From the Loftsmith Workshop

Kit card test print: gate size and slot clearance finder

Saves you from guessing before you print a snap-off kit. One credit-card-sized sheet holds a row of small tabs on gates that get thicker, plus a row of slots that get looser, each marked with dots. Print it, see which snap clean and which fit snug, and use those.

1 part · 6 g · 86 × 54 × 2 mm

by Loftsmith Workshop

Flat teal card with two rows of small dotted tabs on a frame and a row of slots with dot markings along one edge
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No adjustable sizes

Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.

Change it in the Studio

Parts

  • kit-card · PLA · Flat on the bed, pips up, as modelled

    One 85.6 x 54 x 2 mm piece: frame with runner, 5 square tiles (row A), 5 round discs (row B), 2 snap-out keys and 5 numbered slots in the bottom rail. About 6 g and 12 minutes at 2 walls, 15% infill. PLA because kit cards are usually printed in PLA, and a gate's snap-out behaviour depends on the mat

Print settings

Layer height
0.2 mm (0.1 mm if a gate thickness slider is set to an odd tenth such as 0.5 or 0.7 mm)
Walls
2
Infill
15%
Supports
None
Notes
About 6 g and 12 minutes at the defaults (2 walls, 15% infill). The engine gives the same figure at 4 walls and 25% because the card is almost all perimeter at 2 mm thick. Print with the same filament, nozzle, layer height and first-layer settings you plan to use for your kit, or the results will no

Assembly

  1. Print the card flat and let it cool on the plate before you take it off.
  2. Row A (square tiles) tests gate width: the gates go from 0.8 to 1.6 mm wide at 1.0 mm thick, and the pips show the step from 1 (narrowest) to 5. Twist each tile out by hand and note which ones break cleanly at the frame with a small nub, and which tear or leave a long stub.
  3. Row B (round discs) tests gate thickness: the gates go from 0.6 to 1.4 mm thick at 1.2 mm wide, pips 1 to 5. Snap them out the same way and note the thinnest gate that held the part through printing and handling, and the thickest that still snaps without tools.
  4. Snap out the two keys. Push a key's tenon straight down into each bottom-rail slot, numbered 1 (0.1 mm total clearance) to 5 (0.5 mm), until its shoulder sits on the rail.
  5. The best slot for a kit joint is the tightest one the key enters by finger pressure and stays in when you turn the card upside down and shake it. Use that clearance, and the gate sizes you picked, in your kit design.

Good to know

  • This shows how your own printer, filament and slicer behave. Results from one setup do not carry over to another material or nozzle. The engine checks geometry and printability, not how hard each gate is to break.
  • Gate thicknesses that are not a multiple of your layer height get rounded by the slicer. Use 0.1 mm layers if you set an odd tenth (0.5 or 0.7 mm).
  • Elephant's foot on the first layer can tighten the bottom of the slots. If every slot feels tight, check the first-layer squish before you trust the result.
  • The key's tenon is printed at the card thickness, so the slot test covers the card's height accuracy and the hole size in one fit. A cross-lap joint between two card parts uses the same clearance, but test it in your own kit.
  • Each tab hangs on a single gate so that it tests only that gate. Real kit parts usually have two or more gates, so expect them to hold more firmly than these tabs.
I printed this Remix

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