Device to produce PLA springs
by edmo, published
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Check out mekmekmek's customizable version here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:188285
Hutch914 put it in the Makerbot customizer, too, if that's your thing.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1096880
Rather than spend time printing springs for a project, I made this little mold to make them out of raw 3mm PLA filament. It measures 3/4" by 3" tall. Since there are no shear planes in this twisted filament, the springs it creates will be a lot tougher than anything printed.
I think this concept could be used to produce torsion springs as well as conical compression springs with different molds.
If you wrapped the filament around a dowel with the sides of the filament touching, you could make an extension spring instead of a compression spring.
Instructions
Please see the JPG in the gallery here:
http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/7d/20/21/46/67/spring_instructions.jpg
Autodesk Inventor file is included for modification.
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http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1096880
I have given you, and the others who made the scad file, full credit as you did all the work. A thousand thankyous!

Have you tested it to see if it follows Hooke's Law and if you can get a predictable spring constant?
I've scaled this and made some really useful 1.7mm PLA springs. Would love someone with the skills to produce a Makerbot Customizer version.
challange accepted
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:188285http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

Edmo, you have opened another door of creativity in 3D printing! Great job. Andrew (http://3dhacker.com3dhacker.com)
great thing, but if you could add first and last coil to be flat to craete circular base for spring it would be just perfect
Hi~it`s great to produce the PLA spring.May I ask a question?What liquid is it in the cup?And what paper is used for protecting the PLA?
Great idea! Any reason why you're working with PLA instead of ABS? if I make the mold out of ABS and create PLA springs will that still work? Thanks
very very nice idea. Would be cool if you made a customizable of this one. Perhaps if someone could suply as well a calculator to calculate the spring force?
By time, too. Thermoplastic materials exhibit time-dependent strain when exposed to constant load, and constant load inflicts time-dependent tension. They partly behave like fluids, and a unloaded spring will not relax completely to the size it was before loading. The remaining deformation depend on time and force applied. So the force of a compressed spring will diminish over time.
This is just great! I have many pieces of filament by now, too short to be of any use in my Bowden tube system, that could make a stack of springs!
this is quite cool, it could be used to replace the springs on idlers i think, well perhaps in 1.75mm it could. Great design i hope it gets featured.
Any ideas how to do it without microwave? I could give it a shot, but I don`t have one.
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