DIY Studio VFLATs

I made some sturdy VFLATs for my studio from thick Styrofoam boards and 3d printed parts without using any tape – LOL. They came out great! Here is how I made them.

2x white Styrofoam boards 2000x1000x30mm
Black matte, acrylic water based paint
Paint roller
Wood screws d=4mm x 40mm
3D printed folding screen hinges
3D printed corner protectors
Pieces of 1.75mm filament as shaft

I had to order online some white thick Styrofoam boards 2000x1000x30mm because our home-improvement market has only small pieces for sale. Also I wouldn’t use thinner Styrofoam boards because with 2 Meters in length they get too wobbly and may break. A thickness of 30mm was just right.

Use a paint roller and acrylic water based paint (matte black) and paint one side black. I designed and 3d printed a double action / folding screen hinge from PETG based on the ones made from metal. This unique hinge was invented in the 1920s and it’s a great idea.

For the hinge shaft I used some pieces of 1.75mm filament and assembled everything. Afterwards I used some standard d=4x40mm wood screws and fixed the 3d parts to the Styrofoam boards. These long screws hold pretty well in the Styrofoam.

Check the video below to see how this unique hinge works.

These unique hinges are designed with multiple pivot points to allow for the dual movement. I printed everything with a layer height of 0.2mm from PETG on my old Prusa i3 MK3. I also added some spice by using orange PETG that is the same as in my Logo. The corner protectors are also from orange PETG. I think it looks awesome and that little splash of color won’t affect my photoshoot.

You can download the files for 3d printing here:

UPDATE:
2022-02-28 I also added a version for 1 inch (25,4mm) thick styrofoam boards for our american friends 😉 Happy printing! Please use prusaprinters for download because thingiverse is sometimes so frickin slow that I won’t update the files there anymore.

https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/141147-studio-vflat-folding-screen-hinge
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5265909