Springless Lace Lock (Parametric)

Did you lose/break the lace lock on your shoes, coat, sweatpants, hoodie, or capming gear? Did they not come with one to begin with?

Say goodbye to self-untying shoes and slowly descending sweatpants with this 100% 3D printed gadget.

Features

• ROCK SOLID hold, even on slippery laces, just pick the right size.
• Comes in 7 sizes across the 2–8 mm range.
• Each size has a normal and a tight version.
• Fully parametric Fusion 360 CAD files allow limitless customization.
• Uses no additional hardware.
• Work well for locking two laces, or just one.
• Easy to lock/unlock with one hand.

Normal vs. Tight Version

The only difference between the two versions is the distance the inside part travels when you lock the lever. The change is very small, but it results in much more pressure being put on the lace. For most laces, the regular version provides optimal pressure. You can see the difference between the regular (right) and tight (left) versions in the image below.

The tight version is meant for the rare combination of thick aglets and thin laces. That way you can have a bigger hole to put your laces through without sacrificing strength. If your laces are dense and/or close in thickness to the aglets, stick with the regular version—it will be easier to lock and will not break on you.

Printing

• Measeure the aglet diameter of your laces. Its the metal/plastic thing on the end that keeps it from fraying.
• Go to the files list and choose the smallest regular (not tight) version that is still bigger than your aglet diamater.
• If your laces themselves are relatively skinny compared to the aglets—choose the tight version. Otherwise the normal one should do just fine.
• Print all the pieces in any hard material you have, PLA and PETG are both excellent choices for this.
• You can use a 0.4 or 0.6 nozze with a 0.2 or 0.3 layer height with no problem, there is not much vertical detail here.

Assembly

Watch the GIF bellow of follow these instructions:

• Take the outer piece with the pin sticking out the top of it.
• Put the lever on the pin and the inner part bellow it.
• Take the outer piece with hole in the top.
• Allign the hole with the pin on the other part and genlty push down on the hole.
• Push down on the bottom part to make it snap together.

Note: this is meant to be a tight snap fit, but the tolerances may vary. If yours fells like it's gonna fall apart, dissaseble it, put a drop of superglue on the snap fit ridges and repeat the steps above.

Tested use cases

Swetpants

They have really slippery laces that loosen very quickly if tied in a regular knot, making your pants constantly slide down when you have anything in the pockets. I have found that this lace lock completely eliminates that problem, and is also easy to adjust if you want it tighter or looser.

Shoes

Tying your shoelaces is a delicate balance between making sure they dont untie accidentaly, but still keeping them easy to untie when taking your shoes off. It also takes time. This solves both issues, holding your shoes tied as tight as you want, while also letting you easily release the tension with a satisfyting snap.

Pro tip:  tie the ends of the laces to the middle laces, so they dont dangle around or get under your feet. This will also give you two “handles” to pull pull apart, creating tension that can then be locked with the mechanism.

Drawstring bags

These can have a spring-loaded lace lock, or none at all. Either way, this print can help you keep that bag securely closed.

Hoodies

I don't use it that way very often, but this can be great for securing the hood around your head and neck to provide better protection from the elements.

Coats

Same as with hoodies, but you can also use it to cinch the bottom part of the coat and keep cold air out. If your original drawspring has deteriorated, just replace it with a regular lace of approprtiate length and use this lace lock to adjust the tension.

Camping equipment

This is a good way of quickly securing/removing gear to/from your bike, backpack, tent, etc. Just put a lace around it and use this lock as a secure quick-release mechanism.

See it in action (1:32)