Sock Locks (Washer + Dryer sock clips)

This is my own home-made version of the now-discontinued commercial “sock cop” product which I bought and used for many years to keep my socks together in pairs through wash and dryer cycles.

When you put your socks in the laundry, just clip the heal of the two socks together and wash it and dry it. When your laundry is done, all your socks are paired up and ready to go - no more missing single socks!

Important: Strongly recommended to use Polycarbonate ("PC") for this model. This means you also need an enclosed and capable printer as PC prints at around 280C and needs a 100-110C heated bed.

Don't even try this with PLA. PLA is not temp resistant to handle hot wash and dryer cycles and will soften and deform.

PETG can handle the heat…but it doesn't seem to have enough resistance to fatigue for this model. That means that a PETG clip might look like it worked great the first or maybe second wash/dry cycle. But after just a few more cycles, the combination of the heat and opening/closing of the clips will start to degrade the clip and it will start to stay in the open position and won't hold your socks together anymore.

I really wanted to make it work with PETG but the longevity just wasn't there. I tried several different PETGs but none of them produced clips that would function after more than a few cycles. Maybe if you only do cold washes and low dryer heat settings you could get away with PETG. Your results may vary, but I personally haven't seen PETG work well enough in my own tests to endorse it.

I had not used PC before this and bought some just for this model after I learned that one of it's properties is that in addition to being highly heat resistant it is also very resistant to fatigue. By the way, the commercial “sock cops” were also made out of polycarbonate! I used transparent Overture PC.

The good news is that PC seems quite easy to print. I found it no harder than using PETG except for neeeding an enclosed printer. It uses a very hot bed (110-115C range) and with glue stick, both adhesion and release was great for each of the sets I have printed so far. I did dry the PC before use and I'd suggest you do, too as I believe it is pretty hydroscopic. Enjoy!

Printing Notes

I uploaded an 3MF file for Prusa printers just for time estimate purposes. Best to slice your own file and put many more copies on the print bed to print at the same time.

Here are the print settings I have found work for me (I printed this on a stock Bambu Lab X1C with Overture PC)

3 wall loops/perimeters

80% infill (don't worry, this barely uses any more filament on this model)

No brim needed or used.

Gluestick on the build plate for good adhesion and release

110C build plate, 280C filament temp (for Overture PC - tune to your PC filament brand)