3D Printed Chastity Belts

[Mercedes]

With the arrival of 3D printers, it's expected that they will revolutionize the manufacturing process, and sooner rather than later. I'm wondering if anyone has started looking into applying this to the manufacturing of belts and/or devices?

Of course, this opens lots of possibilities, possibly including measuring via 3D scanners (although I'd be cautious about expecting that to be accurate just yet), visual design customization, accommodation of anatomical problem areas, making it incredibly easy to rescale sizes or reshape, reducing the manufacturing time and reducing the costs. A person could do some pretty inventive things with locks, too, although that would get into finer assembly.

There are already low-cost online printing options that print stainless steel, although their printed works might be too low-resolution, and they use bronze in the hardening process, so would be toxic if next to the skin for long periods of time. Printing in titanium is possible and non-toxic, but still very expensive, and quadruples if you want the surfaces polished. The technology is coming along.

I'm interested in creating a belt for myself, but am interested in hearing from anyone else who has looked into this, and trading ideas.

[Tobbe]

Interesting thought Mercedes, and actually only the part against her crotch, need to be produced in a 3D printer. The belt around the waist and wire over anus can then be easily joined together with the customized part.

[Admin]

3D printed chastity belts, I like the idea.

[HappyH]

I could see this perhaps working for doing prototyping, and it could very good for ensuring the measurements are correct prior to making a metal belt.

But does anyone think it would be strong enough to make a production grade belt ?

I've only seen these printers at a trade show I was working at, and I admit I know very little about them, but from what I heard, they are designed for prototyping ??

[dashingdarla]

This is a truly awesome idea actually... it would allow belts (or just the crotch piece) to fit better and be lighter than metal belts made with traditional metalworking methods.

I don't know about strength of 3d printed objects either way, but like with most things, I would think there would be different grades of raw materials that could be chosen from offering different characteristics (like strength)?

If it's not strong enough, one could "print" a mold and lay carbon fiber and resin on/in that mold?

[Mercedes]

It's far enough along now to do better than prototyping, but not with an entry-level printer, and the cost is not yet low enough to compete with the current belt market. I do think, though, that by the time a design itself is perfected, that gap could narrow.

In terms of hardness, it is possible to print in titanium. The expense, though, is enormous, especially when one takes into account polishing the surface (the finished print tends to be rough, so it takes some aggressive work to smooth everything out). This is done by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) -- DMLS printers themselves are very expensive, but it's possible to print through a third party until that cost comes down.

Printing in stainless steel is more common, and more affordable. The problem there is that the current process uses bronze to harden the material (30%), which will irritate the skin. So a liner would be needed, and that complicates it just enough, at the moment (added cost, unknown toxicity of the rubber-like material... although it's being used in clothing already).

ABS might be hard enough in terms of one of the plastics, and brings the cost down into the current range. The question here is toxicity, and I don't know the answer to that, yet. As with any printed material, you'll want to allow for a "cure" time before wearing, which will bypass the period of highest risk, but it's still possible that long-term skin contact would be an issue. It's also being used in clothing already, but hasn't faced a test of time, yet.

There are some advantages to creating a belt this way over traditional methods, though, in that you can quickly produce it, with no special tooling. You can incorporate internal features and additions that can't normally be cast, or would be difficult to machine. You can model the secondary shield right into the belt proper, if you like. Complex geometries, multiple components -- it can all be turned into fewer parts, and fewer vulnerable joints. With ABS, for example, it may be possible to produce a "living hinge," which is a built-in hinge, so that the entire thing is a single piece, and bends only where needed, to put it on.

[CylonSexFiend]

From experience with form-fitting body armour in ABS using premade sheets this would not too difficult.
We cut shapes from templates and heat the ABS in a good oven to around 129DegC then shape them on formers. The armour is very strong and lasts for years. There are some problems with ABS though the greatest for making CB's being that ABS absorbs water moisture which would probably be a problem for making primary crotch plates. Another is that it is hard to bond or weld. We use rivet assembly the rivet holes can't be too near an edge and should be cambered and polished to prevent cracking. (3D forming will alleviate some need to bond or weld)
Polycarbonate might be a better material as it does not absorb water moisture (and wood look so cool in transparent) It is harder and more rigid but slightly less tough, scratches must be polished out to prevent cracking'
Some climbing harness waistband cores are made from ABS

[BristolTop]

Interesting thread.

I built a 3D printer a couple of years back (Prusa Mendel), and overall it was a fun experience, but still very far from "turnkey".

Most of the affordable consumer ones print in ABS (which, as mentioned above) absorbs moisture or PLA, which is biodegradable, so another bad material.
There have been some experiments in printing in polycarbonate, which would seem an appropriate material or nylon, which again might be OK.

One of the biggest issues with consumer stuff is the adhesion layer to layer. Parts are quite strong in one direction, but they can delaminate quite easily.
That said, I've seen some aluminium items that have been cast using a "lost PLA" process. They worked really well, but the sort of parts used on a belt (ie thin shells) don't lend themselves well to casting. Plus skin compatible casting metals need quite specialist equipment.

Polymorph (Polycaprolactone) was one of the first material used for 3D printing. It seems to be used with false limbs to make formable cups for limbs, but again it is biodegradable and goes soft at higher temperatures, so not really secure (but could be great fun to play with as a temporary thing).

The metal printers are really awesome. The titanium laser sintering ones are fabulous, and give really good material properties for the finished parts - the surface finish is excellent too. I don't think they'll ever be affordable or practical for home use though.

[Pyra Gorgon]

Would someone please post some links that they find pertinent and of keen interest to this topic?

My "tree of knowledge" lacks fruit when it comes to 3-D printing technology. I do not even know the right questions to ask!

[Mercedes]

My own explorations are currently held back by $$$ issues, but here are some quick thrown-together starting points. Some of these links may be repeats and I'm probably skipping over a lot because of time, sorry.

Printers are still evolving, so I find it premature to buy outright. If you want to take the plunge, Makerbot and Makibox are some of the better-known accessible models working mostly in plastics.

Scanners are further along, but higher resolution / detail might still be nice. Some examples: http://www.goscan3d.com/en and http://www.matterform.net/scanner -- there are also a bunch of different software progs out there (commercial and non-com) that allow people to use the Kinect for Xbox360 as a 3D scanner.

Online 3D printing services include i.materialise.com, shapeways.com, scuplteo, Ponoko, and more. Most of these are upload-and-ship services, and there are limitations by material, by size, by ToS, etc., so check out the material data sheets & relevant info.

Makerbot has a place for people to post design ideas, Thingiverse, which include things like this working pin tumbler padlock: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11423

3D printed items will often have a porosity problem in that they way that they're constructed will make it possible for moisture to be an issue -- even the metals. And as mentioned, the stainless steel commonly printed has an issue in that bronze is used to harden, which causes skin irritation. A possible solution for both is a coating, and one worth looking at is here: http://makerlove.com/Surface-finish/index.html