Tofty's Prybar (pic heavy)

[Tofty]

Hi all,
I've been working on this for a while but i think i've finally got a fully working version:



My single-piece prybar and nail lifting tool with a range of metric hex drivers (5.5, 6, 7 and 8mm), a bottle opener, a 1/4" hex bit holder and two 1/4" hex driver points.
The centre cut-out will hold and store a standard PH2 or PZ2 25mm long quarter inch hex bit.









This model is designed to be printed in Stainless Steel or one of it's variants and although not fully tested yet, the functionality of this prybar in stainless is just as hoped and hasn't let me down so far.



The prybar can be secured to a keychain or lanyard with a No.2 McGizmo clip or similar 25mm gate clip through the 5.5mm hex hole.



The prybar was printed by shapeways, if you want to have a look at it's shop page just search 'prybar' or 'tofty' on the shapeways site.

Any comments welcome

[Taxi Dad]

that looks very useful sir !
Michael like 

[Gareth]

I love the end slot for the screwdriver bits, very neat idea.

[Syph007]

Neat design!  Is this printed steel as strong as regular steel? Seems like a decent way to prototype things.

[AHB]

If you need someone to try it out, I'll be happy to help..
Looks very useful mate.

[MultiMat]

Where do I get one 

Looks great mate 

[Tofty]

Thanks alot guys.

Neat design!  Is this printed steel as strong as regular steel? Seems like a decent way to prototype things.

Not sure, probably not quite.
The stainless steel is placed as a particulate bonded with an adhesive. Then the finished model is then sintered to burn off the adhesive which is replaced with bronze. The stainless steel is said to be similar to a 420 grade and i know it is much harder than mild steel as i have tried to drill it.
I can't believe it will be as strong as hardened tool steel but the model is very thick so i don't thing it will break from the kind of work it's intended for.

As for prototyping....absolutely, the only problem is that the stainless material has shrinkage issues which can't easily be calculated before making the item. For instance i had to order this prybar twice in stainless: the first time to my original dimensions, the second time to the modified dimensions i was able to work out from the measured error in the first model. It's not as easy as just increasing all dimensions by a percentage factor either, some cut-out had to change more than others.
So my point is really that the stainless model will be of limited use as a prototype for something that will be made by another production method. Thats why my work is aimed at producing finished useable items......for a given value of useable that is.

If you need someone to try it out, I'll be happy to help..
Looks very useful mate.

I may well consider doing a pass-around so keep a look out for the list if i forget to add you to it.

Where do I get one 

Looks great mate 

I'm probably not allowed to do this but oh well:
http://www.shapeways.com/model/686005/bd6c6cb4a12801fcfd9475ed3ab130e6

I won't pretend the model isn't over-priced for what it is or that the postage isn't expensive but until i have enough demand for a run of water-jetted versions this is the only way.
But look at it this way; where else can you get gold plated one-piece multitools?

[nuphoria]

Great design - you have been busy over on Shapeways

[Sparky415]

              

     That's even better than I thought it would be Tofty 

[jds1]

Really nice design!

Jeff

[Tofty]

that looks very useful sir !
Michael like 

Thanks Michael, some of the tools are really only intended for emergency work, the hex drivers for instance require the removal of the o-rings which is a bit of a hassle. Also the hex drivers are not really close enough to the ends to allow unrestricted spannering if a hex screw or nut is too close to a protruding object. It's all a compromise with something this small.

I love the end slot for the screwdriver bits, very neat idea.

Yeah, thats probably to only thing i haven't seen done before on a one-piece tool.

Great design - you have been busy over on Shapeways

You should see all the stuff on there i haven't made viewable to the public.......yep it's even worse than the stuff you can see. One day i'll actually make something useful........one day.

              

     That's even better than I thought it would be Tofty 

Thanks Sparky, i didn't even know that the hex bit would fit into the end at 90 degrees until i tried it.

Just a heads up, i'm properly considering getting quite a few of these waterjetted out of 5mm titanium, if you get some of your prybar designs finalised i'm sure i could find you some space on the sheet. In fact anyone on this forum who has a design that's reasonably small and would benefit from being cut out from 5mm titanium sheet, let me know and i'll see what i can do. No promises at this stage though.

Really nice design!

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, glad you like it.

[Mr. Whippy]

I missed this earlier (lots of irons in the fire right now).

Tofty, that one piece is fantastic.  I love the 2 position bit driver.  Very clever.

Let me know when you need my mailing address. 

[Tofty]

Thanks Mr. Whippy,
I've been talking to people about getting some of these cut from a high grade stainless blade steel but it's uncertain at the moment exactly what is happening, they'll get done eventually i'm sure.