4x4 Post ground anchor / stake - Fully 3d Printed!

thingiverse

https://youtu.be/o_aTm5T_0M8 This is a mostly unnecessary but fun project to try to make a functional fully 3d printed 4x4 post stake. The reason? Why not? But seriously, the metal ones from home depot are $30, and this costs $1.25 in material ($5 total if you use 4). I uploaded a topology optimization using Solidworks to reduce the weight (which is the "optimized" version. I have only tested the non-optimized version to be clear. But it saves a round 8g of filament. Not much, but hey, it was fun anyways. Before you hammer this stake in, you need to make sure the screws are tightly holding it together. Otherwise it will flex and break when you hammer it. I designed the screws to take a 12mm socket wrench (or just an adjustable wrench). They should stand up to some pretty good torque if printed correctly. I would also recommend softening the ground before installing, by wetting it and letting it soak for a bit. This will also let the teeth/barbs work better since the dirt will fill into the gaps. Then after installing, if you water it again, it should let some of that mud and dirt fill into the gaps more and give you better grip. When printed in solid PETG, and using 4, these should be able to stand up to forces as high as 175lb pushing on it without yielding (according to my FEA model). That is equivalent to 37 mph wind (the maximum recorded in my area) pushing on a fence 6ft tall x 8 ft wide. PLA can actually take more force than PETG (~1.4X) but isn't recommended for outside applications due to its poor UV resistance. But if you live in a fairly cool area, you could paint the PLA and it would work fine. *Disclaimer: Do not use this for anything that could endanger someone's safety! This design would need to be properly tested, with a sample size of many different printers and filaments to be deemed safe, which I am frankly not going to do. Use at your own risk. See printing directions below! Or if you want to remix it, here's the onshape link! https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8fa57aeb360f1bd07e082ee3/w/4d4e028f3efa8df91c94e8d0/e/30fcc3ceec918a6cb4beb743?renderMode=0&uiState=6158d2e44f44007ad27761ce