3D Printer yet?

[mnementh]

Ever, anywhere...? Certainly: https://hackaday.com/2017/11/03/3d-printing-belts-for-vintage-hardware/








Users in here...? Not sure. I've only done TPU a few times back when I had my Tornado, and then mostly bumpers and antenna holders and the like  for my whirry little flying things.

mnem
 

[beanflying]

Because using an undetermined stretchy rubber band for a positional reference device is a 'good idea'  As to using a relatively low temperature capable TPU on a car engine with no internal reinforcement then 

If all you want the band for is to spin up a turntable platter for example then yep print away, just not for conditions where temperature, undetermined tension or stretch will cause issues.

[AVGresponding]

It's for functional drive in a linear tracking turntable. Basically the small square section type stuff that you find in a lot of old mechanical audio equipment.

tbh it's probably simpler to order some, so I have...

[mnementh]

You mean that uber-long serpentine belt in the loading/robotics mechanism?

Ehhh... I'd def buy that. Aside from TPU being stretchy, its consistency will be different from the original so will tend to "walk" on the pulleys. As you will not be able to make it perfectly square, especially at that small a cross-section, I'd be concerned aboot it rolling, which will probably also affect positional accuracy. While these kinds of mechanisms can deal with some slippage, they often cannot handle more than a few mm one way or another when trying to perform a task.

IIRC, your TT is DD, so not for the platter. On those, I found the hard way that slap caused by using those "cut to fit & glue" belts almost always translates into cyclic rumble while playing. I would expect the same from the irregular surface you'd get from printing it in TPU.

mnem

[beanflying]

Might be interesting to load up for a play for any of you using Fusion. I will give it a bit of a bash tomorrow on a few of my more challenging models and see how it goes.

[mnementh]

This weekend's 3DP Project:



18650 Li-Ion Battery for the headlight on my fatBike.

This is "iterative design" at its best; even if a bit time-consuming. 6 partial and complete iterations before I got a final product that fits perfectly inside and out, but I got it just right without making it thin & flimsy.

   

Here's final assembly; the battery pack has all what I call "electronic LEGOs" parts in it; a TP4056 charger/protection board, and there's a toggle switch for main power. To keep the walls from being too thin and weak, I had to use a strip of FPC for the battery negative. The cable is made of common 5.5mm coaxial DC power pigtails with 1/4 turn lock sold for CCTV; they are another of the "electronic LEGOs" type parts I keep on hand. At ~$2 each for 18650 cell, TP4056 PCB, switch and cable pigtail, total CAD$8-ish plus another couple dollars worth of filament, including extra iterations.

   

I really liked this little CNC headlamp the moment I saw it on Amazon; it was crazy cheap (like CAD$12), but it's got a genuine Cree XML (probably a reject for color; it is a bit on the bluish side even for a T6) so good for legit 180-ish lumens from a single 18650 cell. It has a CC driver in it that'll power safely from 3-9ish volts.

   

Here it is on the bike. Entire thing slips inside the hollow handlebar stem riser. Main power switch and u-USB charge port are recessed so nothing protruding.  When I had to go with the handlebar riser tube because my extended handlebar neck simply wasn't high enough, it  seemed obvious that this was just how the thing had to be...

Printed on my Diggro Alpha3 in 3D SoluTech brand PLA, 0.20LH, 60mm/s, support touching buildplate only, infill manually set to 1mm, 1.2mm top/bottom thickness & 0.8mm walls, and bridging mode enabled.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Today's 3DP Project: Battery for my son's BT Speaker.

   


   

Approx 8 hour print; most of what you see here is waste/supports which will be removed as the bottom of the part has a 5mm deep ridge all around it. I started out with the smaller part, just to fit against the speaker as a reality test; I realized as I was handling it that it could be the cover for the battery box if I designed carefully.

Battery box designed to fit Velcro'd to back of iHome iBT25 speaker; wing-loops will act as protective ridge for 5.5mm DC plug.

Lets hope I designed it right.

Printed on my Diggro Alpha3 in 3D SoluTech brand PLA, 0.28LH, 60mm/s, support touching buildplate only, infill manually set to 1mm grid, 1.2mm top/bottom thickness & 0.8mm walls, and bridging mode enabled. Supports set to 40% and GRID.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

      

And finished printing. Drill a hole for the wire, add battery pack & Velcro, glue together.
   
   

Fits & works great; and only looks slightly ridiculous stuck on there.

mnem
 

[Brumby]

For bonus points you could have followed the taper of the speaker - or are you just not that into masochism?

[mnementh]

Naaahhh... that was the original idea, but laying out with a few scraps of cardboard showed that the yield space of the battery compartment was iffy, and the wing-loop would've interfered with the DC plug.

Also, as you suggest, not interested in that much misery for dubious benefit.

mnem
"There's enough misery to go around without grabbing for more." ~mom

[beanflying]

Todays Coffee Fueled Fusioning because I needed to drill some 2020 sections out for tapping the ends. Included in the Zip is the STL file for 3D printing and a DXF and SVG for Laser cutting (** 0.17mm kerf already allowed for in the Laser files)

3mm pilot drill hole is deliberate as a spotting/pilot size then drill to 5mm for the M5 bolt for the 90 degree thread. Also would allow a few resizes as it gets some wear in the bore over use. Body size is 40x40mm for easier measuring off the face in the case of the lateral jig. Print it HEAVY 

[mnementh]

@bean -

Yeah, they make a jig specifically for doing that; it has a hardened insert and there's even a stepped drill now that will cut reliefs in the wings of the 2020 for the head of the bolt. But of course, they are crazy expensive unless you're doing production quantities of holes.

   

Current project; a 6S 18650 cell holder for cell testing with my big charger. Uses the Keystone #209 battery clips I posted in the TEA thread; only, unlike every other motherplucking one of these cell holders on ThingiVerse, it actually uses them right side up. 

Just goes to show you, not everybody who knows 3DP and CADD knows WTF they're doing. 

Those with a sharp eye will notice a separation line; that's where I cut the first cell off and made a STL of just that one for future use and Lego-ing as many as I want together in the slicer.

That one is printing; when it's done I'll post pics if everything fits as expected before moving on to the full 6S model.

mnem
 

[beanflying]

@bean -

Yeah, they make a jig specifically for doing that; it has a hardened insert and there's even a stepped drill now that will cut reliefs in the wings of the 2020 for the head of the bolt. But of course, they are crazy expensive unless you're doing production quantities of holes.

Current project; a 6S 18650 cell holder for cell testing with my big charger. Uses the Keystone #209 battery clips I posted in the TEA thread; only, unlike every other motherplucking one on ThingiVerse, it actually uses them right side up. 

Just goes to show you, not everybody who knows 3DP and CADD knows WTF they're doing. 

Those with a sharp eye will notice a separation line; that's where I cut the first cell off and made a STL of just that one for future use and Lego-ing as many as I want together in the slicer.

That one is printing; when it's done I'll post pics if everything fits as expected before moving on to the full 6S model.

mnem
 

Cut them out today along with another drilling jig for mounting my Microscope to the chopping board base. Stick the template down, Zero mark out 3 holes at 35mm PCD - done 

I have a decent range of thin walled stainless tube so no reason really not to add a bush to MK2 but I will see how these are lasting first. Reality is they are only for spotting the hole as much as anything with a drill press so you could in theory clamp the 2020 and remove the jig before drilling.

The question should be with your model why didn't you make and induvial one that will clip to it's neighbor for solo or multi cell printing  Keep on Fusioning .....

[mnementh]

...The question should be with your model why didn't you make and individual one that will clip to it's neighbor for solo or multi cell printing  Keep on Fusioning .....

Yeah, I thought aboot doing that... then I realized that A) Those kinds of projects always look like ASS because of keystone/dovetail joints, B) they always use a lot more material, 3) they're never as rigid as a single printed piece, and D) I don't have to do that much work just for the sake of other lazy dumbasses who can't be arsed to do a couple minutes' layout work in the slicer for their custom-sized 18650 cell holder. 

   

Here's the 1S version; as you can see, it looks nice & tidy as-is just hacked off the whole model. I made it slightly oversized; 19mm wide slot and the contacts are a bit loose (on a plain cell with no button they compress the contacts aboot 2mm each) to accommodate both button-end cells and xP cell groups like this where the tab is still attached and folded over.

3P cells like this are probably the single most common layout I've found in busted laptop packs; it is easiest to work with multiples of 3 either as a 3P cell or if you need 1P packs, to build from these 3P cells as they are likeliest to still be pretty well-matched to each other. All you have to do is find 2 3P cells with similar IR and tested capacity to make a half-decent 6S1P pack, for example.



Right now I'm printing a 2S version made of just this part overlapping itself in Cura; preview looks perfectly happy with this, so we'll see what the ol' DIGGRO turns out.

mnem
 

[mnementh]

   

And here's the 2S version. I ran out of filament between these two; obviously I need to tweak temps and extrusion for the new filament. But even with large print faults like these, still a usable part. I trimmed off the random curly hairs and the contacts snap right in with good engagement of lock tabs and cells slide in/out easily. That's what I call a good design. 

I do need to get in the habit of cutting my wires to length and soldering up first tho.

Both parts printed on my Diggro Alpha3 in 3D SoluTech and (2S version) FLASHFORGE brand Black PLA; 0.28LH, 60mm/s, no supports and part rotated to benefit bridging, infill manually set to 1mm grid, 1.2mm top/bottom thickness & 0.8mm walls, with bridging mode enabled.

mnem
 

[beanflying]

Ok used the Acrylic ones today. Drill vice and everything locked down. After the first one (slight removal of acrylic on the bore) the Guide was then removed and drilled for an easy accurate setup. Much as it is only a cosmetic thing adding another pair for the 8.5mm opening for the bolt heads might be nice too.

[mnementh]

Yeah; that's how they get you, the bastards.  The jig kit from the 8020 suppliers has a special drill bit with 180° face and a pilot dowel so it's just a quick zip after drilling the main hole.

Don't get me wrong; it looks good. That's aboot as good as you can possibly get short of doing a plunge-cut on a Bridgeport with an appropriate-diameter end-mill. 

mnem
 

[beanflying]

Bit of AliExpress poking around yielded a good result for the counterbore drill M5 (5.5/9.5) TiN coated 180 degree Instead of what I drilled to clear the larger diameter will give a neat clearance for Button Heads due to the 9.5mm major diameter. The 5.5mm minor bore is a touch loose but the 8020 standard one is 5.2mm so not to worried.



Ordered the counterbore drill as it will get a lot of use when I get to my large Laser build. And I will re upload a tweaked set of templates in this post with a 4mm hole as I did a little more thinking (it hurt a lot ) and given it is aluminium skipping the pilot hole and straight to a 5mm hole isn't a real stretch. Turns out the generic automatic punch runs a 4mm pin so easy sorted or grind a point on a 3 or 4mm parallel pin punch

edit zip file below. Anyone Laser cutting it already allows for a 0.17mm Kerf in the files. Also maybe try a triple stack for a flip over single template.

[mnementh]

   

I used circular pattern in frustion360 today.

mnem
toddles off to buy bolts... and a vise...

[beanflying]

Interesting alternate material sort of like PETG on steroids.

[AVGresponding]

You mean that uber-long serpentine belt in the loading/robotics mechanism?

Ehhh... I'd def buy that. Aside from TPU being stretchy, its consistency will be different from the original so will tend to "walk" on the pulleys. As you will not be able to make it perfectly square, especially at that small a cross-section, I'd be concerned aboot it rolling, which will probably also affect positional accuracy. While these kinds of mechanisms can deal with some slippage, they often cannot handle more than a few mm one way or another when trying to perform a task.

IIRC, your TT is DD, so not for the platter. On those, I found the hard way that slap caused by using those "cut to fit & glue" belts almost always translates into cyclic rumble while playing. I would expect the same from the irregular surface you'd get from printing it in TPU.

mnem

Sorry for the tardy reply, I haven't gotten into the habit of checking this part of the forums regularly yet. It's a belt drive, the main belt is fine, fortunately.

It's the small one that drives the (fecking heavy) drawer mechanism, 40mm diameter or so. I ordered a pack with various sizes; there's always something that needs one, I believe my surround amp power volume needs one too as it sometimes sticks, symptom of an aged belt I reckon.

That drawer mechanism is too slow for my liking, I might have to fit a bigger motor, I wonder if I have a spare 540...   

[Microdoser]

Interesting alternate material sort of like PETG on steroids.

It does indeed look interesting although for my printer (CR10s Pro V2), I would need an aftermarket hotend to get over 260C although I am thinking of getting one because of bowden tube issues and if I'm getting a direct drive anyway, why not upgrade the hotend, eh?

[mnementh]

      

Random FUN bit of 3DP around the house...

Started these a few days ago, after printing med's 454 feet. Purpose is to recycle these reclaimed bed-slats into quickie-deploy goals for RC Rocket League with the boy.

At only ~40% infill, still plenty strong enough to pound into the ground with the palm of my hand; even stood up to a couple whacks with a 4 ft 2x4 to set them firmly. Approximately 22 printer-hours between the 4 parts.

Printed on my CR-6SE in the free white filament that came with, and my Diggro Alpha3 3D in Overture Blue PLA; 0.28LH, 60mm/s, 215°C/60°C Bed, no adhesion, no supports, infill manually set to 2mm grid, 1.2mm top/bottom thickness & 1.2mm walls, with combing & bridging mode enabled and part rotated to benefit bridging.

mnem
I know... I have a strange definition of "fun".

[beanflying]

Just need to double check the dimensions of a Galvanised M16 Nut (minor tweak to 5/8" if needed) before punching the print button on this. Part of a leather stitching pony because all activities are better with proper jigs and workholding ....

Had a good trawl around locally for an M16 speed knob and it is either a no or loads of $ so a little fusioning and this one was the result. It will need lots of support under the handle and printed heavy at 6 layers and 40% infill nearly 10 hours. $2 worth of PLA vs $40+ for a commercial one.

Also just for Randomness the PDF drawing of the Pony is in attached below along with the STL of the Speed Knob and also the Pony if you want to tweak the knob for other sizes.

[tautech]

Just need to double check the dimensions of a Galvanised M16 Nut (minor tweak to 5/8" if needed) before punching the print button on this.

You do as M10 nuts can be 16 or 17mm.