Carry Handle

Info
Download:	Sketchup STL
Print time	03h 23m 00s
Filament used	65.6m
Filament cost	$3.72
Quantity	1
Prototypes	2

First, take a look at that print time! Much shorter than the others thanks to finally upgrading my 3D printing rig to a Creality K2 Plus! This thing is a beast and prints at a speed that is way faster than my old Ender 3 Pro (this model would have taken about 13.5 hours!), but that’s an aside…

Labinator is a bit bigger than I originally figured it would be and can be a hair unwieldy to carry around. To address this, I originally bought a hugemongous spinner luggage set, but the it just didn’t fit into the suitcase by about 1/2". So - I had to think of how to lug this thing around a la plan B.

I settled on a carry handle design that could snap on/off of the main board. I started the design first by figuring out how to create the lug to be strong enough and built this handle around that. The design itself is fairly simple - a rounded rectangle with a large hole in the middle for fingers to grab onto. Like most other things in labinator, I gave the edges a bevel because it just looks nicer… but this leads to a more practical design since it’s easier to grab and doesn’t dig into your fingers while holding. I knew roughly what size I needed the opening to be but the overall size of the handle ended up being driven more by ensuring there was enough material for the final design to be strong enough. At the same time, I also knew that I had to design to orient the print such that the layer lines ran along the length of the handle. This is vital because 3D prints are weakest along the layer lines and the tensile strength of the handle is critical to its function.

I kind of cheated when designing the prototypes for this one. Rather than printing a full-size handle, I just printed a small section of the handle that included encasement of the lug until things fit the way I wanted and it all snapped together. This took about three or four tries, which aligns with the usual number of protoypes needed for a functional thing. Once that was buttoned up, I enhanced the design to include the actual handle. This would’ve worked perfectly on the first try… if the filament didn’t snap in the bowden tube about half way through the print. Since I was away from the machine when it happened, I didn’t catch it and shut the machine down as it sat there prompting me to replace the filament. Oops. So, kicking it off again it, it printed perfectly fine (no filament breakage this time) and the handle fit perfectly on the first try.

Wireframe: Edges: Autorotate: