Plastic Living Hinges
I'm trying to create/model a part with hinges. I need to be able to fold it to create feature and then unfold it. This is driving me crazy! I know very little about the flex and I also tried the sheet metal route which in creating it's own challenges. How would a person design a part from scratch with living hinges.
1 Answer
Do you need to see it in various states?
When manufactured, a living hinge is most often created "flat". It is then usually cycled before the material completely sets to "align" the plastic molecules and give a greater duty cycle.
Living hinges I've modeled, I just made them flat.
I guess if I needed to show it in a folded state, I'd be tempted to figure out the Flex tool (but I hate that tool). Then I'd likely give up on Flex, and instead remodel my best approximation of the hinge in the folded state.
Is your model mainly for display, or are you planning to design/manufacture a living hinge via injection molding?
