Introduction: Mini Table Hockey 100% 3D Printable

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About: 3D printing and programming robots made easy
Fusion 360 Projects »

Hey there!

I hope all is well and that you are not getting too bored of being in Coronavirus lockdown.

I'm surely not after designing and building my own 3D printable mini table hockey, I've just unlocked endless hours of fun! It might not be as cool as playing hockey in real life but it sure keeps the fingers exercised and it's at least a step closer to the real thing compared to video games.

Now I have always known from the beginning that 3D printing is a great way of making things. Ok its not the fastest, this thing will take up to 3 days of printing to finish but for rapid developing and prototyping you really can't get any better and the possibilities are pretty much endless.

For this instructable I wanted to see if it were possible to make something with moving parts that was made solely using a 3D printer I also wanted all the parts to be printable without supports so as that there would be as least waste as possible.

In most projects that have moving parts you'll likely come across metal screws nuts and bolts that hold the thing together but in this case thanks to 3D printable pins and clips it is possible to make the whole thing using nothing more than the plastic from the 3D printer.

In this instructable you will find a special section on how to design and print your very own pins and clips in Fusion 360 for your own projects so you will no longer need to use screws and bolts anymore!

Supplies

PLASTICS:

For a good looking Table hockey you will need 4 different colours Red and Blue for the players White for the pitch and Black for the puck

The parts can be printed in PLA, PETG or ABS.

!! Please note a 250g spool of each filament is more than enough to print the Table hockey !!

3D PRINTER:

Minimum build platform required: L200mm x W200mm x H50mm

Any 3d printer will do. I personally printed the parts on the Creality Ender 3 which is a low cost 3D printer under 250$ The prints turned out perfectly.

Step 1: 3D Printing the Parts

So now it's time for Printing...Yeay

I Meticulously designed all of the parts to be 3D printed without any support materials required while printing.

All the parts are available to download on thingiverse (LINK HERE)

All the parts have been test printed on the Creality Ender 3

Material: PETG

Layer Height: 0.3mm

Infill: 15%

Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm

The parts list is as follows:

Black:

1x Puck

White:

2x Rink

2x Barrier side

2x Barrier goal

2x Foot

2x Foot reinforcement

2x Square pin short

8x Square pin medium

4x Square pin long

14x Square clip

Red:

4x Grip

3x Player

1x Goal

3x Disc

2x Defender base

1x Attacker base

7x Cog

1x Goal cog big

1x Goal cog small

1x Attacker stick

1x Attacker pin

2x Defender Stick

1x Goal stick

1x Goal pin

1x Square clip

17x Circular clip

Blue:

Same as Red

Printing:

The parts can be printed in a group or individually

For group printing simply print every single GROUP RINK.stl file once and GROUP PLAYER.stl file twice in 2 different colours and INDIVIDUAL PUCK in black.

I got away with not having to print the parts with a brim to avoid warping but you might not be so lucky so take possible warping into consideration and add a brim to parts if you think it is necessary

Post Processing:

All of the holes in the Attacker and Defender bases as well as the holes in the feet and feet reinforcements will need to be sanded down with a sharp knife and sand paper to ensure that they are properly round and smooth so as that the players rotate freely.

I have allowed for a 0.75mm tolerance between the rotating parts which should be enough.

Step 2: Assembling the Table Hockey

All the assembly steps are depicted in the assembly video above.

Rink steps:

  1. Join the two halves of the rink with 2 short square pins
  2. Secure the pins in place with 2 square clips
  3. Join one of the side barriers to the rink with 4 medium square pins
  4. Secure the pins in place with 4 square clips
  5. Repeat last 2 steps for the other side barrier
  6. Clip one of the foot reinforcements in place on left side of the rink
  7. Slot one of the feet in place on left side of the rink
  8. Slide one of the Goal barriers in place on left side of the rink
  9. Secure the Goal barrier in place with 2 long square pins
  10. Secure the pins in place with 2 square clips
  11. Repeat last 5 steps on the right side of the rink

Red players steps:

  1. Slide red goal in to position on left side of rink
  2. Secure red goal with red square clip
  3. Slide red goal pin in to position
  4. Slide red big goal cog over the red goal pin
  5. Secure red goal pin and red big goal cog in place with red circular clip
  6. Slide red attacker pin through the red attacker base hole
  7. Slide red cog over the red attacker pin
  8. Secure in place with red circular clip
  9. Slide red attacker stick through 2 holes of the red attacker base
  10. Slide red cog over red attacker stick
  11. Secure in place with red circular clip
  12. Slide red attacker stick through its dedicated holes in the foot reinforcement and foot of the left side of the rink
  13. Slide red defender stick through the hole in the red defender base
  14. Slide cog over red defender stick
  15. Secure in place with red circular clip
  16. Slide red defender stick through the dedicated hole in the foot of the left side of the rink
  17. Repeat last 4 steps for the other defender parts
  18. Slide one of the red discs over the pin of one of the red players
  19. Slide the red player through the attacker slot
  20. Slide the red player through the holes of the red attacker base
  21. Slide a cog over the red players pin
  22. Secure in place with a circular clip
  23. Repeat last 5 steps for the red defenders
  24. Slide red goal stick into position
  25. Slide red small goal cog over the red goal stick
  26. Secure in place with one red circular clip
  27. Slide a red grip over the end of one of the red defender sticks
  28. Secure in place with 2 red circular clips
  29. Repeat the last 2 steps for the other red grips on the other players sticks

Blue players steps:

Repeat red players steps for blue players

Step 3: Designing Your Own 3D Printable Pins and Clips in Fusion 360

In order to make this design fully 3D printable I used 3D printable square and circular pins and clips

I have used these in many of my projects and find them useful for minimising the need for screws nuts and bolts

Circular clips :

overall thickness: 2.5mm

diameter: 13.5mm

Circular pins :

Pin Diameter: 8mm

Pin Square Hole for Clip: 3mm x 3mm

Square Clips :

overall thickness: 2.5mm

dimensions: 11.5mm x 11.5mm

Square pins :

Pin dimensions: 6mm x 6mm

Pin Square Hole for Clip: 3mm x 3mm

All the Clips STL files and Fusion 360 files are available to download below

So you can easily play around with them if you would like.

Attachments

Step 4: Final Thoughts on the Design

I loved this project as there were a lot of moving parts and tolerances to take in to consideration whilst designing it.

After all I would of liked the table to be even smaller than it is to reduce print time but i discovered that this was about as small as I could go in order for the hockey game to be playable That also meant printing the hockey table in two halves to allow printing on most common size printers.

At the end of the day I'm happy with the design the game plays well and the design is actually a lot more robust than I initially thought especially in PETG it should last through the years of wear and tear that I plan on putting it through.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable and maybe that you too decide to build one for yourselves don't hesitate to ask me any questions you may have.

Oh and also if you did like this instructable please consider voting for me in the 3D printing contest! ;)

3D Printed Contest

Runner Up in the
3D Printed Contest