Flexify Fabric - Hexagon Tiles

Best-a-gon fabric!  I designed these print-in-place models with one key philosophy: articulating joints without bridges.  This project expands on work I did with Flexify templates.  To enhance articulation, I made a new sliding joint that allows the fabric to stretch and compress.

You can find an up-to-date list of Flexify designs here: https://www.printables.com/@FlyingGyroscope/collections/3017828.

Key Features

I spent a lot of time making sure the print-in-place joints are strong, smooth, and easy-to-print.

• No bridges. Joints lock in place with overlapping overhangs.

• No tiny cross-sections.  The world does not need another retraction torture test.

• Thin but strong pieces.  All parts maintain a minimum wall thicknes.

• Generous clearances. No need to break in joints.

• Fidget friendly. I enjoy having prints at my desk.

• Very flexible.  It can easily fold and conform to other shapes.

Printing

Tune your first layer for the best results.  This means having a flat first layer with even squish and no elephant's foot.

My models have plenty of clearance: 0.4 mm on each side of the joint = 0.8 mm total.  They should flex easily without having to work the joints loose.

This design has the same warning as all other print-in-place designs.  If you scale and resize, be sure to use uniform scaling.  Enlarging the scale increases clearance between parts, and decreasing scale reduces clearance.

I modeled overhangs at 40° and made test prints with 0.2 mm layer height.  These are fairly safe values for PLA, but other filaments may need thinner layers for joints to work as intended.  Of course, reducing layer height will improve joints regardless of filament type.

Custom Sizes

You can make a custom grid with the supplied tile sets.  I will warn you that Fusion 360 slows down considerably as you add more repeating elements.  Use the values listed in the table below.  Tile spacing is the distance between repeating elements.  Hexagon size comes in handy if you want to trim off connectors.

Hexagon Grids in Fusion 360

Making a custom hexagon grid is simple with one little trick.  In the example below, I made a grid with values from the fidget model.

In a new sketch, draw a hexagon with the polygon tool.  (It uses six sides by default.)  Then add two construction (dotted) lines to define axes for the grid.  Note that triangles at connecting ends designates a midpoint.  (Yes, you could have just drawn two lines at a 60° angle, but the hexagon is a helpful visualizer.)

Then use the linear pattern tool with all of the options selected in the screenshot.  The axes are the two dotted lines, and distance is tile spacing.  The suppression option lets you manually toggle any repeated element.  Once enabled, small squares appear over the center of each element.  You can use them to disable elements at the corners to make the overall shape more hexagonal.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy!

Major update: Removed the fidget models.  I don't think it was good at being a fidget or a fabric.  I may revisit this concept later.