Bendy Coaster

This is a drinks coaster with a slight difference - it is bendy in one direction, even when printed with material such as PLA.

The bends are achieved by following along with the excellent Youtube tutorial, cutting the plane at regular intervals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WEqKYa6XRk

In this case the same default sizing values as per the above tutorial are also applied on the model here - enabling a one-plane bendable interface.

Notes on printing: Printing these models don't come cheap in terms of material nor time. For the various models:

Fast/Rough - 0.28mm draft with a single top/bottom layer since it is a functional model for the most part for a total thickness of 1.68mm. (Decorative comes into play slightly, but textured plates do the trick here - which is what I use for my prints). This top-level roughness is certainly not for the faint of heart, even with a textured bottom that will end up as the drinks holder. It will feel draft-y/rough in actual use.

Slow/Smooth - 0.28mm draft with three top/bottom layers for a total 1.68mm thickness. This turns out smoother on the non-visible layer and is easier to remove from the plate. It is however slightly less bendy than the fast and dirty version above. Less bendy, but still very satisfying…

Slow/Smooth/Thin - 0.2mm standard with three top/bottom layers for a total 1.2mm thickness. This has the same overall benefits of the 0.28 mm version, still being slightly less bendy than the version with 1 layer top/bottom, but getting closer to being my favorite… despite the longer printing times, the finish and “it is almost nothing” thickness, is growing on me.

There is certainly a lot of room to play with different print profiles with different layers and different walls, these are just a start…

Notes on the models: In addition to the .stl models for 1.2mm & 1.68mm (thickness) versions and the .3mf files, I'm also sharing the original .scad model file - this requires BOSL2.

Additional models: If you like the coasters here, you may want to look at the Bendy Coaster Holder as well. This adopts the bendy look and feel of the coaster and provides storage space for your coasters.