The name of this carabiner reflects the important message that no one should trust their life with it! That is to say, it is NOT FOR CLIMBING. With this disclaimer out of the way; my goal was to try and make that best climbing-inspired carabiner, designed specifically for manufacturing by 3D printing. No additional part or tools needed and no post-processing required.

Inspiration was taken from the D-shaped wire-gate metal carabiner that we climbers know and love. This consists of a forged aluminum alloy body with a "straight" load bearing spine and a bent stainless steel wire providing tension for the self-closing gate. A subtle curvature of the spine and slack in the gate mechanism helps reduces the risk of failure by providing additional shock absorption.

Studying other makers of 3D printed components gave a good starting point for to how to adapt these design elements for additive manufacturing, by utilizing the strengths of 3D polymers and avoiding their weaknesses. Each carabiner has a wide gate with positive interlocks on both sides and a unique sliding mechanism. This mechanism allows for a progressive tension and a complete opening of the gate, as well as a quick assembly process.

The main body comes in different variants; the standard climbing D-biner, the rotation stopper D-biner, the tactical strap D-biner, and the dual gated S-biner. All of these use the same gate and can be used to secure light and noncritical gear and equipment while climbing, or in everyday use.

However, my original objective was to find out if it is possible to design a 3D printed carabiner capable of handling the strains experienced while climbing. So I decided to test and optimize the design, more on this under Test and Verification (upcoming).

Please post your prints!