameter. This gap may seem large
on your computer screen, but at half a millimeter
it leaves just enough room for the pin to print inside the hinges without fully fusing to the hinge. Once you take the part off the printer and close the lid for the first time, the hinge will break free,
leaving us with a working hinge. The overall design of the hinge can vary and there are a lot of
opportunities for you to style them with the rest of your design. As long as you include the clearance, the only other critical call-out would be the angle of the hinge. I designed this hinge to print without the use of support material. If I open the lid of the box and look at it from the right view, you'll see that the hinges
are at a 45-degree angle. 45-degrees or greater will
allow the extruder to print each layer by moving out
just a little bit more without drooping or relying on supports. If you go through the
timeline of the model, you'll find that the majority of the hinge was created with simple
Sketches and Extrudes. Just be sure to fully-define
all of your sketches which will ensure that
the model is predictable when you change parameters. If you'd like the
step-by-step instructions for creating this hinge, then be sure to check
out my other tutorial. With the lid of the box open,
the assembly can be exported as a single STL file. However, one advantage to user parameters is that we can scale the box
down for the first test print. This will help you test
the print in place hinges without wasting filament
or additional time and you can double-check
that your slicing software and printer are calibrated
for moving parts. Before we adjust parameters, I'm going to right-click
on the Chamfer feature in the timeline and I'll
select the Suppress option. This will temporarily disable the feature allowing us to make the box
even simpler for the test print. Suppressing allows us to
quickly Unsuppress the feature later on, without having
to redo all the work. We can talk about User Parameters,
but lets first talk about thangs.com who sponsored the
third 3D modeling challenge. Check out the link below to learn about the 3D Printable Gifts Challenge. All submissions are due
by the 21st of December. Thangs.com is a new 3D
model community that indexes and scans every single model. That means you can find models
based on similar geometry and not just the title or description. There are currently more than
a million models on the site with more added every single day. Anyone can upload models for free and you can share them publicly or you can choose to upload
them to a private folder which is a great way to
backup your 3D models. To prepare the box and hinge
for the first test prints, we'll shrink the length,
width, and height. After activating the parameters dialog, I'll change the height to 15mm. For the length, you can go as low as 50mm with the hinges still adapting. After that, you would have
to adjust the number of gaps. For the width, you can
change it to as little as 5mm without messing up the Shell command but I'll stick with 10mm. This leaves us with a very small box that will require fewer filament
and significantly less time to 3D print. Last but not least, you can right-click on the hinged box assembly in the browser, followed by save as STL. You can then send it directly
to Cura or your chosen slicer. If you're learning Fusion 360 while considering which
3D printer to purchase, then I highly recommend
checking out an Ender 3 Pro especially if you're on a tight budget. It's a great starter printer
and they now have a version 2 with upgraded parts and
improved performance. I get a lot of questions
about 3D printers, so I recently wrote a blog post where I took a different approach to compare Hobbyist printers. Instead of simply comparing features, you'll learn about some of
the other considerations to look at. You can check that out at the link below. Special thanks to the new Patrons and thanks to those who
supported the channel by buying me coffee. (energetic music) Be sure to subscribe
if you haven't already and check out my Patreon
for more demo files. Then, go ahead and check
out my 3D printing playlist for more Fusion 360 tutorials. (energetic music)
