How to Make a 3D Printable Bracelet Using Tinkercad!

A simple guide to designing and assembling a 3D printed bracelet chain using Tinkercad.

This should show you all you need to know to make a basic link chain and give you the foundation you need to make many more interesting and exciting pieces of jewellery!

This is aimed at beginners to Tinkercad and uses only the simple shapes readily available in the basic shapes library.

If you'd just like to print the chain, the stls are available for free here, feel free to download them and jump ahead to the printing step!

Tinkercad

Filament (I prefer PLA for this)

A 3D printer! Or someone to print it for you - there are many companies who will print your designs for you too.

(Optional) Watch Pins - I will be assembling everything using only pieces of 1.75mm filament but if you want something sturdier, watch pins would be a great option. You'll have to consider their measurements when making the holes in step 4 though.

Once you've signed into Tinkercad you'll need to create a new project, you can name your project by clicking the auto generated name in the top left corner and typing into the text box.

First thing you'll need is a box from the basic shapes library found on the right side of the page.

Resize your box to be the size you want each link on your bracelet to be by selecting it and either clicking and dragging the white squares or clicking a white square and then typing in the measurements you want for each side.

Mine is 15x15mm and I made it 4mm tall so I will have space to put a hole through it for pins - adjust to your needs! You should have something that looks along the lines of the picture when finished.

Add two box holes from the basic shapes library

Resize them until they are a suitable size for your project, I made mine 9mmx9mm. Height doesn't matter so long as it's at least as tall as your link.

Now place the box holes so that they overlap your link on both sides as pictured - make sure to leave a gap in the middle, the bigger the gap, the stronger your links will be. Here I left 5mm between the two holes.

Once you're happy with the placement, select all three boxes and group them together (this button is highlighted in the 2nd picture or you can press ctrl+G) - you should now have something that looks like the 3rd image.

The align tool may be helpful in positioning your pieces - this is also highlighted in the 2nd image

Bring in another box from the basic shapes library

Resize it so it's the same height as the outer part but will fit inside it as pictured. In my case, the outer part had a 9x5mm gap in it so I made this piece 7x10mm

You should find that if you copy and paste another outer piece, they fit around each other nicely as in the 2nd picture.

Bring in a cylindrical hole from the basic shapes library.

Rotate so it's lying along the work plane and resize it so it's a suitable size for your project, mine will have a diameter of 2mm so I can use 1.75mm filament to join the links but adjust this as needed. (see picture for an example)

(This may be something you need to trial and come back to depending on how precise your printer is)

You'll need 4 of these cylinders so once you've got it resized, just copy and paste it. (picture 2)

Lay out 2 outer links with 2 inner links on the work plane and position them as you'd like them to be in the finished bracelet - see 1st picture for guidance.

Next, place the holes where you want them - make sure they're not too close to the edge of the links or they'll be a weak point.

You should have something that looks like the second picture (it looks like 3 holes but that's because 2 are in exactly the same spot (I've highlighted the spot where you'll need 2) this will make sense in the next step.

Again, the align tool may be helpful here!

Now you've got your placement sorted, you'll need to select the two holes that go through the middle link as well as the middle link itself and group them.

Then you'll need to select one of the inner links and the two holes that go through that and group those too - this is why we have 2 holes in the same spot as one is used for the outer piece and one for the inner one!

You can then delete the other links and you should be left with something that looks like the 2nd picture.

You can now export your finished shapes as STLs from Tinkercad (or grab my STLs for free from here) and start printing!

I'm not going to give detailed instructions on how to print because it'll depend entirely on your printer and filament etc. but I'll make a few recommendations!

• Print in PLA or something that copes with bridges well - you don't want to be trying to remove supports from 2mm holes in tiny pieces - so long as you don't print too fast and have your cooling on, you should be fine without supports.
• These are small pieces so you may have trouble with them coming unstuck from the bed. If cleaning and relevelling the bed doesn't sort it, try printing with a raft or brim and slow down the first layer or 2.
• If you're feeling fancy, I think this looks great when you use different colours for the inner and outer links!

Once your pieces are printed and you've removed your brim or raft if you needed one, it's time to start putting it all together!

This is fairly simple but can be a little fiddly

Take 1 of your outer links and 1 inner link and fit them together

Cut a piece of filament a little longer than the outer link and pass it through both pieces as shown in picture one.

Repeat the process adding an inner then outer link until your bracelet is the desired length

Finish by trimming any excess filament off the edges, it should now look something like picture 2 - Well done! You just designed, printed and assembled your own bracelet!

Brilliant, you made a bracelet using Tinkercad, printed and assembled it!!

If you're looking for more ideas, why not try experimenting with printing in different colours or try making different shapes fit together using the same concept now you've got the basics down - here's a zig-zag style one I made too!