Fliptrix - customizable print-in-place dot matrix style flip board display

(import of an old design from Thingiverse)

Fliptrix

A customizable print in place dot matrix style flip board display

Updates

• fixed 'cube' option thanks to @Neon22
• v1.1 - improvedplate_holders, adjusted default tolerances for better results on low end printers, renamed variables

About

This is my first project in OpenSCAD.

I've always liked to play with post-it notes, dot matrix displays, pixel art editors, etc. so I've decided to make my own, real life pixel-art board to play around. I find it much more fun to use than fidget widgets which are so popular these days.

Since I'm lazy the main goal was to make it print fully assembled in one go and printable on single extruder 3d printer.

I think this could be quite nice to use for stop motion animation.

Parameters

Just a few tricky things with parameters.

*thickness (height of print; z-axis) + cannot be larger thanplate_width + when it is equal toplate_width andplates_type is set to 'rounded' you'll end up having cylidnders instead of plates which might be fun as well (but you might need brim) *plate_holders

I didn't have much trouble with plates flipping on their own (e.g. when board gets shaken) but for high resolution prints probably they will so I've added the option to make a snap in plate holders. Option tested, seems to work. *horizontal_gap

It must be lower than half ofrow_space and half ofcol_space

In practice

As you can see on pictures it works (disregard print quality :) ).

All prints have been made with 0.2 mm layer, 0.4 mm nozzle, extrusion width 0.5 mm.

• Small black & white print - plate size 10x10 mm (this works best in my opinion)
• Blue & yellow print - plate size 8x8 mm
• "I ❤ 3D" print - plate size 6x6 mm

Sample STL included in case you don't want to use customizer just to try it out.

Future considerations

• Probably improveplate_holders after testing - seems done
• Improve printing with long bridges (for larger values ofplate_height)
• Add connectors to combine multiple frames
• For multi extruder printers
  • print frame in a different color than plates (for better contrast)
  • add 3 and 4 sided plates... wow, much color

Print Settings

Rafts:

No

Supports: 

No

Infill:

100%

Notes:

If you are using single extruder printer remember to change filament around 50% .

Note that*plate\_height* param that defines single plate height influences also the bridge that's printed inside plate so large values may not work out well.

I have printed with 100% infill but it might work ok with lower values.

I recommend printing small board (e.g. 2x2) first to test your setup.

1. If the display plate and frame is glued together either play around with printer calibration or increasehorizontal_gap.
2. If plate is not glued to frame but doesn't flip increasehole_gap parameter in customizer (not the actual layer height in slicer).
3. If plate is neither glued to frame nor to the bridge inside and you've usedplate_holders they might be blocking it. Try using single plateholder or none.

Post-Printing

Anything other than manually flipping plates should not be required.

When flipping a plate for the first time it's probably better to do it gently, although I have not broken a single one even when significant force was applied.

If you decide to print it out would be fun to see a photo of your creation so please consider adding it with "I made one" :)

Have fun!

Category: Mechanical Toys