Iris Box that works

This is a remix of emmett's iris box which a really nice design (in 2016). 

The only problem is that it does not work every time. For me, my first try worked after spending more than 30 minutes before the parts stuck together finally got free to move., that was the only time. So after 3 more tries (over 130 meters of filament lost), I decided to work on something that as a couple manipulations to assemble, but that works every time… 

What happens, is that In the original design, the outer shell fuses to the wings (leafs), and usually when you free them, it's because they break, meaning that you've lost the thing ! 

So I used the main original parts, but I split the outer shell in 3 parts that make the assembly really easy and free of jams. Also I removed the sharp edges (like razor blades) of the bottom, since I cut myself in the process of trying to free the parts). 

There are 

Printing:

I suggest that all parts are printed separately in case something go wrong, you do not loose everything. 

For the 5 wings (leafs), when printing them vertically, i had a couple fails, than had success with laying them on the side with tree supports. The other parts are on their original position and were easy to print. 

There is 5 choices of different bases (main central sphere).

1-“Original_Main_Sphere”, it's the original with razor sharp edges

2-"Main_Sphere_V1" with thin narrow round base

3-"Main_Sphere_V2_8_speres" with 8 half spheres 

4-"Main_Sphere_V3_8 Points" with 8 tiangular points 

5-"Main_Sphere_V4_10 Points " with 10 tiangular points

 When the parts are all printed, you should have something like this:

Here are the easy steps to assemble the sperical box.

1- Put  the 5 wings (leafs) at their specific place, making sure that they will move freely.

2- Put the top part, and alligne the 5 pins with the "slots of the wings"

3- Final step;

Prepare the 2 "Half_Bottom_Part" for being glued together with the “Top_part”. 

So first try them together, and if needed (depending on the results of your printer), trim the tabs, so it will go inside their final place without force. You just want the 2 parts to be aligned, no need for those tabs to have a really tight fit. 

Put only a small amount of glue to those tabs and on the edges that will make contact, and also where the “Top_part” is gonna sit inside those 2 “Half_Bottom_Part”. If you put too much glue, you will stick the outer shell to the wings thus making it untwistable.

What I did to prevent this, was to put a tiny bit of grease (silicone) on the wings to the place where the glue could contact with their surfaces. Also, it helps for free motion. 

I suggest you alligned the printing seam in between the 2 jonctions for a better front look (Not what I did the first time…).

When  done, it should look like this: 

An important thing to know;   

This spherical box (like emmett one) is vulnerable when opened.  The wings (leafs) are held in place mainly by the fact that they are trap between the outer and inner shells, so when the box is open, no problem, you can lift it by the ouside shell, the wings keep their places, but when you close it, all the wings are lifted, creating a space under them, and now it is possible to lift the outer shell passed the point where it keeps the wings at their place, and they fall out of their pivot points, resulting of having to reposition them one at the time on their  pivot point.   

So if you want to move the Box, you open it,  that's it, everything stay in place.

Here is a comment from Jackques-Henri Jourdan that could help for the prirnt; 
 You should add some advice for printing :
1- add border for the bottom and top part which have very low adherence surface.
2- add a little bit of support for the bottom parts, just for the small piece which is floating above nothing
3- (not tried) in addition to printing them on the side, turn the wings a little bit to make sure that and edge is touching the bed entirely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC90vxOZSPo

Happy printing. 

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