Flex-Lock - Load-bearing beams that print in-place by Brent Peterson

Brent Peterson

3D Printer>Test Models

Print Profile(2)

All

P1S

P1P

X1 Carbon

X1E

Single 450mm Beam (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

Designer

2.6 h

1 plate

4.8(4)

All sizes (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

Designer

7.5 h

1 plate

4.5(2)

Boost

158

Released

Description

NEW! Updated design with 3 sizes available (300mm, 450mm, 600mm)

This is a concept I've been working on for printing load-bearing beams longer than your build volume allows; the model prints in-place as a single piece and snaps together to form a beam. As the name “Flex-Lock” suggests the design consists of two parts; a flexible connector that doubles as a tensioner when the system is under load and a locking mechanism that aligns and connects the two pieces together. The print is oriented in such a way that the majority of forces applied are along the XY print plane which minimizes issues due to layer adhesion.

Interested in a practical use case? Checkout my IKEA filament rack which uses a pair of these beams to support four spools of filament.

Interested in other experimental prints? Checkout my Calibration Hypercube or 10 gram PLA calibration weight

Comment & Rating (14)

@theRaz

Print Profile

Single 450mm Beam (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

Cool idea, I used Bambu PLA

@MountainMantis

Print Profile

Single 450mm Beam (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

good print!

@johnvossv

Printed on Bambu X1C with PLA, printed slow for tight tolerance. Lock up is so tight and precise, sounds like dry wood breaking when it opens. Looks like a simple stick with 2 living hinges, actually an idiot-proof precision engineered girder that locks into place under tension. A reliable building block for bigger projects. Much better than expected from photos and description. Obviously a LOT of work went into tweaking the design for 3d printing. Thanks for sharing, like your work, more please!!!! And post a crypto address so we can send some love.

@JoshuaM

Print Profile

Single 450mm Beam (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

This is so cool. is this parameterized?

(Edited)

The designer has replied

@BrentPeterson

Thank you! Yes the design is parametric and was made using OnShape.

@Yman01

Print Profile

All sizes (0.20mm FLEX-LOCK)

Very nice model. Printed with petg need to test how much stronger it is than pla. How can I do some custom sizes for it?

(Edited)

The designer has replied

@BrentPeterson

Thank you, I have three sizes available which you're welcome to resize, slice or edit however you'd like. Since this is just a demo I want to keep the project simple but I do plan on eventually offering drawings or files for people to use and modify for their designs. As far as materials go checkout this filament guide from Bambu, the bending strength is the main property for this application which is why PLA performs so well (only engineering-grade CF filaments perform better). https://bambulab.com/en/filament-guide

(Edited)

@zodiase

wouldn’t it be more flexible to print separate pieces that can be assembled to be any length? this is limited to how much can be fitted in one plate.

The designer has replied

@BrentPeterson

The strength comes from the bottom of the beam being a single printed line, an assembled beam wouldn't be nearly as good at resisting the tensile forces. Checkout the video I added to see how the beam loads fairly uniformly before breaking.

(Edited)

@enigmaBob

This is very neat! Smart idea to make the flex / connector for this. What are you using these 'beams' for?

The designer has replied

@BrentPeterson

Thank you, I'm using the beams for my filament rack which fits inside an IKEA bookcase. The rack is 362.5mm wide and holds four 1kg spools with almost no flex, very happy with how they turned out. https://makerworld.com/en/models/62237#profileId-64752