3D-Printed Combination Lock

This was done for my 3d modeling class (4170) using AutoDesk Inventor 2009. It was done to show how a basic combination lock works than to actually lock anything. It is made of 10 parts and fully works. Cost to make was around $28 to have it printed on a Dimension 3D printer.Total size is 4 inches wide. 3.5 front to back and 2.5 tall and very lightweight 2-4 ounces. (correction1.5 Ounces)

I got the idea from this website Woodgears.ca This is my version.

This was added to the Makezine site and I figured I would add it here also and throw in a few renders.

Comments

[dscott4]

Interesting project

I would love to see it added to the 3D print group I have just started

http://www.instructables.com/group/3Dprint/

Thanks

[Dumchicken]

it looks like styrofome

[outsideartist]

 i have a plotter and A educational place here in Nj sells the program and the paper to peel and stick your way to a prototype THAT IS JUST fine for me,as I build everything I can and if I CANT GOD GAVE ME MIKE!

[ikestarm17]

That's awesome! You should put up a file so other people can make them. That's really cool

[Speedmite]

Cool. I made a toy train in cad and a wooden air powered car toy and a few other things but this is beast.

[Kryptonite]

Wow, sounds cool, you should do a slide show or video about what you've made. Just a suggestion. : )

[Speedmite]

Dont know how, and its at school which gets out in 2.5 days.... Thanks!

[Kryptonite]

If you go to SUBMIT at the top of this page you can make your Instructable or Slideshow from there!

[Speedmite]

I cant get to it. Its at school. Anyways I havent made a prototype thing. I dont even know how to make screen shots.

[Kryptonite]

Aww that's a shame, but just a tip, for screen shots, hit Alt + Print Scrn, the key to the left of f12.

[Speedmite]

Cool.

[Derin]

Also,Alt can be removed but then it takes all your programs in the shot.Alt makes it capture the active.

[PikminRed]

One word, Garry's Mod. (well that's two...) GMod (or Garry's Mod) Is a Valve (video game company) Engine where you can build stuff with working physics. That would be awesome to build something and then get it in a little model!

[=SMART=]

Wow ! That is amazing ! Your 3d model looks fantastic and the printed working (!!) model is incredible ! Truly blown away by this ! Well done !

[Speedmite]

Haha! I was scrolling by your post and I thought your picture was a bulldoser, but it was the robot! Haha....Im laughing at myself....Haha....

[sharlston]

how do three d printers work

[mick40]

Rob, Can I have the files or drawings? I would like to make one out of wood for my Dad who is a locksmith. Mick

[ScienceWiz]

You import a 3d CAD (computer aided design) file from your computer by using a program like Autodesk: Inventor. The machine then interprets the information and tells an arm what to do. Depending on the machine type there are a couple of things that it can do #1: Melting Head type: This type of machine uses a tiny, little, needle thin tip that moves back and forth, and up and down. The head melts plastic resin and applies it in amazingly small, and detailed, incriments(up to 1/1000ths of an inch!) #2: Powder&Bonding type: this type of machine uses ultra fine powder and a sort of glue to reproduce a product. The machine lays down a layer of powder, again, amazingly thin! and then a head moves over it and applies super thin ammounts of "glue" after one layer, another is applied and then another and another... The first type is usually just white, like in the instructable, but the second type machines usually come prepared to make color copies (like a cloner!!) My highschool, GOD BLESS US NERDS!, has a bunch of these machines and I have to explain it a lot cuz I'm one of the only students, and oddly a freshman, that knows how they work... GLAD I COULD HELP!! XD

[Kryptonite]

Your school has one!?! What school do you go to, and where?!?!

[ScienceWiz]

HAHAHA... We actually have 3 As for where... thats a little on the stalker side... but w/e Its the California Academy of Mathmetics and Sciences obviously its in california.. Its a super small highschool (only about 500 kids) and its all based on math and science. Our engineering class has one and so does our robotics class. XD nerds FTW

[Kryptonite]

ENVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway. Wow, I wish our school had a robotics class, we have electronics but it's still lots of fun... My school has 1012 students and our normal printers are often not working...

[Kryptonite]

Hee hee hee I love it!!! Now to add the file and where you got the software from, where I can use a 3d printer, and I'm all set!!!

[conrad2468]

you should buy a makerbot! its only $1000 and you can print on demand....please dont flag for spam im just offering a suggestion

[Kryptonite]

What's a Makerbot?

[agent harmsy]

Combine this (the 3d printing technology) with the halo armour instructable, and that'd be SWEEET! Expensive, but easy. Or maybe use that metal printer...

[MACKattacksnipe]

what is the song of the first video

[Tetsu57]

I work for a company whose 3-d printers produce parts directly into metal. This cost more than printing plastic model (typically 3-5x more) But the parts are solid metal. The process produces a true composite material composed of 60% stainless steel and 40% bronze. The resolution of the raw prints is excellent and if needed, can be machined, polished, soldered or plated, pretty much like cast metal. Take a look at <http://www.prometal.com> to see what I am talking about.
Another site worth looking at is <http://www.shapeways.com>. These folks print in plastics but their website includes a users forum, a blog and a community market place where you can offer your "prints" for sale to the community at large. Their printing services are very inexpensive and they provide rapid turnaround. All in all a very innovative company.

[Rob K]

That is interesting. I did not know that they had metal 3d-printers. I am thinking of making a few changes to the combo lock and sticking on shape ways.

[1up]

Autodesk is the best program ever. I have it. Do you have the files? :D

[askjerry]

3D printers have really come a long way. The newest ones pay out powder then spray on color and a fixing agent. The result is that you get a 3D color model. If you are really interested... check this out: http://www.zcorp.com/en/Products/3D-Printers/ZPrinter-450/spage.aspx

If I could... I would love to have one... but the print times can be 8 to 12 hours for a single unit... so I could never figure out how to make it pay for itself.

Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHPKrtmBh_I

Jerry

[Ph3nomin0n]

That's very nice! Just a quick question, is that plastic? Imagine the possibilities with a 3d printer! Miniature wargaming anyone?, action figures, toys!... sorry that's the little boy in me lol. Another question how much does making a 3d printout cost talking material wise,

[Rob K]

I think it is a ABS plastic. The cost for me to use the printer was $4.50 a cubic inch. Including model and support material.

[ReCreate]

5 bucks a cubic inch? There goes my plans For a plastic car <_< :P

[Pkranger88]

Yes, Dimension Printers are made by Stratasys and use a newer form of ABS plastic called ABS plus. The process is called Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). We have one in the 3D lab at NIAR at WIchita State. You can print in color, etc.

[agis68]

hi nice job! I am involving with miniature war games some decades now, and the possibilities and applications are all deployed in front my eyes.Not only for war game miniatures but, keylocks, minizoo, 3D deployment of any model designed in the computer. Thousand of applications are close to us.... BUT (always there's a but) that kind of printers are worthing here in Europe about 15,000 euro and more. Of course if you have a business to run then this amount is nothing in front of the profit you will gain from thousand of jobs.

[mappum]

3d printers are tens of thousands of dollars, obviously not cheap enough for personal use. printing isnt that expensive though, just the cost of whatever type of plastic that printer uses. there is a project called RepRap though, a personal 3d printer you can build for a few hundred bucks. it can replicate most of its own parts, making it very cheap to make. it is open source; you can download the plans and everything for free. i think everyone should know about it (i am not advertising for them or anything, it is a non-profit organization). check it out here: http://www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

[nilsepils]

there are actually printers of 5000 dollars and within 5 years they will be around $1000 so you can buy them four yourself. nilsepils

[Weissensteinburg]

That's awesome! Locks can be really confusing things and this is a great way to explain it.

[ReCreate]

If only it was easier to see :( White on white is hard to see

[Weissensteinburg]

It shouldn't be too hard to ink them, or something like that.