Pottery Shrinkage Ruler Imperial & Metric

Stop guessing and start measuring with precision. 🎯

This is a fully Parametric Shrinkage Ruler designed specifically for ceramicists and potters. It automatically calculates and generates a ruler that compensates for your specific clay body's shrinkage rate.

If your clay shrinks 12.5%, this ruler’s "1 inch" mark will physically measure 1.14 inches, ensuring your final fired piece comes out exactly the size you intended. ✨

Key Features

• 🔄 Double-Sided Design:
  • Top Face: Imperial (Inches) – Features both True Scale and Shrinkage Scale.
  • Bottom Face: Metric (Centimeters) – Features both True Scale and Shrinkage Scale (Mirrored for easy reading).
• ⚖️ Dual-Scale Comparison: See the "True" measurement and the "Shrinkage" measurement side-by-side on the same face.
• 🔗 Infinite Length (Dovetail System):
  • Need a 36-inch yardstick on a standard printer? No problem.
  • The design automatically splits the ruler into printable segments with tight-tolerance dovetail connectors.
  • You Control the Split: Choose exactly how long each print segment is and how many segments you want.
• 🎨 Single-Color Optimized: All text is deeply engraved rather than embossed. This guarantees perfect legibility on single-color printers and allows the bottom (metric) side to pick up the texture of your print bed (Smooth, Textured PEI, etc.).
• 🏷️ Personalized: Add your specific Clay Name (e.g., "B-Mix", "Porcelain") directly onto the ruler so you never mix up your tools in the studio.

How to Customize ⚙️

Click the "Customize" button to open the OpenSCAD parameters:

1. Print Bed Controls 🖨️:
   • Segment_Length_mm: Set this to the maximum length your printer can handle (e.g., 200mm or 240mm).
   • Number_of_Segments: Choose how many pieces you want (e.g., 3).
   • The script will calculate the total ruler length based on these two numbers (e.g., 3 segments × 200mm = 600mm ruler).
2. Clay Settings 🧱:
   • Shrinkage_Percent: Enter your clay’s specific shrinkage (e.g., 12.0).
   • Clay_Name: Enter the name of your clay body.
3. Label Positioning 📏:
   • Use Text_Center_Gap to move the numbers closer to or further from the tick marks to suit your visual preference.

Printing Instructions 💾

• Material: PLA, PETG, or ABS.
• Layer Height: 0.16mm or 0.12mm is highly recommended to ensure the numbers are crisp and legible.
• Infill: 15-20% (Strength isn't critical, but stiffness is good).
• Support: None 🚫. The dovetails are designed to print flat without support.
• Brim: Recommended if you have adhesion issues with long, thin parts, but usually not necessary.

Assembly 🧩

1. The parts print side-by-side.
2. Test the fit of the dovetails.
   • Too tight? Increase the Clearance parameter in the customizer (default 0.15mm).
   • Too loose? Decrease it.
3. Apply a small drop of superglue (CA glue) to the dovetails and snap them together on a flat surface to ensure the ruler is perfectly straight. 🔨
   
    

This model was designed using Torrify to bridge the gap between complex data and physical form—no programmatic CAD knowledge required.