I've been wanting to design a non-planar preassembled mechanism for awhile, but it took Prot0typ1cal's Venus Box to inspire me on what to make. That i...s a beautiful design, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it should be possible to print without assembly. Combining that spherical box idea with my earlier iris box concept lead to this design.
Notes:
I left 0.3mm of space between the moving parts. If that'...s not enough, you probably need to calibrate your printer a bit. Common errors include temp too high (makes strings), filament diameter too small in slicer (makes overextrusion) or belts loose (makes positioning less accurate). The first layer will also have to be quite accurate, as it needs to stick enough to keep the leaves in place, but not so squished that everything fuses together. As anyone who prints my designs knows, these are not for the faint of heart, so don't feel bad if it doesn't work on the first try.