Springs

[geoff315]

Was just wondering about 3d printable springs, I notice the only option in the shapes menu is the standard spiral spring which would be very difficult to 3d print. Maybe some more practical options that could be printed flat on the bed would be useful here. I guess they could be created using a sketch, but something like a spiral clock spring could get a bit tedious to create. Or is there some other method that I haven't spotted?
Anyway, this is just a suggestion for a future addition, I'm sure you've got plenty else to deal with before this - keep up the good work!

[henmedia]

@geoff315, welcome, and thank you for the suggestion. You have not missed anything: the Spring in the shapes menu is the coil spring only, and there is no flat spring yet.

What you can do today: a flat spiral needs many windings, and the tool that comes closest, the Pattern tool in circle mode with a "radius change per copy", only makes about one winding from separate pieces. With a sketch you can draw the spiral by hand and pull it up, which is the tedious way you describe. Through the AI connection (MCP) there is "Sweep sketch", which pulls a section along a path of points as one solid, and a spiral with any number of windings can be given to it as a list of points.

Which flat springs would you want to print: the spiral clock spring, a zigzag, a leaf spring? That tells me which one would be worth a shape of its own.

If you'd like to support the project, you can do that at https://layerling.com/support.html - it is very welcome.

[geoff315]

Hi Stefan, and thanks for taking the trouble to reply. In truth I was just throwing this out there as a possible future feature addition, I don't have an immediate need. If I had to choose I guess the flat zigzag spring would probably be the most use to the most people but, as I said, there's no immediate rush for this. :-)

[henmedia]

@geoff315, thank you, that helps: I have noted it, with the zigzag spring as the one most people would use. No rush at all.

[prmod3d]

As a Steampunk enthusiast, tinkerer, and clock-maker guy, I would have some future uses for a spiral clock spring shape generator tool. I also find the spiral shape in general useful for other purposes like creating spiral hoop gearsets (aka Archimedean spiral gear), and spinning optical illusions. But also no rush as I have loads of other projects in the queue...

If the Archimedean spiral gear is something which may eventually be of interest in adding to the Gear shape library, here's a link that explains the technical aspects of the design, along with formulas and calculators: https://www.firgelliauto.com/blogs/mechanisms/spiral-hoop-gear

It's an obscure specialty kind of gearest that most people likely have no use for -- at least until they see it and the creative juices begin to flow! -- but it could be an interesting addition, if not curiously novel.

[henmedia]

@prmod3d, thank you, noted: the spiral clock spring and the Archimedean spiral gear, and thank you for the link with the formulas.