Everything you see - Made by Me
As part of a set of 2025 Christmas gifts for my friends, I realized I had need of a significant length of braided string. While the braiding process is extremely simple, the repetitive nature of the process paired with uncertainty of the exact lengths and large scale meant that a simple production jig would be immensely helpful during the process.
Given how much braided string length I needed, I realized a sliding carriage for maintaining tension on the braid would be useful, and a lengthy jig would be helpful in working on longer stretches at once. Neither of these would be a particular challenge, however I decided to reuse some extra 3D printed I-beams from my footrest design in a new modular frame system.
In order to achieve this, I created several types of modular joint allowing multiple I-beam members to join together at the ends, as well as at adjustable lengths using a clamp. The adjustable joints are the most mechanically interesting here, as they fix to the I-beam via a simple V-shaped wedge block, driven by thumb screws on the outside. Early prototypes of this mechanism showed the importance of correct slicer settings, as without 100% infill the area pressed by the screw tip would cave inwards and break the part.
