I really like the connection mechanism behind the Beco Blocks. 1  It appears to allow a wide range of movement and rotation in the joint.  There’s a lot of applications that come to mind:

• Beco Block Voltron. ‘Cause, you know, I really really want a printable Voltron.
• Beco Block Leonardo Robot. ‘Cause my robot’s hips keep breaking! 2
• Beco connector Z axis crank. There’s a crank for everything, why not a Beco Block?
• Beco connected printruder. Why not just snap the extruder together and hold it in place with fewer bolts?  Or, if that’s too fragile, why not a printruder that snaps into the printed dinos?
• Beco connector dalek hinges. All that is stopping my dalek from ruling the universe (and time!) is some freedom of movement.

In furtherance of these possibilities, I’ve taken the smallest male/female Beco Block and sliced it between the male/female connector parts.  My idea is to start grafting these connector parts into other designs.  I need to fix up the files a little – but when I get them usable I’ll post them up to Thingiverse.

1. Having only printed one block, I suppose I can’t really speak about it intelligently.  Then again, ignorance has never really been an impediment to me talking/typing before… [↩]
2. I’m not kidding.  It’s pretty sad.  First his left shoulder, then his right hand, then a hip, then both hips. [↩]