Black Panther - Print in place and posable.

PLEASE LIKE COMMENT POST YOUR MAKES. THANKS!

This is my gen 4 print-in-place joint design. My previous designs, with a screw, allowed full ball joint motion but:

• was sometimes difficult to print because the screw is so small
• the thin living hinge when under constant tension could break after some time

This new design gets rid of the screw and the hinge, at the cost of a more limited movement. But most of the time, full ball joint movement is not needed nor desirable. This panther is highly posable and uses only this joint, in 3 sizes: 9, 11 and 13 mm.

The principle is that the ball itself has 2 diameters: a small one in the hidden regions and a bigger one in the open regions. By twisting the ball by more than 20° you force it into the friction position, and the joining lever is 1 mm bigger than the opening, preventing the joint to fall back in its initial loose position when you move the limb. It should be much more robust.

The twist operation is a bit tricky because you must force one of the ball into position, then the other, while preventing the latter to move back in place. It needs some force, it may feel scary the first times, but i never broke a joint in doing so.  I made a video to show you how to do it: 

This video focuses on the main principle because i wanted it to be clear. It is more difficult on the actual model close to the body, because there is no room for the fingers and the print is more rigid, but move it until you manage to get the middle bar rotated by 90°, you can find a way. If you have difficulties i’ll add another video to show how i do it, but it may be more confusing than helpful (feels a bit like a rubiks cube sometimes).

Because the ball and joint diameter are equal, you must use a reliable printer (like Prusa or Bambu). The clearance is 0.4, except built in supports (0.2)

I use the bambulab profile nozzle 0.4, layer 0.2, « strong » with 4 walls (6 is overkill here), no support, arachne slicer. You MUST slice it with 0.2 mm layers, it is designed for that. And do not scale the model, or the built-in supports under the spheres will not work properly.

Use the "test" part provided to check that your printer is ok and practice the twist. 

I make the color of the eyes with AMS color change, it adds only 15 min because the are so small. But the effect is mesmerizing. The total printing time is about 3h. I use PLA, and have not tried other materials.

Please like, comment, show me your makes!

[EDIT] How I made this?

• i designed the joints and limbs with OPENSCAD
• I used RODIN to design the head https://hyperhuman.top/r/YFR1RTVD (get a 50% rebate on credits using this link)
• I used Window 3d builder to cut and assemble the parts.

NEW: If you want to sell the prints of this model, you can subscribe a commercial licence to my club.