3D Printing

Hobbyist creates world's smallest functional circular saw

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Lance Abernethy has 3D-printed a tiny circular saw that works
Lance Abernethy
Abernethy 3D-printed the saw in less than an hour
Lance Abernethy
Lance Abernethy has 3D-printed a tiny circular saw that works
Lance Abernethy
The saw has all the usual components of a typical life-sized circular saw such as a blade holder, a saw guard and two halves that form the main housing
Lance Abernethy
Earlier, Abernethy 3D-printed the world's tiniest power drill
Lance Abernethy
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What do you do after you've 3D-printed the world's tiniest functional power drill? If you're Lance Abernethy, you go on to add another miniature power tool to your Lilliputian toolbox. Abernethy's latest creation is a working 3D-printed circular saw that fits in a briefcase slightly bigger than a thumbnail.

According to a report by 3DPrint.com, Abernethy used Onshape software to design the saw and then printed it using an Ultimaker 2 3D printer. The saw has all the usual components of a typical life-sized circular saw such as a blade holder, a saw guard and two halves that form the main housing. The saw parts have a shell thickness of 0.5 mm and a layer height of 21-40 microns. It took Abernethy less than an hour to print the entire thing.

"The saw was just a natural progression from the drill," Abernethy, a maintenance engineer from Auckland, New Zealand told 3DPrint.com. "I would like to be able to make a whole set of power tools just like my Makita set I have. I’m not sure how many I will get around to making though."

Currently it's powered by a small hearing aid battery. While you can turn the saw on by pressing a teeny-tiny button on its handle, the saw doesn't actually cut anything. Abernethy plans to refine the design to 3D-print a saw that does cut, later on.

Check out both the drill and the saw in the video below.

Source: 3DPrint.com

View gallery - 4 images
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6 comments
POOL PUMPREAPAIR guy longwood
What no blade guard ? I smell a lawsuit.
mach37
Amazing multi-dimensional feat - fitting a saw obviously bigger than a thumbnail into a briefcase slightly bigger than a thumbnail. Why no picture of the briefcase?
Second thoughts: maybe the writer intended the thumbnail comparison to apply only to the saw blade, not the briefcase, or perhaps not even the entire assembled saw?
Martin Hone
That's great if you want to build a match stick model of a sailing ship.......
I assume he didn't print the motor, so where did that come from ?
Bryan Paschke
And with all these tools he's going to build a tiny little house?
Al Mayberry
Interesting cool! What's the story with the motor?
DonaldStone
Be real handy for cuttin' off those big dry booger logs off the bottom leg of your britches.