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View Full Version : I think this is a laser cut wood hinge-pretty clever!



Clyde Baumwell
11-05-2011, 12:05 PM
http://www.snijlab.nl/

Bruce Clumpner
11-05-2011, 1:42 PM
Pretty cool design! But it looks like a piece of rubber sandwiched between two laminate sheets. Couldn't translate the page, can anyone tell how much they're selling for?

Darryl Hazen
11-05-2011, 2:06 PM
It says it is made entirely of wood. The design makes the wood flexible due to the cut design. They do not list a price but they do say they charge 1 Euro per minute.

Michael Hunter
11-05-2011, 2:50 PM
I came across this on Thingyverse a week or two ago.
The wood is 3mm (1/8") birch ply and the hinge is formed by cutting slots in the wood. The thin pieces of wood then act as torsion springs.

I made nice little box and have been meaning to take a photo and post it here.

Snijlab claim copyright (but free general licence to use as you wish) on their design for a note-pad holder, but I don't think that it covers the hinge idea.

Their price of 1 Euro per minute is not just machine time. They charge from the moment they open a customer's drawing to the time they take the piece out of the laser!

Uros Sovilj
11-05-2011, 4:22 PM
The booklets cost 25 eur.

Lee DeRaud
11-05-2011, 4:59 PM
I came across this on Thingyverse a week or two ago.
The wood is 3mm (1/8") birch ply and the hinge is formed by cutting slots in the wood. The thin pieces of wood then act as torsion springs.FWIW, here's the link (this page is in English): http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12708
Key word there is "ply": I seriously doubt it would work with solid wood, as it needs the multiple grain directions so there's never a small spot bending parallel with the grain.

Rich Harman
11-05-2011, 7:47 PM
Another one: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12930

Here is one cut from acrylic.

http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:15978

Dean Fowell
11-05-2011, 10:19 PM
Just Laser cut one nice find it's cool, I'm going to laser one out of stainless steel, Thanks Clyde for sharing that,

Daniel Markovich
11-06-2011, 12:30 AM
This is really cool!

Frank Corker
11-06-2011, 4:48 AM
I tried the hinge on ply and I am really suprised as to just how flexible this is, it's a brilliant bit of thinking. Obviously only works on ply because it requires the layers to allow the wood to bend without snapping.

Clyde Baumwell
11-06-2011, 10:57 AM
Here is the english version--it is really brilliant. I tried it and it works but the cuts have to be wider...when folded the "shoulders" hit each other
http://www.snijlab.nl/?page_id=358

Thom Edley
11-06-2011, 3:37 PM
I tried kerfing 1/8 ply on both sides a few months ago, but couldn't get it to flex. Then I saw this on Boing Boing last week & had a forehead-slapping moment. It's flexible, it's strong (for what it is), and I do believe the CC license snjlab has is just for the notepad design. Spacing the cuts & the joints gives different results. It's a really great method.

Gerd Spatz
11-07-2011, 3:50 AM
and I do believe the CC license snjlab has is just for the notepad design

on
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12707
he wrote:
Folding Wood Booklet by SNIJLAB is licensed under the Attribution - Share Alike - Creative Commons license.

Rich Harman
11-07-2011, 4:25 AM
Here's an example of solid wood cut to be made flexible;

http://sethrolland.com/gallery/other/bookend.stonehenge.html

Dee Gallo
11-07-2011, 1:22 PM
I just cut one.. pretty cool! But I do not get the cutout thing for holding the pad... I don't like it. I will be designing my own pad holding piece. And what are those two cutouts on the bottom for?

The hinge itself is beyond cool, so it is time to design something nicer for the main piece. Thanks for posting such an intriguing and elegant item!

cheers, dee

Chuck Stone
11-07-2011, 1:58 PM
i didn't get the two cutouts either. But I did figure out that the
clip portion .. one is just rastered (to show you where to glue the other one)
It is also a spring, with little tiny teeth to hold onto the pad.

Now .. finding those A7 pads is anther story! :eek:

Dee Gallo
11-07-2011, 2:10 PM
Yeah, I figured out that you were not supposed to cut out the first one...after I already cut it out...of course. But it's still weird looking.

Scott Challoner
11-07-2011, 2:15 PM
I believe the two slots are to weave the rubber band through. The rubber band holds it shut.

Chuck Stone
11-07-2011, 2:42 PM
Ah.. I must have gotten the file without the rubber band.
What settings do you use to cut out rubber bands?

Dee Gallo
11-07-2011, 3:31 PM
Yup Scott, that's it. I just threaded a standard rubber band through and it works great. I'll keep that feature. I added two little notches towards the top to hold another rubber band and got rid of the funky clip thing. I also elongated it to handle a standard 3" x 5" pad.

Clyde Baumwell
11-08-2011, 9:08 AM
A short soak in water makes the hinge more flexible when dry

Lee DeRaud
11-08-2011, 7:27 PM
A couple of experiments:
1. 1/8" ply works. What surprised me a bit is that it is not at all sensitive to grain orientation...given that it's just 3-layer ply, I expected it to work better depending on which direction the outer layers ran.
2. 0.92" acrylic works. A bit springier than the ply, and might not be as durable in the long run (see below).
3. 0.20" acrylic works, sort of. I got it to 180 degrees one way, back to 180 degrees the other way, then broke it on the third bend. A larger radius or a smaller angle (or less greed on my part) probably is ok.
4. 1/8" MDF works. I can't decide whether I'm surprised or not: obviously grain orientation isn't an issue, but this stuff is quite a bit stiffer than acrylic of the same thickness.
5. 1/8" solid wood (poplar in this case)...epic fail, regardless of which way the grain runs. Not really a surprise there.

The pattern as provided seems to be ok for about 3/4" diameter bends in 1/8" material. I think wider slots would just let it try to go to a tighter bend and overstress the small connection points. (Not to mention taking twice as long to cut.)

Ed Maloney
11-09-2011, 10:51 AM
I just cut one.. pretty cool! But I do not get the cutout thing for holding the pad... I don't like it. I will be designing my own pad holding piece. And what are those two cutouts on the bottom for?

The hinge itself is beyond cool, so it is time to design something nicer for the main piece. Thanks for posting such an intriguing and elegant item!

cheers, dee

Dee - It's for attaching a rubber band or something so it will stay closed. Also I read it takes a standard A7 pad (3x4") and a quick search of a few places doesn't find any with those dimensions or designation so the holder would probably have to be re-sized for use in the states here.

Doug Griffith
11-09-2011, 11:51 AM
It's cool but not really anything new. Flexible slit couplings have been around for a long time as well as many other similar applications. The attached chair image is an interesting use.
212488

Chuck Stone
11-09-2011, 3:37 PM
I can just imagine what that might feel like when it pinches..

Dee Gallo
11-09-2011, 4:21 PM
So here is my alternative to the ugly clip. A simple notch on either side to corral the rubber band at the top holds the 3x5 pad in place. The bottom band holds the thing closed and slips off easily. When open, all you see is the pad, the band is hidden.

I like it, but the hinge is probably too delicate for carrying around....more of desk accessory if you ask me. I made another one and bent it tightly to see how it would act. Broke immediately.

cheers, dee

Chuck Stone
11-09-2011, 6:49 PM
Nice! I was thinking about ditching the clip too.
(but it's kinda neat in a not-so-functional way)

Mike Chance in Iowa
11-09-2011, 8:24 PM
I would imagine this would have a limited life-span if it were actually used on a regular basis. It can probably only handle so many "flips" before it breaks. I personally would flip the cover all the way over (like I would do with a spiral notepad)and press it against the back side to make it easier to write on while standing up and moving about my daily job. If I were to make one and use it, I would glue the cardboard backing on the notepad directly to the wood and eliminate the clip completely. The rubber bands are going to twist and slide about as you move it across the desk.

Frank Corker
11-10-2011, 8:59 AM
Mike I might suggest you try this one. It is remarkably flexy. I haven't made a a clip board but I did cut the joint and I have been flapping the thing both ways for ages and hasn't even shown any signs of breaking yet.

Doug Lynch
11-10-2011, 9:05 AM
I would like to make one to fit a Kindle. Get rid of the rubber band and make another hinge with a magnet in it so it would hold it closed and then open. Now I just have to figure a way to hold the Kindle to it. One more thing to work on.

Doug

Andrea Weissenseel
11-10-2011, 11:10 AM
Great find, thanks for sharing it :) I just tried one with 5mm MDF worked out great

Dewey Schramm
11-10-2011, 9:29 PM
I would like to make one to fit a Kindle. Get rid of the rubber band and make another hinge with a magnet in it so it would hold it closed and then open. Now I just have to figure a way to hold the Kindle to it. One more thing to work on.

DougAt the risk of stating the obvious or discouraging your creativity... mixing magnets with electronics or any kind of computing device strikes me as a very bad idea... just my two cents.

Rich Harman
11-10-2011, 9:45 PM
The iPad2's Smart Cover uses magnets to attach to the iPad and to hold it closed.

In my own testing I have found a large (.5" x .5" x 2") neodymium magnet to have no effect on iPhones or other electronic devices.

Clyde Baumwell
11-11-2011, 9:15 AM
Mike- I was thinking that adhering fabric or canvas to the inside of the hinge would extend it's life. Like the old roll top desks.

Dee- Wouldn't the pad slide around if it is just held by a rubber band. I don't really understand the clamp idea either. Any ideas

Dee Gallo
11-11-2011, 5:07 PM
Dee- Wouldn't the pad slide around if it is just held by a rubber band. I don't really understand the clamp idea either. Any ideas

Clyde,

I have had the pad in there and opened and closed, etc. but it does not slide around at all. What I do is leave the band around the front and if you just slip it down over the pad, it helps hold it there even better. I like rubber bands...

cheers, dee

Michael Hunter
11-12-2011, 9:54 AM
Finally got to do some photos!

Bendy wood has much more potential than just a way of making hinges.

Frank Corker
11-12-2011, 10:26 AM
Flippin eck Mike, great work!

Greg Bednar
11-12-2011, 10:42 AM
That look great Michael.

John Noell
11-12-2011, 1:13 PM
...I like rubber bands...
Unfortunately, they sort of melt in the tropics and turn into a gummy mess. You don't dare to use them in a long-term way here. :)

Dee Gallo
11-12-2011, 2:54 PM
Oh great Mike, now you're taking it too a new level!

John - I'm going to have to rethink my move to Fiji if I can't have rubberbands...

~ dee

Riki Potter
11-13-2011, 9:32 PM
As far as I know the main reason magnets and computer don't mix is because standard PC and laptop hard drives store data using essentially magnetic fields, if a magnet get's to close it alters all those fields and corrupts everything. You should be fairly safe with new portable devices, some are still using laptop size hard drives but most are using solid state memory now, unless you have hundreds of GB of storage your unlikely to have a laptop hdd in there.

Craig Matheny
11-14-2011, 12:59 PM
As Doug mentioned earlier this design is nothing new, I also found no sign of international copyright on it or for a wood hinge. Enjoy