1,872 Flaps. A Big Problem I Should Have Seen Coming.
I just began the split-flap sign and I already have a big problem.
I’m using Scott Bezek’s excellent open-source documentation as a guide for this project. In his yet-to-be-released Version 2, each cell in the sign grid can hold 52 flaps. He warns that this version allows for 36 cells before you need additional electronic safeguards.
I want the sign to be big, but I don’t need a fire. So I’ll call this my limit (…for now).
So let’s do some math.
36 cells * 52 flaps equals… 1,872 total flaps 😳
Yikes. I should have done this math sooner.
Maybe I’ll Buy Them?
The first, and easiest, option is to buy the flaps.
Scott sells pre-fabricated flaps through his Etsy page. I bought a set of 52 on Black Friday to check them out and they’re really nice. They are made from thin matte black PVC (the same material as a hotel keycard), are cut to the correct size, and have the characters printed directly on them.
The problem? They’re expensive (at least for my budget).
Each pack is $28 plus tax and shipping. 36 packs would cost over $1,000 - and that doesn’t include any of the other hardware I’ll need.
That’s not going to work.
I need another option.
Maybe I’ll Cut Them Myself?
Other people have manually cut out their flaps. Scott has some instructions to do so.
They order black ID cards, create a few jigs, and cut each flap by hand with a box cutter. They then apply stickers one-by-one to each flap.
Aside from the fact that 2,000 ID cards are still expensive (over $500), there is no way I’m manually cutting out that many by hand. I want this project to be fun, not miserable. And I want to complete it in my lifetime.
So my next thought was to use a laser cutter which would cut the manual effort in half. Unfortunately, you can’t cut PVC on a laser. It releases toxic fumes that are harmful to both humans and the machinery.
So that won’t work either.
Bring In The Robot
I have a 3D printer.
Now this could be the solution. Not only can the printer create the flaps to exact size, but it could also print the characters in the process, avoiding the need for stickers. Printing would also be much cheaper. I’d need about 5kg of filament. And at roughly $20 for a 1kg roll, it would be less than $150. Now that’s more like it!
The only problem is this will take a long time.
Each 52-flap set will take roughly 11 hours to print. More math…
36 sets * 11 hours = 396 total hours
That’s over 16 straight days of printing! And that doesn’t factor in all the breaks that happen when switching filament, cleaning build plates, etc. It will be at least a month when all is said and done.
Still, I’ll gladly take the time if it saves me that much money and manual effort.
But before I get ahead of myself, I don’t know if my printer can even produce high-quality flaps. I’ll need to test some things out. If successful, we’re good to go. If not, I think we’re at a dead end.
But let’s discuss that more next week.
Thanks as always for reading. And welcome to the new subscribers who joined last week!
If you enjoy reading about this project, I’d appreciate it if you would give this post a like, comment below, or share it with your friends. I’d also love to hear your suggestions on how to make this project better - I’m learning everything as I go!
Happy New Year! 🥳
Good luck - that is a lot of printing.