Shear Cell use in reductive manufacturing

While this company is using additive manufacturing to create their structures, the glowforge could remove the material necessary to achieve similar results. Using their ‘shear cells’ would allow for 2D movement in single-piece projects we create on our forges. We’ve seen movement demonstrated with the living hinge, but utilizing the deformation that occurs when stress is applied to a laser cut design will open up new opportunities for functional laser cut objects. Single piece pliers, latch, or pantograph.

Metamaterial Mechanism by Hasso-Plattner-Institut

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Here’s another thread regarding this. :slight_smile:

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I would argue (within limits) that subtractive manufacturing is a good way to go with this kind of thing in a lot of cases because you get better control of material properties. 3D printing doesn’t always give you that kind of precise, detailed control.

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As long as you are still working with plastics in the subtractive manufacturing. If you use wood or any other organic, then your reliability in design is lost by inconstant material properties.

Living hinges are fairly brittle, so it would take a lot of playing to find something thick enough to remain stable, but flexible enough to achieve these results. Keeping the total length of any connector small may be enough to permit thin material and keep from being brittle though.

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