I don't expect this model to have much interest for others, but this like many other projects I have around the house, could not be ignored for engineering a solution.
Last year I bought a new toenail clippers from the jungle website, and overall I was pretty pleased with the feel and function. The size and shape was nice and large for my man-hands and I could cut my toenails with a nice mechanical advantage. The design was pretty simple.
Last week I go to cut my toe nail, squeezed hard and the plastic pin the clippers broke in an explosive crack-ing noise.
I was miffed as the clippers were immediately inoperable. With no shaft, there was no way to pinch the metal on the clippers.
But naturally, my first inclination was that I had to fix this through 3D printing.
So after about 15-20 iterations of a Solidworks CAD model and numerous hours printing test prototypes, I finally got something to work. It uses the best tension and compression directional properties of the 3D FFF process utilizing polycarbonate material (PC).
It's a 2-piece design, with the small cover encapsulating the new shaft once passed through the metal pinch and the 2 levers.
This solution is for toenail clippers of probably many imported Chinese brands that use a weak molded plastic pin to hold all the pieces together in a snap lock (super economical). I don't blame the engineers that originally designed this, as they probably were under orders to make it as cheap as possible, one-piece, easy assembly. There wasn't a focus on cycle testing.
If any of you search for this and need it, here it is; any questions let me know.
*Update 1/8/24-1/28/24
- Made a small thickened feature at the clip bottom for improved strength. Reposted and wrote over existing files.
- The bottom small “knuckle” that grabs the pin needs to be orientated as shown in the .3mf file, for printing.
The author marked this model as their own original creation.