When 3D printing isn’t the answer…
https://medium.com/dome-kit/slow-flexible-cheap-5598ca91fb38
I see this sooo often. People trying to solve a problem, but too wrapped up in the “ooooh! 3D Printer!” to realize that something easier like a laser cutter could do the job 1000x better.
It also depends on the tools you have. You have a laser cutter - you use a laser cutter. I don’t - I have a 3D printer. So obviously I try to use a 3D printer 
But in this case I would not trust the 3D printed joints altogether - under stress combined with weather conditions, I don’t know how long the intra-layer bonding will hold.
If you only have a 3D printer available then this is a perfect print for Filaflex. It will actually be stronger and more durable than a laser cut version due to the laminated effect of the print layers. Any rip will not propagate through.
An excellent and timely reminder to keep thinking outside the box! 3D printers are only one tool among many. As such, they are often not the easiest and most efficient one.
It’s called pioneers. If everyone took the easy approach we still be living in England.
They do say that they hired out the cutting. 3D printing is a rapid prototyping technology, sometimes you need to switch to something else for production. So it looks like they did exactly the right thing to switch, even if they didn’t own the machinery. Making these is probably 15 seconds a piece at worst. Building a similar part in flex is probably at least an order of magnitude slower, it wouldn’t have looked as nice, and the ability to match part quality is questionable.
I posted this because the kind off iterative process he went through is something I’ve experienced many times, and how a problem may be’solved’, but it can often stand to be’solved better’ by adding a little elegance to the problem.
Very interesting read, thanks for sharing !
While I get the point, and agree to a large extend that you should use the "right tools for the job ", there are two aspects that really set (hobby) 3d printing apart:
- a lot less expensive , and relatively noise & dirt free compared to cnc milling, cutting etc (I would love to do more wood working for ex, I will not install even a small mill in the living room
- if you do things “manually” not only is it tiresome, but you lose the reproductibility of parts (however much I hate 3d printing on some days, I can be almost certain, that If there are issues with a part, it is due to my crappy design skills, and I can iterate reliably, and not the fact that I cannot build a thing by hand with acceptable tolerances)
Excellent post … Thanks for highlighting this @Mike_Miller