Money Clip

Many people carry their cash in a wallet. I've done that, but find I prefer to carry my bills folded in a money clip. It flexes for the changing number of bills I have and doesn't lump up my wallet when I get cash from the bank.

This version is big enough to hold $300 in 20-dollar bills, with maybe a card or two in the middle of the folded bills. I've carried mine for two years, and it has stretched a bit, but not too much to use. Metal ones I've had have usually been smaller but don't stretch out, either. Since this is a 3D print, I can quickly replace it when I want. So can you, of course, once yours is printed.

Step 1: Customize It

Designed using the Free Software program OpenSCAD, the clip consists mainly of a couple of cylinders and a couple of slabs. The cylindrical end provides the "spring" to squeeze the money in the clip. The clip prints on edge so the plastic is laid down in horizontal threads by the 3D printer. That improves the strength of the clip and without needing any extra support on the print bed.

Step 2: Modifying With OpenSCAD

The basic version can be printed plain, or with text or a logo.

There are printable STL files included for the sample versions (except for "Joe's Dough").

If you want to modify the clip by creating your own logo, you should download and install the stable version of OpenSCAD from openscad.org It is available in versions for GNU/Linux, MS Windows and Mac OS.

You can leave alone the majority of the moneyclip-basic.scad file. It creates the clip with the dollar sign. Concentrate on the section near the end about adding logos or text.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////
// add logo or text
translate([40,-8,25]) // position center of upper slab and embed logo
rotate([90,0,8]) // adjust to print on upper slab
linear_extrude(2)
text(font="Liberation Sans", size=10, halign="center", valign="center", str("Joe's Dough"));
// end comment here
/////////////////////////////////////////////////

If you want a logo, you will need to find one which has been converted to a polygon or design it yourself. I recommend using Inkscape to design logos. Both the Tux and the GNU mascots were exported as SCAD module files from Inkscape. Tux is the mascot of Linux, the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system. The Gnu is the mascot of the combined operating system. Both of the mascots are included as scad files if you wish to use them for this project or others you might design.

If you wish to design your own logo/polygon set, that's probably a task for another day.

Tux and GNU are to be used as external files brought into the main money clip file with the command use<tux-logo.scad> or use<gnu-logo.scad>. That command must be at the top of the main program code so the imported module can be used when needed (as shown in the following code snip).

/////////////////////////////////////////////////
// add logo or text
translate([40,-8,25]) // position center of upper slab and embed logo
rotate([90,0,8]) // adjust to print on upper slab
scale([.4, .4, 1]) // adjust size based on logo size
tuxcut(2); // module name including extrude depth
// end comment here
/////////////////////////////////////////////////

The GNUpolygon (module gnu(2);) is not the same size as the Tux polygon in its original design, so it is scaled to a different final size scale([.6, .6, 1]) so it will fit. Scale your own designs as needed.

For text decorations, adjust the size of the text as needed. The use of str("$") as part of the text command allows for using unicode to give us other money symbols like the Euro, Pound and Yen which are not available on all keyboards. For example, the Euro is str("\u20ac"), substituting the "escaped" unicode for the dollar sign between the quotes. There are quick-print STL files included for dollar, euro, pound and yen/yuan. Other symbols are available. Do a search for "unicode for money symbols" to get a list. An entry may be shown as U+20A3, such as for the French Franc ( ₣ ) which you would enter as str("\u20a3"). Make your modification in the moneyclip-basic.scad file.

Centering of text and logos on the front face are controlled by the translate([]) and rotate([]) commands shown in the code snips above. You should not need to fiddle with them, but that's up to you.

For me, this project needed 23 grams of filament and approximately 2 hours total print time, depending on the logo.

Step 3: Files for You to Use

If your main purpose is to study how this project was done, you can download just the moneyclip-basic.scad file.

All the SCAD and STL files needed to print several different versions of the money clip are included in the moneyclip.zip file.

Also in the zip archive are the GNU and Tux mascot SCAD files for you to use in other 3D projects of your own. The code for them is released as GPL 3 or later.