OKTEN: 3D printed parametric and compatible construction system
OKTEN: 3D printed parametric and compatible construction system
3D
Published 2019-11-04T19:36:50+00:00
OKTEN is a fully parametric, 3D printing friendly, and major-brand compatible brick system made with OpenSCAD.
This set includes:
· More than 100 ready-to-print pieces (pieces.zip).
· An OpenSCAD library, with 7 different customizer programs for different types of parts (no programming required!).
· 4 printer plates, each with a selection of different pieces of a type, so you can start printing ASAP.
Most pieces will work with your favourite brick brand right off the bat, and there are "aesthetical compatibility" features; but OKTEN also has very unique features of its own that may not fit your existing sets. You can make the pieces as you wish. OpenSCAD customizers are easy and ready to use: just drop all .scad files in a folder and double-click the one "ogel-custom-..." you want (they do use the library, so make sure it's in the same folder!). Customizers are packed with the options you will need, and if you need advanced tweaking, there's the library! Remember that customizer requires OpenSCAD 2019.05 or higher (and having the customizer window visible!). Since naming the pieces may be complicated due to the many variations, customizers will suggest you a name in the "Console" window; just copy it to clipboard, and paste it when exporting the file.
The system relies on tiling octagonal "studs" (piece top) and "pins" (underside of pieces). Pins fit around or in the hollow studs, allowing for "offset" and "cross-mounting" capabilities (see pics). Hollow stud-pin matching allows for precise and firm positioning. You can't do that with solid studs! Pins also have 45° sloping sides to support the piece top. Octagons give a greater pin/stud contact area, allowing for even more lateral strength than the tangent contact of circles. Tiling allows also some "inset" columns/rows, allowing a gazillion more possibilities (these pieces are NOT compatible with your usual bricks, sorrynotsorry). Also, instead of "pins", the pieces may use "antistuds", hollowed-out studs which are much easier to print in non-upright orientations.
There are also special "connector" pieces that increase mounting options. You may add a stand-alone stud between 2 or 4 other studs; long stud-like axes (axis-es) to connect pieces bottom-to-bottom, in one or several axes simultaneously; or, also, combinations of "antistuds" to join top-to-top several pieces, in one or several axes. Besides, many pieces may have studs on their sides, not only their top. The octagonal windmill in the pictures is made with "side-studded down-slopes". Oh, and the plates fit perfectly between 2 studs, and you can fit two baseplates, back-to-back, between studs!
Included in the bundle are STL files for some parallel-side pieces, upwards and downwards slopes, baseplates, smoothed pieces, connectors and some "ship" pieces, so you can start right now. There are customizers for parallels, smoothed-edge pieces, baseplates, slopes (optionally, you may add studs to the slope itself) and connectors (both bottom-to-bottom, b2b, and top-to-top, t2t). "Ship" pieces require another library which is in the works, and so they have no customizer available. The library itself is still a bit of a beta; let me know if you encounter issues; CGAL can be quirky sometimes.
Stay tuned for remixes of this work, for many things are coming! The system has a lot of details and may look a bit difficult at first, but believe me: hands-on approach is the best one. Don't hesitate to ask your questions or add requests in the comments!
OKTEN is, to me, a fantasy come true. When I was a kid, my favourite thing to play with was a construction game that was awesome. Its name was TENTE: check the catalogs and instructions at La TENTEteca (in Spanish) to see how was that 80s awesomeness. Since I had my first 3D printer I wanted to do pieces for that but, alas, their design is very hard to print nicely (pins are too flimsy for a 0.4 nozzle, a 0.25 is too time-consuming). And, back then, I missed some pieces that didn't exist: different heights, slopes with studs on their sides, ships with other widths (beam) than 4 or 6 studs.. That's why I developed this OCtagon-based TENte (OKTEN) as an Open Game for Education and Leisure (OGEL). So now I'll have my fleet of transforming space robots!
Ok, then... It's time to build something!
You will need to have your printer and filament well tuned, as tolerances are tight. You can also edit the files if you need thicker walls, looser clutch or, say, change the scale while keeping the proportions. Good bed adhesion is needed for the pins, which are small (3.2 mm across), but you can always switch to antistuds if those give you problems. The sturdiness of the design also means that if some odd pin is misprinted and lost, *the brick is still functional*.
Most of the pieces print perfectly without supports; it depends on how you customize your pieces, however. If you require them, all you'll need will surely be "from build plate only" supports (less supports, easier to remove). Customization allows you some tricks: if you're printing the piece, say, on a side, you can use "antistuds" instead of "pins", and they'll print nicely. Also, check if you can play with the different heights allowed and create a couple of pieces, instead of doing just one hard-to-print piece.
| Date published | 04/11/2019 |
| Supporto Gratuito | YES |