My papercraft tutorial - pt.4 - Different joints

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- Previously, I already had posts about tutorials where I briefly touched on this topic, there was even a separate post on special ball joints, but this time I will talk a little more about the different ways of using all joints. But still I advise you to read the previous posts, if you did not do this earlier.

Let me remind you how to make the simplest joint:

- The size of the details will depend on the size of the figure you want to make, but the manufacturing itself does not change. For example, let there be strips of paper of arbitrary length, but 1 cm and 2 cm wide. All you need is any core (round pencil, pen core, etc.) to roll paper 2 cm wide on it, slightly unwind to the place where the paper comes in contact and apply glue to the rest of it. A lot of paper is not required to wind, two turns are more than enough. You should get a tube 2 cm wide. 
 The second part of the joint needs to be done more carefully, because we wrap a strip of 1 cm wide around the resulting tube, also glue it, but so that it does not stick to the tube, gently rotate it or carefully remove it. When everything is dry, we put the resulting ring on the tube, place it in the center of the tube, and cut its edges into equal width with petals and bend it outward (or inward). If everything is correct, the ring will rotate on the tube and other parts can already be glued to it.

How to apply joints


- A fixed joint directly between the parts of the hands or feet will allow you to tilt in both directions, if you DO NOT need it, just put the joint lower / higher to the edge of the part, then the tilt will be possible only in one direction.


- Requires a complete bend of the arms or legs? Just make a double joint, the main thing is to install it correctly so that the arm or leg does not bend in the opposite direction, but if the joints are not large they can also be installed at the edge of the parts.


- The most striking example, the recent alteration of "Herman". His knees and elbows are double-jointed.

Non-standard types of a simple joint:


- Large rings at the top are also a “joint”, the petals were curved outward, glued with a piece of paper covering the entire ring, and after drying, cut off at the edge. This is a combination of a joint with a piston, but let's talk about pistons another time.


- A complicated option is a hidden joint, similar can be seen in toys, but if it consists of a whole piece of plastic, a similar “washer” is made manually. It is done in much the same way as a regular joint, but the second part is equal in width to the first and on the second part the edges are immediately cut into the petals. We pre-prepare the ring of the desired size and diameter, apply glue along its edge and apply it to a piece of paper. The second part of the joint will be glued to that piece in the center of the ring, and then another piece of paper will be glued on the other side. All that remains is to make holes on both sides and adjust to size, using the sharp edge of the scissors, pencil or match. To smooth out irregularities, use a small drop of glue.


- A very simple option (reinforced by a connection of two "washers") is two sealed pieces of paper with a hole, glued parallel to each other on each part, connected and fixed by a sleeve, it remains only to bend the edges of the sleeve or cut into the "petals" and glue it pieces of paper, for a complete connection.

The use of joints in the hands

- I made sketches of approximate options that can be made of paper. One note, some compounds can be used in others, but I will not repeat.
a) "skeletal arms" - completely consist of tubes connected by joints. In most variants, the main tube is used as part of the joint for the thumb or as a joint for tilting the hand and attaching to a rotating base. In the 5th and 7th embodiment, it is shown that the basis of other fingers can be used as part of the joint. The 8th option is the most simplified, there are no joints in the fingers, only in their bases.


- Four-fingered hand "a) 3", the main tube serves as a joint for the thumb, and another joint is attached to it on a rotating basis.




A more complex version of a skeletal arm with pistons:


б) Ordinary hands - usually on a rigid basis, are not rarely combined with a skeletal base for ease of finger attachment. Here are the options with a "mittens" and individual fingers and variations on how to make the thumb movable. from the 1st to the 5th option and the 8th part of the hand with the thumb bends. The 6th option differs only in a reduced joint size. 7th option, the thumb can only rotate, and the joint is hidden in the palm of the hand. For more realistic palm can be made slightly curved or add the ability to slightly bend it. An approximate cut line is visible from the 5th to the 8th number. The 9th option is simplified, there are no joints in the fingers, only in their bases.

Variant of "working mittens" without the use of ball joints:


Combination of skeletal base with ball joints, after reinforced with sheets of paper:


This is what a hand lookslike with ball joints and a bend in the middle, before being reinforced with paper cuts:


в) Ball joints in the hands - everything is simple, instead of ordinary joints, hinges are used or in combination. Only a few options are shown, because they are almost similar to the previous type.

- The combination of 3 connections has been replaced by one hinge, which performs the same functions, but it is more reliable and allows you to fix the position of the hand.


г-1) "Claws" or hands without a palm and г-2) claw placement options."

- Classic claw on a rotating telescopic base:

- Triple claw. Example "г-2) 4"


- A hand without a palm - like option "г-2) 8" - only the fingers are placed above the thumb rotating along the axis.


"Rivet" or "sliding joint"


- It is extremely rare, but this type of connection is used in my models, it is often needed in insignificant places, as in the examples below:
A cutout for the rod in the head or in the jaw itself, so that you can change its position, which can additionally play on the facial expressions of the figure, helping in the expression of emotions. There is a more interesting use case for such a compound. Below is a “sketch” of how you can completely make an eye out of paper.

 For the pupil, a dense sleeve is required, along the edges of which two small circles are put on and tightly glued to each other and glued together — a rivet is obtained. The ring will be the base of the eyes. Cover the lower edges with glue and attach to a sheet of paper and allow to dry. Put the rivet in the center of the ring and again glue the edges of the ring with glue and hold the rivet with pieces of paper with the straight side so that the edges of the paper are between the circles of the rivet. Let dry again. We cut off the excess parts of the paper along the edge of the ring, in the resulting slit the rivet will freely crawl from side to side. The resulting eye can be fixed on a rod, worn on a tube in which the eye will rotate.
 So far, the only owner of such eyes in my collection is Herman:


- There are a couple of connections that can be used as an alternative to ball joints. Below is a simple sketch of one of them:

 This type of connection is banal simple, all that is required is three rings of different diameters and two bushings that are attached to the edges of each ring. Horizontally (or vertically) we glue the bushings to the larger ring, in the next we make holes for these same bushings, in the second ring we glue the bushes vertically (horizontally) and make holes in the next ring for the bushings. Along the edges of the rings, you can intentionally highlight a small bulge under the space for bushings or holes or simply glue a piece of paper.

 Such a connection was only in one figure - in the lower body and at the base of the neck. That allows you to tilt the body and head in any direction. In addition, such a connection can be used in different ways and even combining only two rings of different sizes, creating a long "chain".

 And the last one today is the Cardan connection or the “Hook joint”, which was used as a neck joint for the old version of “Herman”. Due to the fact that such a joint is difficult to assemble and cannot be made rigid without the use of other joints, I did not use it anywhere else.


The complex and unreliable Hook joint design is easy to replace with two ball joints


 - This is what I wanted to show. Combine or create new joints, use the joints yourself as you like, there are no restrictions other than your imagination.

To be continued...


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GeraltOfPaperivia's avatar

Оу, весьма полезный туториал, особенно придется по вкусу новичкам, я полагаю)Спасибо Jensen/Dean Evil Laugh ~ free to use!