Totem construction system with cuttable parts | Hacker News Reader

Totem construction system with cuttable parts

totemmaker.net

49 pointsunwind20 comments

What really annoys me is it is really, really hard to just buy big kits of generic Meccano/Erector-alike parts. I don't want a kit that makes a tiny car with 50% custom bits for the exact model. I just want hundreds and hundreds of plain metal strips and angles and brackets and braces, all with a compatible module. I can add thousands of nuts and bolts of any size myself. Cheap and replenishable enough that I can bend and cut and drill and solder and glue and paint and prototype, and and generally make with them without worrying.

The best you can apparently do is to buy cheapish vintage bits onesy-twosy on eBay or a few dealers. Which is both needlessly complicated to assemble a good pile that has the network effects to be truly useful, more expensive than it needs to be, especially with postage, and feels somewhat sacrilegious to trash 70+ year old parts.

You could just buy nuts, bolts, threaded rods and metal strips with holes. This might be too soft but you can cut it to any length: https://www.amazon.com/AOOF-Pocket-Carabiner-Screwdriver-Key...

I thought of that but it's slightly too big and thick: if it was scaled down to have 3mm (or M3 clearance, rather) holes it would be better.

For things on the order of a half-inch-ish wide, I usually reach for 15mm slotted DIN rail offcuts, which is usually straight and rigid due to the profile.

Honestly that's the very gap that we're trying to fill with Totem. All of our mechanical parts that are available in our kits first are made available as individually purchasable parts, the whole section is here https://totemmaker.net/product-category/totem-mechanics/ , and strips like you're talking about here: https://totemmaker.net/product/cuttable-strip-bracket-200-mm... , with the intention of them being abundant enough for exactly these purposes. I'm genuinely curious and would appreciate your response on what components could be added or improved to our system to make it more fit for such use cases?

So firstly let me say that the design of the beams is genius, and for things that need a rigid 3D frame, it's looks very good indeed, and your PCBs are cool too. And kudos on the general price point that doesn't gouge at all on simple things like the screws.

As you say, you do have what I would use most: the "strip bracket". Mostly I end up making things that are a smaller, fiddlier scale than the chunkier beams would allow, and bending strips with pliers works well [1]. When I need something on the scale of the beams, I have been reaching for 15mm DIN rail as it's often to hand (for me it's offcuts, but it's a lot more expensive then these plastic beams if you buy it for the purpose). I didn't see those strips at first: the kit that includes them is out of stock, which is a nice problem to have!

I'd like to say it would be great to see more gears and so on, but while I think they're super cool in Meccano, I don't actually have any practical need for them.

Probably what I would use more would be a "small and fiddly" kit rather then "big and frame-y".

I will definitely keep this stuff in mind. Good luck growing your parts library!

1: my tip: use parallel-jaw pliers for easier, straighter bends. You could even sell a model with a groove in the jaw sized for the strip to keep it perpendicular to the edge.

I wish I could go to home depot and buy giant t-slot extrusion kits (like 80/20) and just build the heck out of things.

I would love to build a portable t-slot computer desk with multiple monitors and keyboard... and travel. (take it apart and reassemble it at the beach/mountains to remote work)

The idea in general seems pretty useful - it’s really hard and expensive to design separate parts with cad that combine together well - having a set of existing standard parts makes that way easier.

Is anyone aware of a similar offering for small metal components? Clockwork components?

First thing comes to mind is Soviet Constructor Kits.

Meccano/Erector are the classic predecessors of this idea.

I don't know about clockwork, but for small metal components: https://www.makerbeam.com/

This is awesome, thank you, I was searching for this but without success when looking for smaller beams then 8020 :(

You’re welcome :-). I used to have a few other similar things bookmarked, but now that I’m checking them, the rest seem to be discontinued.

I'm one of the creators behind Totem -- that was actually the original idea that started it all, seeing the difficulty in assembling electronics boards in our own projects made us think if there could be a better way around it. We chose 10mm as a basis for our H-shaped beams and boards, and designed adjustable metal brackets to have an easy way to join them together with M3 bolts. My personal favourite feature is that the holes in beams are just slightly concave shape, so it provides enough friction to hold brackets in place while putting in bolts. We also provide STL, STEP and SketchUp files of our parts here https://totemmaker.net/wiki/parts-library/ for those who want to include it in their designs or 3d print it themselves.

ServoCity is worth a look: https://www.servocity.com/

Ever thought, “I love Lego but I wish it were less reusable”? :P

To be more fair, this looks like it fills a useful niche between Lego and larger systems like aluminium profile.

It's always good sign for us to be compared to Lego/Meccano kits :) Although certainly one can see similarities, but we're striving for a bit different philosophy in our approach - a small number of different structural parts that are adaptable to specific needs. With aluminium profiles you either need to have a wide range of different lengths at your disposal, or be able to and have the tools to cut it. PC/ABS beams sort of sit in the middle, where they provide plenty of structural strength, but also is not too much hassle to work with. Here's an example of our beam cutter in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72namnhBf3g

kind of loving this. was debating getting a 3d printer but didn't wanna print every single part. I can see this being great for 80% of the model and then I can 3d print the specialty stuff!

Is there a connection to indigenous people? Looks like not https://totemmaker.net/about/

Joining the list with Apache, Kayak, and more...

Didn’t the Norse have totems?

The word totem comes from Anishinaabe.

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