THREE - THE REASSEMBLER

The STL files for this project are available to purchase. Just message me.

PLA PRINT SETTINGS

• 0.2mm layer height
• 2 shells
• 10% hexagonal infill
• cooling fan ON
• rafts/support OFF

Tendons MUST be printed with 0.2mm layer height or they won't function properly and could break much more easily.

FILES: naming protocol: assembly order_part name_quantity of each STL required

So, "7_finger_5" means this is the seventh part in the assembly order, the part name is "finger", and you'll need to print five of them.

ASSEMBLY NOTES:

The fit on most parts is intentionally tight so I recommend using pliers and/or a small thwacker to gently squeeze or tap parts together to save your fingers and ensure a proper fit.

I also recommend test snapping the finger bases into their sockets and removing them a few times before assembling everything. This will slightly loosen the snap-fit which will make the final assembly much easier.

PLA will loosen or soften slightly over time. At first, moving parts will be quite stiff or sticky but should loosen up and move more smoothly with a little use. I recommend moving pieces back and forth and loosening things up as much as possible before the final assembly. Once it is fully assembled, I recommend gently working the fingers and triggers by hand to make sure it's all moving smoothly and to reduce the chance of breaking the tendons.

TENDON NOTES:

Take special care during assembly not to kink the tendons. If you do kink a tendon, especially if it is creased, you should stop and replace it. Kinked tendons will break easily and will be the first thing to fail.

Print file "0_Test_1" at the settings listed above. This file contains a test finger and two test tendons that you'll use to ensure your settings are correct.

Make sure the tendons form a nice loop, free of kinks and bends when the ends are touched together.

Make sure the finger joints can pivot freely. GENTLY work the joints loose against a table edge, turning the finger over frequently. BE PATIENT. In my experience, the joints will almost always come loose IF I'm patient and work them slowly and gently. If you try to force them they'll probably break.

If you're unable to free the joints without breaking them you will need to make some adjustments to your print settings or plastic selection.

FOR ALL SUBSEQUENT FINGERS: Once the joints are free, work them back and forth a bit until the fingers are nice and loose.

Press the knuckle onto the wrist until it is fully seated. You may need to press it into the table or gently thwack it.

Do whatever you gotta do to make these parts look like the picture. Without breaking anything.

Make your fingers do what my fingers do in that gif and notch the tendons into the triggers.

They should press fit but might need a squish against the table to fully seat. Take care not to kink the tendons.

Pay attention to the positions and alignments of the triggers and tendons. There's an upper, middle, and lower trigger and the tabs on the ends of the tendons should all be facing outward when you're done.

Thread the tendons through the wrist+knuckle assembly and press/flex the triggers into place.

The triggers should slide freely back and forth without binding. You might need to slide them back and forth a bit to loosen them up.

Tack care not to kink the tendons.

GENTLY crack and loosen all of the finger joints, just like the test finger.

Identify the fingertips (the smallest joint, the one with a notch) and finger base (the other end, dummy)

The segments have a front and back, and top and bottom, relative to the finger. They are oriented correctly in the pictures above and you'll need to orient them the same way or the fingers won't bend properly.

Starting from the finger base, push the shortest segment over the finger until it seats on the second (from fingertip) joint. Repeat for the middle and final segments. The base finger joint and fingertip should be empty.

You may need to thwack the finger joints into the segments to get them started - then push/pull/thwack them over subsequent finger joints until they are in position.

Repeat for all three fingers, until you have three fingers that look like the picture above.

The segments should "snap" into position on the finger but sometimes it's hard to tell when they've seated correctly. The spacing between segments should be uniform and when bent in either direction the edges of the segments should just touch without overlapping one another.

Thread each tendon through the channels inside the finger segments and fully seat each finger base into the knuckle.

Take care not to kink the tendons.

Check that the tabs on the ends of the tendons align with the notches in each fingertip.

Notch the tendons into the fingertip. Use pliers to fully seat the tendon tabs, if needed.

Don't kink nothin'!

Press the fingertip segments onto the end of each finger.

CONGRATS! YOU'VE MADE THE REASSEMBLER!

Remember this is a puppet at heart. Play around with it and see how it moves and behaves. If you tilt it up or down, does gravity affect how the fingers move? Try fast moves, slow moves, big moves, and tiny moves. Try to give it a little personality! Have fun and send me pics or gifs of your Reassembler in action!