Fliptrix

A customizable print in place dot matrix style flip board display

Updates

• fixed 'cube' option thanks to @Neon22
• v1.1 - improved plate_holders, adjusted default tolerances for better results on low end printers, renamed variables

About

This is my first project in OpenSCAD.
I've always liked to play with post-it notes, dot matrix displays, pixel art editors, etc. so I've decided to make my own, real life pixel-art board to play around. I find it much more fun to use than fidget widgets which are so popular these days.

Since I'm lazy the main goal was to make it print fully assembled in one go and printable on single extruder 3d printer.

I think this could be quite nice to use for stop motion animation.

Parameters

Just a few tricky things with parameters.

• thickness (height of print; z-axis)
  • cannot be larger than plate_width
  • when it is equal to plate_width and plates_type is set to 'rounded' you'll end up having cylidnders instead of plates which might be fun as well (but you might need brim)
• plate_holders
  I didn't have much trouble with plates flipping on their own (e.g. when board gets shaken) but for high resolution prints probably they will so I've added the option to make a snap in plate holders. Option tested, seems to work.
• horizontal_gap
  It must be lower than half of row_space and half of col_space

In practice

As you can see on pictures it works (disregard print quality :) ).
All prints have been made with 0.2 mm layer, 0.4 mm nozzle, extrusion width 0.5 mm.

• Small black & white print - plate size 10x10 mm (this works best in my opinion)
• Blue & yellow print - plate size 8x8 mm
• "I ❤ 3D" print - plate size 6x6 mm

Sample STL included in case you don't want to use customizer just to try it out.

Future considerations

• Probably improve plate_holders after testing - seems done
• Improve printing with long bridges (for larger values of plate_height)
• Add connectors to combine multiple frames
• For multi extruder printers
  • print frame in a different color than plates (for better contrast)
  • add 3 and 4 sided plates... wow, much color