Small Box with Antiparallelogram Hinge by Murata

Murata

Tools>Organizers

Print Profile(6)

All

X1 Carbon

P1S

P1P

X1E

2-Color Box

Designer

1.6 h

2 plates

4.9(26)

1-Color Box

Designer

1.1 h

1 plate

4.6(24)

2-Color Box, 1 Plate

Designer

1.4 h

1 plate

4.9(11)

Optional Lid Designs

Designer

1.8 h

1 plate

5.0(1)

Click to see more

Boost

240

402

697

565

Released

Description

This little print-in-place container features a satisfying snap-action lid that swings 225 degrees. This extra range lets the lid flip all the way out of the way so the box will be stable with the lid open or shut. This special hinge is made possible with a clever linkage called an antiparallelogram.

When it's closed, the bistable snap action holds the lid firmly shut. The closed box is a cube measuring 50 mm (2") in each outer dimension which makes it good for loose small items like jewelry, coins, paperclips, beads, screws, seeds, flash memory, etc. Use these to organize your desk or your junk drawer or store your kids' treasures. Just no food or liquids.

This mechanism was printed on an X1C with 0.15 mm clearances on the moving parts. In case the tight clearances are an issue on other printers I have also included a slightly looser clearance model.

The two colour print includes a liner on another build plate. It’s optional and just a cosmetic way to add more colour. If you want to make it even snazzier, set the top surface pattern of the lid to something fun like Archimedean Chords or Octogram Spiral or Hilbert Curve. Or take any flattish 3d model and add or subtract it from the lid.

History

2024-08-01: Added some optional simple designs to the lid: Heart, Fish, Star, Sprocket.

Comment & Rating (84)

@jocoleman295

printed it twice and both the hinges broke on the box

The designer has replied

@MurataIndustrie

Sorry about that. Have you tried the larger clearance STL model yet?

@jocoleman295

Replying to @MurataIndustrie :

not yet, which one is that? by the way love the design, I love to see these type of model that take engineering concepts to the next level

@MurataIndustrie

Replying to @jocoleman295 :

If you download the stl files it's called Antiparallelogram Box (looser clearances).STL It's a pretty small difference, a bump up from 0.15 mm to 0.2 mm, but hopefully it's enough to push it over the edge. What machine are you printing on? If the larger clearance stl doesn't work you can start using a contour offset to open it up even more.

@yesthisisted

Print Profile

1-Color Box

Box is cool. Hinge is breaking my brain. Support is painful to remove. I wonder if a tree support would make that less annoying.

@elliott.scott.r

Print Profile

1-Color Box

Works way better then expected. May make several of these. Thanks.

@user_1193536677

i got a p1s and the lid was stuck and it broke when i try to close it. What should i do to get this to work?

The designer has replied

@MurataIndustrie

try setting XY contour compensation to 0.05 mm

@MurataIndustrie

Sorry I think it’s actually -0.05 to make things looser. Or just use the looser clearance stl I included in the raw files.

(Edited)

@user_1193536677

Replying to @MurataIndustrie :

i’m a beginner. How do I make looser clearances? can i open those files on an iPhone? or what app can i use to open it on a mac?

@Fritz025

Print Profile

2-Color Box

Nice little container with very strong hinges. The only improvement could be a be that the lid snaps in place and locks in the front a bit better.

@macjabko

Prints nicely but the whole hinge came off when trying to close it. I did tolerance tests prior on the printer (BambuLab A1 mini with AMS lite) and it is good for 0.1mm tolerance for both square and circular features, even 0.05mm with some squeeze. Anyway, the hinge seems to have printed not perfectly somehow - I see additional material in the hinge once trying to close, I think some of it has deformed when actually trying to use the hinge, putting additional force on the layers where it is embedded into the box, causing the whole section with hinge to break off. I think perhaps making the infill solid in that section attaching the hinges to the rest of the model could reinforce it? Printed in PLA. Using PETG as support interface layer made support removal a breeze. The model really seems nice otherwise if the hinge was not breaking off, as others had reported as well. Needs some tweaking to address that. A question for the original designer: I printed it at 100% scale, but would this design work the same if scaled UP? To make the biggest box my bed can fit, about 175% scale.

(Edited)

@macjabko

Okay so I reprinted it from the original profile and it works perfectly well. So the profile for the A1 posted by someone is not good. Having compared the settings, especially the support parameters are the problem, also the arachne might be an issue not sure. But support definitely are for the posted A1 profile. Thanks for the great model!

@THROWRYUKEN

Printed great. custom colored it two tone by layer. Too tight to close, going to try the loose version. Great looking box EDIT actually both versions work. I wasnt shutting hard enough because I felt like I was going to break a hinge.

(Edited)