Buckles are very useful and found on a wide variety of items; however, if one breaks, it is hard to find a cheap replacement. Since buckle sizes vary depending on the application, I made a fully parametric OpenSCAD design. There are several other buckle designs available, but none of them can be scaled easily; many of the designs found only provide STL files.
Knowledge of OpenSCAD is needed to manipulate the parametric settings in order to customize the buckle (such as changing the buckle width in the code to match application).
Technical Specifications and Assembly Instructions
Male Buckle: 30% infill, 0.2mm layer height, 60mm/s print speed, print with prongs flat on bed. No support needed. Print at 210 degrees Celsius for PLA.
Female Buckle: 30% infill, 0.2mm layer height, 60mm/s print speed, print flat on bed. Support recommended for the female casing; use Cura's "everywhere" support feature. Print at 210 degrees Celsius for PLA.
Print Times (Varies on size of buckle)
Male Buckle: 23min
Female Buckle: 27min
Overall time: 50min
Assembly
Estimated time: ~5-15min. This time accounts for removing supporting structure inside the female component and restitching fabric through the clips.
The female buckle can be made without supports; however, this results in a buckle that is easily susceptible to wear and tear. Using Cura's "Everywhere" support feature makes the buckle more robust.
Make sure to take time to clear the female buckle of support material before trying to use it. Failure to do so will result in a hard to use buckle.
Cost estimate uses the base STL files on Youmagine. Varying buckle sizes can result in different costs and savings due to the parametric nature of the project.
