Print-in-place: articulated chain, 6 links, 20 mm pitch — dimension sheet
Source: Xem Studio, https://xemstudio.com/objects/print-in-place-articulated-chain/  (sheet CC BY 4.0; files Xem Studio Design License, https://xemstudio.com/license/)
Basis: Xem Studio design: identical links on 45° cone pivots; one designed running gap of 0.40 mm
Catalog version: 2026-10-20

Overall (mm): length 128.0, width 18.0, height 8.0
- 3D print in place — prints already assembled, moving, in one job. Drawn at true size with no printer tolerance added; the 0.40 mm running gaps are part of the design.
- Running gap 0.40 mm per side, 0.80 mm on diameter — part of the design, drawn as is. On the 45° faces the same 0.40 mm is measured square to the face (0.57 mm along the axis).
- Bed: laid out straight, every link flat on the bed, joint axes horizontal 4 mm up; knuckles stand on their 45° feet.
- Support while printing: each joint is a fork of two knuckles whose 45° cones point inward into sockets in the next link's centre knuckle; cones on a horizontal axis stay within 45°. The plates are cut back round every knuckle so nothing of one link sits over another.
- Captured: the two opposed cones of each fork hold the next link's knuckle between them; no link can come off.
- Freeing it: bend each joint up and down by hand, link by link, then roll the chain over a finger.
- Motion: each joint bends 162.2° one way and 99.5° the other from straight (computed by turning one link against the next), so the chain wraps round a small radius and lies flat.

key  value  what
gap_mm  0.4  running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance
pitch_mm  20.0  joint to joint
links  6  
chain_l_mm  128.0  laid straight, as printed
chain_w_mm  18.0  
knuckle_d_mm  8.0  
pin_d_mm  5.2  45° cone pivot base (two per joint, from the fork into the next link)
plate_t_mm  3.0  
bend_up_deg  162.2  each joint, from straight
bend_down_deg  99.5  each joint, the other way

Files elsewhere (not hosted by Xem Studio; license as stated by the publisher):
- Xem Studio: Print-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator) — web — Xem Studio design — https://xemstudio.com/

Free files (Xem Studio Design License, Xem Studio; STEP + STL, 7 parts): https://xemstudio.com/files/hardware/print-in-place-articulated-chain/index.json
API: https://xemstudio.com/api/geometry?object=print-in-place-articulated-chain