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Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
I've been researching 3D printers for quite a while now, and last week I finally broke down and ordered the Prusa i3 MK3S kit. If I had to do it over, I'd pay the extra $250 to get the fully-assembled unit, cuz putting this bish together was a pain in the donkey. https://images2.imgbox.com/70/16/qnl6m6ep_o.jpg
All the stuff to be assembled
https://images2.imgbox.com/07/72/HFOKiRRr_o.jpg
Full disclosure, it did come with one of the most well-thought out color manuals that I've ever seen, but the sheer tedium of having to assemble EVERYFREAKINGTHING was mind-numbing.
https://images2.imgbox.com/30/af/9IsGKz9P_o.jpg
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Here's my first test print. It turned out decent, but as you can tell by the stringy back, I didn't have the offset adjusted correctly
https://images2.imgbox.com/19/45/yYrB7l7w_o.png
Here's my second attempt...much moar gooder
https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/ae/5zRX51pR_o.png
Once it was dialed in, it was time to print something practical https://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...es/biggrin.gif
https://images2.imgbox.com/a4/17/ipE1WGZa_o.jpg
It ended up smaller than I imagined...and if I had a nickel for every time I heard that..
https://images2.imgbox.com/26/34/N33pCHSt_o.jpg
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Cool! I don't have any printing ideas but this is a cool toy.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
So I've been experimenting with my logo, trying to get it dialed in. I want to be able make something resembling a car emblem
https://images2.imgbox.com/b6/4c/yRdSrPp7_o.jpeg
I tried doing an open-web design, but needed a bridge to keep the letters in place. I tried painting the bridge but it turned out looking like week-old ass
https://images2.imgbox.com/a2/f1/xWjbXZcd_o.jpeg
Next, I tried just expanding the background, which turned out really nice. I als tried a color change mid-print, which I think turned out cool. I just need more colors
https://images2.imgbox.com/93/9a/Nsg2jb4h_o.jpeg
Here, I super-sized it
https://images2.imgbox.com/3c/95/sqYktE1a_o.jpeg
I decided to switch gears
https://images2.imgbox.com/95/02/bZJ2tCNy_o.jpeg
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Man, that second logo attempt with the color change is bad to the bone, brother!
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Diggin the one with the orange surround!!! Maybe not orange, but the pattern is awesome!
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You, sir, have won the internet for today!!! That is super awesome! I will take one in black lettering with a red surround!!!!!!!
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Sorry, I don't have red...yet...
Edit: I just realized it looks like a big Oreo :D
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You know the old saying, “Never 3D print when you’re hungry!”
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
3D printing is amazing. I've done a few things for my own car, such as fuseholders, mounts, etc. Need to model better so I don't have to fiberglass things any more!
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I've always thought these were cool, I just can't make myself spend the money on one, as I think it'll end up sitting in a corner for years when I run out of 'neat' things to print and haven't done anything practical with it.
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Cool looking stuff! I've had a few things made by a friend of mine....a few sets of MR pods and a trim ring for a headunit. I'd love to have one but I think I'll just keep sending money to my friend and give him the business.
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Sneak peek of a little project - thanks big Al for the 3D logo!
This isn't really final yet - I have a bunch of internal stuff that I need to do, haven't added where the wiring comes out or the strain relief that I want to do, but this is pretty close.
Any thoughts on cosmetics? And ignore the color, because this is for 3D printing - I'm thinking ABS, so black is probably best.
Attachment 11160
Actually - anyone even know (or guess) what this is?
Hint... those major grid lines are 1" and the minor grid lines are 1/8"....
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NoDestiny
3D printing is amazing. I've done a few things for my own car, such as fuseholders, mounts, etc. Need to model better so I don't have to fiberglass things any more!
This is what I'm thinking. I'd love to be able to print things like sail panels for tweeters, door speaker adapters...
But some of that would more or less need a handheld 3D scanner, because I'd want my starting point to be an accurate digital image of the original part.
So before I even buy a printer (decided I want one that can do ABS and possibly dual-filament) I want to see if there's any affordable options for that also.
For now, it's fun seeing how far CAD software has come. My first college major (that I switched out of) was mechanical drafting, and although they did have a CAD class this was cough1994cough and the college also had several years old CAD software, so it really wasn't easy to say the least... I'm blown away at being able to easily do 3D renderings using web-based software on nothing more powerful than a Chromebook - awesome.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Are you looking at just dual filament, or dual extruders? If it's dual filament thru one extruder, the printing has to pause while it purges one color and starts extruding the next. It could be really wasteful.
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Just saw this nice thread!! I'm halfway thru printing a phone/stylus/mouse pad bracket/set for an ikea armchair. The 3rd piece in this set will about take 2 days to print lol. Updated it yesterday and will have to reprint a new one starting this friday evening. The printer is of course loud... don't want to annoy the boss WFH nearby the printer. I use a Robo R2.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Noice!
I'm pretty sure I need one of these.
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there's one with your name on it!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by
rob feature
Noice!
I'm pretty sure I need one of these.
I don’t ‘need’ one... but need is very different to ‘will have one’ in my world :D
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Those neo magnets give it away from the other thread.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BigAl205
I love the fact you set your 3D printer up in your bedroom :)
Ge0
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That's where all the magic happens ;)
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BigAl205
That's where all the magic happens ;)
You must be single. :nuts:
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dgage
You must be single. :nuts:
LOL! For sure :shocked:
Ge0
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Alrighty... So I literally from-scratch redesigned it.
V.2
Design changes:
- Easy to install - use the cup as a template to mark the two center holes, remove it and use a 1.25" hole saw to cut two conjoined holes... put it back and screw it down.
- Added safety to the base AND the connector.
- Moved the wire entrance/strain relief to a side entry instead of from the top. Just seemed smart.
Still left to do:
- A little clean-up work and tweaks for printability.
- Confirm the distance/recess for recess washers one size. Can't easily do neodymium magnets on both sides "because polarity", and no one is going to want to machine their own countersinks into the backside of magnets.
- Get a test print done.
But that's the cart before the horse...
What is this thing?
This is a magnetic connector that's 3D printed. I was inspired when I saw a ludicrously expensive one that seemed a bit primitive for the price, and wouldn't work for what I'd think you'd want a magnetic connector for - making a removable subwoofer. Seems like a bad idea to have the opportunity for an actively magnetic thing connected to an energized amp - imagine it making contact to anything loose and ferrous in the trunk, or clamping onto the trunk side wall, etc... that would be one expensive dead short! :rant:
No one wants to replace an amp. So I thought "How can you build some protection into this?" So the idea is, if something came across both terminals on either the base or the connector, the plastic would block it so it wouldn't cause a short. V.2 has some protection on both the connector and the cup, even though there's less risk on the sub box, obviously.
Besides the printed part, the rest of the parts list is standard and inexpensive:
Uses four #10 flat top phillips bolts with standard locknuts.
Uses four standard yellow crimp connectors, ring terminals.
Designed for 12 gauge speaker wire.
Takes two .76" x .2" neodymium magnets
How does it work?
The connector has some tricks inside.
It's not just hollow, I built in a diagonal wall to help isolate the positive ring terminal from the negative.
I also took the standard thickness of a yellow ring terminal, and built recesses just barely less than that into the magnet surface of the connector...
...so the bolt will sandwich the magnet, to make contact with the ring terminal, against the connector, which holds the nut, to snug it all up tight.
The back of the crimp connector routes inside the hollow inside, separated by that short wall from the other connector.
The wire then goes out the exit channel, which has a recess for a standard 0.19" cable tie for strain relief.
(and really, you'd assemble it exactly backwards as I described, other than cable tie strain relief once it's all assembled)
The cup is simple.
Easy to install - mark the two center holes, drill two 1.25" holes with a hole saw - easier than a jigsaw but you can certainly trace and cut if you prefer.
The same #10 machine screws and lock nuts, but this time holding a stainless recess washer on the surface for the magnet to make contact with.
On the backside, a washer is probably a good idea, then the box wire's yellow ring terminal, then the lock nut clamping it all together.
So here's some 99% done screen captures:
Attachment 11290
Attachment 11291
Attachment 11292
Here's a trip down the speaker wire entry, tried to really zoom down that chute to get a view inside too:
Attachment 11293
Basically looking into the chamber from where the speaker wire hole enters it - that's the diagonal wall that doesn't completely separate the two chambers (or one of the wires couldn't come out), that you are seeing:
Attachment 11294
View from below shows some of those details on the connector:
Attachment 11295
If you look where the crimp connector goes in, you can see that diagonal separation wall again:
Attachment 11296
Any and all feedback is appreciated -
I've been staring at this for like 4 hours straight so I am probably too close to it to see obvious opportunities for improvement.
Let me know what you think. Feedback please.
PS. I did read an article on how to reduce printing costs while staying at a Holiday Inn Express... but I could surely use advisement from people who have actually printed something. I'm still shopping for my first printer. My whole side-nozzle idea sounds difficult, where a top exit would be easy, for example.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Wow, looks great! But you're doing this whole thing in Tinkercad?
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ok here's my mouse pad bracket drawing. Sometimes it's better for me to use a mouse when trying to hit small buttons on a tablet/screen and for some purposes that just can't be done using the touchscreen or stylus/pen (app limitation). The armchair is an IKEA Poang. The mouse pad is a 5x7" item from Amazon. The stylus/pen is for my new Microsoft Surface Go 2 tablet PC. The big phone is a Samsung. The phone holder and mouse pad brackets are 2 pieces here because if combined it's large and can't fit in the printer lol. The bottom bracket is just to clamp everything to the arm rest without having to use duct tape or drive screws into the nice chair. I'm getting ready to re-print the large piece tomorrow evening. I'm using 100% density, small brim, fine mode and without support (flip it over lol). Even the phone bracket was printed without any support (use certain angles only).
Attachment 11298
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BigAl205
Wow, looks great! But you're doing this whole thing in Tinkercad?
I am, and being an IT/data guy with an electrical engineering background, to me it's like taking all my comfort away. I'd actually be more comfortable if I could make these shapes and adjust and measure them after the fact, but really the only time you can enter explicit dimensions is when you create the shapes (or the "empty" shapes that you can use to delete from existing content by "grouping" a positive shape with a negative shape).
Even centering one object relative to another is not something you can do explicitly.
But on the flip side, I'm absolutely blown away by how easy it is to create shapes and move them around in a 3D workspace (other than the fact that I can't figure out how to pan the workspace, I have to zoom out, click another object, then re-focus on that). I'm learning some tricks to do what I want - like centering with precision - using the corner and center indicators from each shape, that "focus" button, and the zoom - you can manually center things, it just takes longer than if you could say "center this to that" and bam. Even working to properly hollow out the shape, you can actually zoom in to see inside that tiny hollow space. It's so small in my case that it's not easy, but it's doable.
I'm also really growing concerned about creating support structures - I believe those are added using each printer's slicer software, in preparation for an actual printer-specific print - but I'm such a noob that I really don't know.
I am only using Tinkercad on the recommendation of some very non-technical friends of mine from a big national skateboard collector group that I'm a member of... What are you using? Have you tried Tinkercad?
Any better suggestions? I'm down to try them. Tinkercad doesn't even have an explicit "save" option, and it's totally cloud-based - which has given me a couple scary moments.
I'm definitely on the path to buying a printer, I just keep going back and forth between "Do I get a $300 good-enough starter printer?" or "Do I get a printer that won't limit the things that I ultimately know I want to do?", which costs at least double.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Most of the stuff I've designed for myself has been Tinkercad, so I know exactly what you're going thru. The level of detail you've achieved with it would have had me banging my head on the desk. I've recently started playing with its big brother, Fusion 360. The interface is similar to Tinkercad, but simple things such as making an empty box is SO much easier with Fusion. Now, I haven't designed and exported anything with it to print yet, but as I said, it's like Tinkercad on steroids. In fact, Fusion 360 is to Tinkercad what an iPad is to an Etch-A-Sketch.
Take a few minutes to watch these videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5bc9c3S12g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXRMzJWo0-Q
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
I'll definitely check that out, thanks.
In the meantime I made a top-exit version of the connector. The top-exit would maybe be easier to print, no support structure needed:
Attachment 11314
Anyone have any opinion, preference, hate or love either version?
I'm kind of liking the idea of a speaker wire that exits and runs parallel to a box, rather than coming straight out of a box, but as usual I'm probably over-engineering.
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
I think the wires coming out the side would be preferable...especially if it's up against a wheel well or seat back. So what part makes the electrical contact? Is the magnet itself acting as the conductor?
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BigAl205
I think the wires coming out the side would be preferable...especially if it's up against a wheel well or seat back. So what part makes the electrical contact? Is the magnet itself acting as the conductor?
Yes, but two notes there:
1) Neodymium is conductive, interestingly enough... not as conductive as steel, but not significantly resistive either.
2) They only seem to polarize the neodymium magnets one way, so the countersink wouldn't be right (and they would probably be damn near impossible to separate if not) to do four magnets.
So the idea was - two 0.76" x 0.2" #10 neodymium magnets on the connector side.
And on the cup side - two stainless steel recessed washers, and there's options there:
a) These would be killer, and absolutely perfect, but expensive ($14 for two of them): aircraft washers
b) These are probably perfectly fine, $1.18 for six of them - but I can't find the thickness spec, and that's critical: finishing washers
On the connector side, I was thinking the plain 'ol yellow ring terminals. Crimp the end, orient the ring terminal so the top surface is against the plastic, bottom surface is against the magnet, and crimp connection and wire are going inside the terminal - thinking a little bend will probably be necessary. The #10 bolt and nut goes through everything and pulls them together so they make electrical contact - the recess in the connector is just a hair shallower than a crimp terminal thickness, hoping to keep things oriented and supported.
On the cup side, same thing, but would be assembled with just the aircraft or finish washer on the cup side, with the bolt going through to secure a standard #10 washer, then another yellow ring terminal, then maybe a small lock washer and I'd still use a lock nut (or loctite if not).
So when connected, the magnets on the connector click to the stainless washers, and the plastic walls should be just a hair away from actually touching the inside surface of the cup.
Any guesstimates on what filament cost would be to print a cup and connector this size? Even +/- 100% would give me a better clue than what I have now :cool:
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
Geolomon, first I love overkill and coming up with cool shit, which this is. However, damn if this isn’t making a fairly simple connection really complicated for not much gain that I see. But people say that about new stuff all the time so you do you! :)
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Re: Jumping on the 3D printer bandwagon
You could use something like this for the electrical connection and neo magnets to hold it all together. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/kcw-10629?rrec=true