Printable Xacto Hobby Knife REMIX

I like Printable Hobby Knife by pggibson. After decades of suffering through using stock aluminum handles, which tend to loosen and/or seize up, I have found this design to be much better. this design should work with #s 11, 10 15 and 17the cap will probably not fit a #17 blade so use a bottle cork or design you own. I have not tested all these styles of blade because I do not own any other than #11.

After printing a couple of pggibson's design I wanted to make a few changes:

1. Used 4 quarters for the blade chuck.
2. Removed the oval indexing stop, and use the bottom of the slot to index.
3. Tightened the tolerance for the handle hole because I use 3/8" dowels as my preferred handle and superglue.
4. Created a new handle which fits tighter. I usually use superglue and needed closer tolerances for both dowels and the included redesigned one.
5. Redesigned the holder threads and outer threaded clamping nut.

My general settings: Place parts on print bed as shown. I used .16mm layers, brim for handle only, no supports. 25% or more infill. 2-3 vertical walls, 3 bottom and top layers. For the brim on the handle, increase the XY distance to make separation of the brim easier. Do not use Arachne or variable layer height. Print the inner and outer clamp first to check settings. If you want to print the handle, do it separately to insure that the handle does not mess up the other three parts.

Notes: The groove for the blade is slightly enlarged, but still rather tight, especially after printing. Use a blade to make sure the chuck quarters are separated. It is a good idea to use some small pliers the first time to insert the blade. After that it should be easier to insert the blade but it's still a dangerous maneuver, so using pliers still makes sense.

Years ago I worked at a place where there used to be posters in the hallways warning people about the dangers of handling Xacto knives because so many people were injuring themselves; cuts, punctures and worse. This is not a tool a small child should use, and preteens should use with adequate supervision.

Category: Hand Tools

see Description