Stair gate repair splint

Since I'm a total noob and just learning things I am quit proud of this ‘original’ print and wanted to share the experience.

Our stair gate broke due to someone falling down the stairs 😱 and now we couldn't keep our dog from coming up the stairs. I thought it was a nice challenge to see if I could create a custom splint with my 3D printer (Prusa Mini+) and just PrusaSlicer since I do not know how to use 3D design programs yet and I think the basic functions in PrusaSlicer make it a very capable tool for adapting existing designs, creating remixes, resizing etc.

So the basic idea was:

• use basic shapes to create a splint. A flat ‘box’ combined with other ‘boxes’ to create strength, a sphere for strength in the pivot point.
• Use slicing function to slice away the unnecessary parts and make it a flat splint again
• use negative volumes to ‘drill’ the holes
• one small cheat, I found a hexagon.stl to create the hole for the nut (M3x25 bolt)

In my opinion this worked very well and after one prototype and some small resizing of the holes I created three very functional, quite sturdy and most importantly cheap splints to repair the stair gate.

For me this is a beautiful example of the advantage of a 3D printer. In stead of throwing away the  broken pne and buying a new one for € 33,-, I made 4 splints which cost less then € 1,- and some investment in time. A nice thing to do in this in general ‘throw away and replace economy’.

So I am very happy and wanted to share this story.

Since PrusaSlicer is not able to export a new .stl inclding the negative volumes I added the .3mf project files. The .stl is just the structure without holes and nut structure. The .3mf contains a bed with three instances since that is what I needed. I added the hexagon.stl for convenience, it isn't mine.

If you want you can adapt it to your own needs or just create something new based on this small tutorial. If you do I would love to see your makes. Seeing examples triggers creativity.

If you like this story then please give a like, this will definitely motivate me.

How did I print this

• pla is sturdy enough for me
• infill 100% (there is almost no infill but I wanted the nut hole to be as tough as possible)
• 0.20mm speed
• no brim
• I used sequential printing since it doesn't really add time but really prevents stringing and I think adds strenght because one instance is printed from beginning until the end

Happy creating and printing!