Butterfly Knife - Print in Place - Balisong

This print was a request from someone, I figured why the heck not?

 

I honestly learned a lot through the design and print of this one about clearance dimensions required for 3D printing without having the layers stick together between parts I didn't want stuck together.

 

Another lesson learned was that a model can be designed as an assembly, then exported to a single file for print. (3MF worked without issues, but STL scaled improperly although all the settings were correct. I ended up scaling up the model before exporting to STL so it would be the right size). Oh the Joys...

 

This thing is wicked fun! It's not going to carve a spear-tip on a stick but it is great to fidget with and enjoy while impressing everyone you show it to.

 

Best thing is that you just click print and ~6hrs later (ender 3) a functional assembly (without assembly) comes off the print bed.

 

Update for MakerWorld Users:

There are 3 different designer print profiles I uploaded, each of the profiles are personally tested and tweaked by me for success on my new machine. Originally I printed this on my Ender 3, but have since acquired a Bambu A1, these print profiles are optimized for use on the faster machine.

• These print profiles all have the part oriented properly and rotated for the strongest adhesion with a bed slinger (widest part of it is front-to-back on the build plate).
• These print profiles all include a brim, I didn't want to use a brim originally but the higher bed speeds of the A1 made it more reliable with one. I think that Bambu adds the brim so well that it doesn't interfere with the finished part compared to other slicers/printers.
• There are 3 Profiles, all for use with PETg.
  • Light - 2 wall layers, faster print, less material. Thinnest walls. Basically the standard slicer settings.
  • Medium - 4 wall layers, heavier infill. Not too bad with print time or material. A little nicer to fling around in my opinion.
  • Heavy - 6 wall layers, virtually the whole thickness is walls. Longest print time but the heaviest it can get for flinging.

Suggestions for build plate adhesion:

• I used a textured PEI plate. Glue Stick was not necessary for me, but with some plates it may be.
• Clean the build plate. This part is tall with a narrow base and can topple easily with high speed bed slingers. Clean any oil spots deposited from your hands prior to printing.
• Manually bump the build plate temperature UP by 3 deg C or so. I found this helpful with the heavier versions.
• Any other suggestions for successfully printing this are certainly welcome in the comments!

 

The original was printed successfully many times on an Older model printer and should 100% be possible on the new technology printers we have today. Take a look at the video, check it out for yourself!

 

 

I made these 4 featured in the video from PLA materials, and all work flawlessly. Interested in seeing what materials you print with to share! I have since uploaded MakerWorld print profiles for use with PETg, which are much stronger than the PLA.

 

The YouTube video has a lot of instruction and background to this project as well, it's linked above so just give it a watch if you want to see more about it (such as the print orientation it is designed for).

 

I hope you enjoy! Thanks for checking it out! If you like things like this be sure to check out the many other models I have here.

 

Boost MeBoost the ORIGINAL! Don't be fooled by the reposts of this model on this site since these were originally posted to the 'Other' sites first a long time ago. ...I'll never be all caught up, LOL. Thank You.