Summary

Having managed to learn the basics of Fusion360 I wanted to do some kind of grabtoy, similar to the ones I made with OpenSCAD. A key requisite was to design the thing so that it could be printed without supports and already assembled in place, ready to use right from the printer bed.

I had this memory of a very cool ice cube push plunger claw tongs my parents used to have, and initially tried to go in that direction. Something I wanted to change though was the push-to-open action into push-to-close, because you kind of close the hand when you push, right? So that was another requirement for the design.

I ended up with this overcomplicated geared approach to the thing, and after seeing it in action it reminded me of the mouth of that alien in the movie "Predator", so I decided to call it Predator Action Pliers. For building the gears I used the Helical Gear Generator by Gear_Down_For_What.

The thing looks mean but its grip is actually not very strong. In fact as a grabbing tool is not very useful at all. Still, it prints-in-place without supports and it closes when you push, so I think the design specifications have been met, making the project a great success.

Enjoy!

EDIT: There is a new version of this thing: Predator Action Pliers Mk2

EDIT2: Ok, so you still prefer this classique version anyway. If that's the case you probably want to print the PredatorActionPliers--more_grip.stl upgrade, which does a better job at grabbing stuff

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Prusa

                                            <p class="detail-setting printer"><strong>Printer: </strong>                     <div><p>i3 MK3</p></div></p>                                                                                <p class="detail-setting rafts"><strong>Rafts: </strong>                     <div><p>No</p></div></p>                                                                                <p class="detail-setting supports"><strong>Supports: </strong>                     <div><p>No</p></div></p>                                                                                <p class="detail-setting resolution"><strong>Resolution: </strong>                     <div><p>0.2mm</p></div></p>                                                                                <p class="detail-setting infill"><strong>Infill: </strong>                     <div><p>20%</p></div></p>                                                        <br>                        <p class="detail-setting notes"><strong>Notes: </strong>                    </p><div><p>Printed in PLA</p></div>

Puzzle