<p>I'm working on a gadget a bit like a jewelry box. I want the lid on a hinge. Are 3d printed hinges robust enough for daily use long term? Perhaps with a metal pin?</p>
<p>I want to incorporate the hinge into the design but my thinking is that it would be a waste of time if the hinge will break as I'd need to reprint the whole gadget.</p>

[{'answer_id': 19130, 'author': 'fred_dot_u', 'author_id': 854, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/854', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>More detailed information would be valuable. A hinge the size of a soft drink can is going to be stronger than that of a pencil, generally speaking.</p>\n<p>A substantial portion of determining the strength of a specific printed object relies on the layer orientation and of the material from which the object is printed.</p>\n<p>Consider to examine others' creations on sites such as Thingiverse and PrusaPrinters to see how the result fare against your objectives. I've noted that the better designs will have substantial wall thickness to the barrel portion of the hinge. Additionally, if one can print the hinge with the cylinder axis oriented vertically, the layer lines will &quot;encompass&quot; the pivot. This provides the better strength characteristic of the layer.</p>\n<p>The pin aspect is not as important when considering strength, although a 3D printed pin can be weak if printed vertically.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 19131, 'author': 'Perry Webb', 'author_id': 15075, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/15075', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>The reliability of hinges depends on the design, the material, and the slice parameters.  I've printed reliable hinges that snap together using somewhat flexible materials such as PETG and ABS.  PLA will tend to crack eventually if remaining flexed.  Pins can avoid flexing the hinge.  You could also use screws to hold hinge pieces together.  Gluing pieces of a small hinge together would be difficult to do without interfering with the movement of the hinge.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 19136, 'author': 'user10489', 'author_id': 28397, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/28397', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': True, 'text': '<p>You can make a print-in-place hinge as a horizontal cone with a 45-degree angle.  The opposing face will be a similar conical hole with a 0.25\xa0mm gap between the faces (or whatever your printer\'s tolerance needs to be).</p>\n<p>The strength of this (as in the other answers) depends on the diameter of the hinge.  The strength you need depends on how heavy the thing it holds up will be.</p>\n<p>There are many parts on Thingiverse that use conical hinges like this if you need examples.</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5mEi1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5mEi1.png" alt="disassembled conical hinge" /></a>\nThe above is a disassembled conical hinge from <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5143964" rel="nofollow noreferrer">thing:5143964 (sturdy infinity cube)</a> which I split into parts and then arranged the hinged coupling next to the block it fits in.  (Technically I suppose this is a frustrum.  But things that come to a zero diameter pointy tip tend to not print well.)</p>\n<p>There are 4 holes in the linkage, and the whole assembly is printed at once.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 19138, 'author': 'R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE', 'author_id': 11157, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/11157', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Maker\'s Muse has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JhjhgjchfM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a video</a> on how to design hinged objects for printing. It\'s quite old and might be outdated with regard to materials, slicer functionality, etc. but I think it provides a good background on the topic and a source of ideas. One of the good tips is to look at the abundance of existing hinged designs on Thingiverse and other model sharing sites - that way you can study how they work and test print some before you spend time designing your own thing that might not work.</p>\n'}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19129', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/31811/']