C-3PO Shoulder Hinge

thingiverse

These files allow you to 3D print a shoulder hinge for the C-3PO torso files the Jesse M designed so you don’t have to cut up metal hinges. These files should also end up looking a little more screen accurate once sanded and painted. Minimal hardware is needed, I got it all off of Amazon. Here’s how I put it together and the hardware I used when printing at 100%, if you go bigger or smaller you will likely have to adjust screw sizes etc etc. Forgive my print quality in the photos, I was moving quick to get some photos done for this post. INSTRUCTIONS, look at photos for reference: To do two shoulders you will need this hardware: - #4-40 x 3/8” countersunk machine screws with nuts.Quantity: 4 screws and 4 nuts. - M1.6 x 10mm screws. Quantity: 4 screws - M1.6 Threaded inserts for 3D printing/plastics. Quantity: 4 - 3/32 copper rod, cut to length: roughly 2”. Quantity: 2 -First I added the threaded inserts to the shoulder bells with a soldering iron. Just place the insert over the hole and then press the tip of your soldering iron to the insert and it will melt into the plastic as it heats up. Alternately you could forget the inserts and use nuts on the screws. I chose inserts because there’s not a lot of room in the shoulder bell for nuts. -Next cut your copper rod to length, roughly 2 inches. Just long enough to fit in the largest piece of the hinge. Take the rod and use it to connect pieces 1 and 2 of the hinge. -Then use the M1.6 screws to attach the hinge to the shoulder bell via the threaded inserts. The top of hinge piece 1 has a flat side and a rounded side, make sure the flat side goes against the shoulder bell. -Then use the #4-40 screws to attach the hinge/shoulder bell to the shoulder ring with nuts. There’s not a lot of room under the shoulder ring for nuts, so I actually used #4-40 screws because they were slightly larger than the holes Jesse put in the shoulder rings so they threaded through tightly without nuts. -Then simply use some glue to put the screw cover from the hinge files over the screw heads. There’s a long rectangular cutout for the glue and to help line up the cover easily. That’s It! Again, if you print at a larger or smaller size, you will need to adjust your screw and rod sizes.