Pocket Press

The Pocket Press is a 3D printed movable type block print set, designed for ease of use and semi-portability. This fun design is entirely 3D printed and is comprised of 4 parts (plus letter blocks). This project is extremely versatile with the limitless possible words, letters, numbers, punctuation and fonts that can be made into blocks and incorporated with ease!

This project was entirely 3D printed using PLA. The color scheme was a personal choice, but this can be printed in any color.

The first thing I do when I start a project is to define the parameters and find what the goal is. In this case, I wanted to compete in the "Text" competition. This had pretty general parameters so I had to add my own. I wanted to do some sort of print press, either Gutenberg or a Pocket Press of some form. After design considerations I ended up with this design. It is somewhat portable with its small size and can fit in the palm of your hand. The button on the side interacts with a spring and locks the blocks in place so they don't fall out when printing. It took a few attempts, but I came up with a 3D printed spring that has enough strength to lock the blocks and has a small enough footprint to not interfere with the blocks.

This project was 3D printed in PLA on an EnderPro3 using Elegoo PLA and sliced with UltiMaker Cura. Each part was printed separately with the same printer settings.

Quality: 0.16mm

Infill: 5%

Printing Temp: 200 C

Bed Temp: 70 C

*Note: Print quality will vary and should be adjusted*

Now for an easy 4 piece puzzle!

Start with the Base Plate facing up.

Next the Spring goes on the two sprues, be sure to make sure it is oriented like in the image.

Next comes the Lock Plate. This needs to have the flat side facing up with the pillar on the bottom, this will interact with the Spring. This gets placed on the 4 sprues and needs to be placed with a slight angle to activate the Spring.

Finally the Top Plate snaps into place and hold everything in.

-- The Blocks can now be snapped in place and the button pressed to released after use--

PLA 3D prints aren't naturally the best for block printing, this is due to their rigid nature. The result of block printing straight off the PLA is less than desirable with bad quality. After doing my first prints I let the ink sit and dry on the blocks. This created a slight layer on the print that improved later testing.

Press the Letter Blocks into the Face Plate until they lock in, do this to make whatever words you want.

Apply ink to the Letter Blocks.

Flip the Pocket Press and press firmly an evenly onto print surface.

Peel the Pocket Press off and let ink dry on your new print!

Good luck!

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NOTE: The letters are backwards and need to be placed reading right to left. This is so that after you print the image is flipped.

NOTE: Ink can be messy!

NOTE: DO NOT PRESS BUTTON (don't want a big mess of inked blocks all over)