Snap Hair Clip
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Not as strong as the spring steel clips you can buy, but handy in a pinch and cheap to print in place.
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Model information
- Source
- Printables
- Category
- Other Fashion Accessories
- License
- Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
Snap hair clips are handy for a variety of uses beyond hair, like keeping a ball of yarn from unraveling. The local store was out of stock, so once again the 3D printer saves the day!
The model is quick to print (around 5 min per clip), and an interesting way to experiment with the impact of perimeter, infill, and thickness on the flexibility of the plastic materials.
Important: Clips like these are typically manufactured using spring steel or equivalent. PLA and other plastics are no match for that in terms of strength and shape retention. While this model probably won't replace your hair clips, it can work in a pinch for lightweight scenarios like corraling a few hairs or keeping yarn in place.
Assembly: Bring the ends of the two outer arms together above the ridged middle arm and hook the post into the matching hole. As you snap the clip open and closed, it may pop back open again. A drop of super glue around the post prior to inserting into the hole can help it stay in place.
Printing notes: After experimenting with perimiters, layers, and infill, I found the main body loses its spring flexibility above 0.6mm thick, and layers need to have alternating patterns to keep the perimeters from separating while flexing. The concentric pattern for top/bottom helps contribute to the spring factor. The small layer height, minimal perimeters, and cross-hatching internal fill helps avoid the model falling apart while flexing. Start with these settings, inspect the solid fill pattern for each layer in your slicer to ensure they are crossing each other reliably, and experiment to find optimal settings for your material
Perimeters: 2
Top/Bottom Fill Pattern: Concentric
Layer Height: 0.1mm
Scale/Sizing: You can adjust the scale to make larger or smaller versions for your needs, right in your slicer. For best results, I recommend scaling X/Y/Z independently:
X (arm length) - scale as needed
Y (overall width) - making the model wider will increase the strength of the spring behavior. If you're reducing the model size, reduce Y to a lesser degree than you reduce X
Z (overall height) - Keep Z around 100% to ensure that the flat part of the main body stays around 0.6mm thick if using PLA. Other materials may have different tolerance for base thickness