Foldable pottery thickness gauge

One print part foldable stand for holding measuring gauge for pottery bottom thickness. Gauge is ideally 5mm thick.
In the contest Ceramic Work Tools
2
4
0
53
updated January 29, 2025

Description

PDF

In pottery making there is sometimes need to check bottom thickness in order not to have too thick bottom or not to trim too much material out. Measuring in 1-2mm accuracy can be a challenging with hand held rulers or tape measures especially if the work of art is odd in shape like not even rim like in this photo.

Picture presents my one print foldable solution for bottom thickness measurement stand holding measurement stick (gauge itself) in place. Gauge thickness is ideally 5mm to hold upright.

Desing target was to have large enough gauge stand from printer area of 250x210mm.  Target was also to have one print for all parts with no need for extra parts and minimal assembly.

Prints are made with MK4 0,4mm nozzle 1.75mm PETg.  Layer height 0,2mm, two perimeters and infill 25% grid oriented 83 degrees. Supports everywhere.

Gauge stand is printed as folded. After cooled part joints are folded out with force breaking the supporting material in the joints. 

  • First print and fold out was some exiting with force and what might break up using some force. Eventually folding out worked out for me even joint axles where tight (tolerances are only 0,3mm). Joints are stiff enough to operate and hold in place.
  • Tolerance can be increased but first I would adjust deeper parameters for support material or If there is used another material used in supports it most likely help the first folding out.

My attempt to design/print gauge itself was almost successful and this design needs some improvements. 

  • I had a piece of 5mm thick wood in hand so I made a working prototype out of wood first and got needed geometry for gauge.
  • Desing problem seems to be with FDM printer as 0,4mm nozzle is some large to give nice 1mm measurement lines.  So I designed the ruler part to be transparent and mm-lines created as bridging strings (floating in air). It almost worked. 
  • As printed out it seems that 0,43mm wide and 0,4mm thick strings in a model is not enough or they are too low or not well defined. or might not work with parameter “support material everywhere”. Some testing needed.
  • Dove tail is some small and flimsy design to really hold the long tip on gauge. Dove tail locking system is too small too (glue or tape might be needed at this stage). 

Update: idea of 1mm string lines floating in air started to work somehow but where hard to read or count them in practise with different light and shadows conditions. After seen Thickness gauge by Heliosmaster_32831 (originally uploaded by nat_blundell) I decided to change ruler operation principle from absolute mm lines to relative slider gap. 

Stand itself is not altered but the gauge parts are updated and sliders added to files. 

Gauge parts and sliders works quite nice with PETg as material has some flexibility. 

Operation: 

  1. First you push or drop down gauge agains build surface and gauge slider with vertical beam.
  2. Move gauge agains pottery bottom.
  3. Move horizontal slider towards gauge slider and read nearest mm reading.

Tags



Model origin

The author marked this model as their own original creation.

License