HERCULES Clip - Strong & Reliable for House/Office

HERCULES Clip – the strong and reliable helper you've been looking for...

Tired of all those clips that don't work - are they so weak that they can't hold anything? Some can't even hold their own jaws together, just after printing. Perhaps you think that 3D printing simply cannot produce a functional clip?

Well, try HERCULES and change your mind. Print  claw clip that really works and will continue to work. It has a strong grip and will reliably hold anything you put in it.

Prologue: One day, my wife asked me to print a claw clip for the household. An ordinary clip... the kind you normally buy and use. I looked for some ready-made model, but couldn't find anything suitable. Now what? 
You know the saying: Happy wife, happy life? 
Well, I had to print something. So I decided to make my own claw clip design that would do what was required of it – hold things securely :-)

Main features of the model

High clamping force/reliable grip - the HERCULES model has a great clamping force, so it will have no problem reliably holding anything (reasonable). And it will hold it today, tomorrow, and even a weeks from now...

It can be printed using "ordinary" filaments. You can have the most sophisticated "overengineered" design, but it will be useless if it has to be printed from some exotic materials. Hercules Clip works reliably when printed from common PLA or PETG.

Hercules Clip is available in various sizes. 

• Standard sizes:  95mm, 105mm, 115mm, 125mm, 135mm, 145mm, 155mm, 165mm, 175mm. 
• As a Bonus, there is also the "Dwarf Family" - 3 extra small clips in the following sizes:
  • Tiny Hercules - 60 mm
  • Little Hercules - 70 mm
  • Small Hercules - 85 mm

This offer should (hopefully) suit everyone.

The grip strength is ensured by two springs, which are designed so that they do not "wear out". This ensures that they do not lose their grip strength over time. After all, what good is a clip that stops working after a few days?

In addition to the standard springs, you can optionally add a "Steroid Spring" to the model... an extra spring that is inserted into the body and further increases its grip strength. This accessory is designed for models in the 95-175mm range (inot available for the 3 smallest models from the "Dwarf Family" - these are so small that the extra spring loses its significance due to design limitations).

Material

The model works reliably with PLA and PETG, and in my opinion, there is no reason to use "higher" materials (unless you need higher temperature resistance). For all design and testing, I mainly used Bambu PLA Basic - works great!

How to print

• If one of the pre-set sizes suits you, simply use the given Print Profile.
   
• If you are unsure, download the "Complete Set", which contains ALL large clips—i.e., 95–175 mm in 10 mm increments—print some out, and decide which ones best suit your needs.
   
• If you need something smaller, download the "Dwarf Family" Print Profile and choose from 3 clips measuring 60, 70, and 85 mm.

Larger clips (100-175 mm) can be printed with a layer height of 0.20 mm, while for smaller ones (especially 55 and 65 mm), I recommend a layer height of 0.16 mm. Anyway for trouble-free printing, use the prepared print profiles.

Assembling the model

Recommendation: Do not assemble the model immediately after printing - allow it to cool/rest sufficiently. This applies especially to springs printed from PETG. Immediately after printing, they may not be sufficiently "ready" and may be damaged or lose their properties during installation.
 

1. Place both jaws together so that they “fit.”

2. Hold them together with one hand and press the spring into place with the other hand. You will need to use quite a lot of force (the springs are strong – you want the Clip to work properly, don't you?). 

3. Press it all the way in until you hear a "CLICK and CLICK" as it snaps into place on both jaws. Then repeat the same with the other spring.

Alternative method: is particularly suitable for small sizes. With these, it may be easier to first insert only one "tab" of the spring completely into its place in the lower jaw and then press the spring upwards&forwards. This will snap the second tab into the slot in the upper jaw.

Important: 

Different model sizes are not interchangeable - individual parts are unique to a given size. 

Therefore, for a 105mm Clip, use a spring designed for 105mm and, if necessary, a "Steroid Spring" also for 105mm. 

For the 155mm size, for example, use only the spring (or Steroid Spring) designed for the 155mm size. If you mix up the parts designed for different sizes, the clip will NOT work properly.

For easy identification of what belongs to what, individual parts are marked with sizes
 

Optional "Steroid Spring"

Note:  Hercules Clip itself provides sufficient grip for most common applications. 

Only use the Steroid Spring if you require truly "abnormal" clamping force. 

The Steroid spring installed in the clip can make it more difficult to operate, and some users may find it uncomfortable to some extent. Therefore, use the Steroid Spring wise.

Simply insert the Steroid Spring into the model as shown in the picture - it will snap into place.

Tip: In my experience, Steroid is mostly unnecessary to use it in smaller sizes (approx. 95-125), in some cases can help in medium sizes (125-150) and can be more useful for large clips (150-175mm) where it provides the necessary pressure in the middle, while "normal springs" secure the sides. But again, HERCULES will basically work flawlessly without it in most cases.

That's all. 

Hope you'll enjoy your new life with HERCULES :-)