Old Luxo "Vision" desk lamp elbow hinge

thingiverse

This is a replacement part for an old desk lamp model from Luxo (around 1990-1998). I got this lamp from an ebay reseller who was clearing some old storage. This lamp came with a cracked joint (last image shows one half of the original part). I got refunded but tried anyway to repair it. I tried everything - epoxy, steel nuts, cianoacrylate.. no type of repair could stand the high shearing loads on two pins inside this hinge exerted by the lamp self weight and movements. So I decided to print it from scratch using ABS. I reverse engineered the original part, making some simplifications due to the different manufacturing method (orignal part was injection molded ABS). In particular, the ribs are slightly thicker, the outer rim is also thicker and the visible face is totally flat (original was slightly curved). The printing orientation was unfavourable against the shear loads on the two pins, but if one takes enough care during assembly, the printed part will behave good since the exercise load is resisted by the 2 screws inside these pins once they are mounted, freeing the pins from the destructive load that would separate the printing layers. After several attempts and broken pins, and about 2 years of attempts (time passed before I thought to 3d printing), I got a final working part and the lamp is functional again.