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I'm satisfied with the structural strength of the various leg spreaders I designed when used under static conditions, but I am worried about the potential for catastrophic failure if some kid at a star party decides to fall on it or something. Thus I analyzed the strength of an unused prototype wedge segment of a sectional spreader to see what it took to break it. The failure points were pretty much where I'd expect. starting at the narrowest section of the wedge around the storage slot. It took quite a bit to break it, but once you hear the crack, you know it's about gone and it breaks the rest of the way relatively quickly. From there I was also able to break the thinner parts of the rib without a ton of effort. There were certain directions though that I couldn't break by hand on the smaller pieces. I should note that I broke this by twisting about the weakest part of a single section, whereas when assembled and installed, the combination of forces in play tend to be in directions where the structural strength is much higher. However, based on this test I'll probably make a couple of changes, both to the design of this particular part to beef up the junction between the rib and the body and to the print settings to use the heavier shell and infill that I had been using on earlier prints before I upgraded my printer. |