Author Archives: MBadmin

3D Printing Projects 201321 – Wide Angle Lense Mount for iPad

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makayama mountFor running Skype and having a conference with many people in the room it is handy to have a wide angle lens. The Makayama iPad attachment has a lens mounting for the back camera but not the front. The Makayama iPad accessory holds lenses over the built-in cameras of the iPad and provides attachment points for a tripod and lights and microphones. The tripod mount is the standard 1/4″-20 mount and the light and microphone attachment points mimc the “hot-shoe” style mount of most SLR’s. We wanted a “quick” clip to put the lens in place and then be able to quickly remove it. This clip holds the 37 mm wide angle lens against the iPad screen. The back of the clip engages with the bumps on the back of the Makayama unit to keep the lens in place and aligned over the iPad’s front camera. Now the wide angle can pick up everyone in the room.

The clip was designed in SolidWorks and printed in ABS. The clip has extended the capability of the lens and our Studio YouTube-Mobile unit.

3D Printing Projects 201320 – Hair Cutting Vacuums

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floyd wandsAfter experimenting with vacuum robots (We had one that was a modified Lost in Space replica) at a local hair salon we settled in on a very effective central vacuum system. We installed under-the-cabinet, toe kick space, low profile units but found that it would be handy to have additional wands as well. Makerbot and 3D printing to the rescue. The standard hose for barber attachments is 1″ OD whereas typical central vacuum systems use a 2-1/4″ OD form factor. We developed a manifold to adapt the valve and switch body to the hose and then an ergonomic and colorful wand for the floydwandlayoutother end.

 

The parts were developed in SolidWorks and parts printed in ABS. Issues with the small footprint not wanting to stay attached to the print table and wanting to avoid excess warpage caused us to incorporate some break away tabs in the original model. The size of the wand forced us to lay it out diagonally across the table and the hose attachment was large enough that it had to be printed at an angle in the Z-X or Z-Y plane as well. Originally the idea was to grind off the rib but we found it was a natural tab once the wand was in your hand. The flange holds it in place via another clip made with 3D printing (not shown).

3D Printing Projects 201319 – From Sorry Token to Mexican Train

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SMexTrainTokensWe were having a party at the house and the plan was to play Mexican Train, the domino game, after dinner. Depending on whose rules we’re using invariably we end up scrounging for tokens to represent open trains. How about if we RP’d customized tokens for everyone? The original model did not print well with the old ReplicatorG 37 and version 5.5 in the Replicator. After upgrading to ReplicatorG 40 and 6.0 the prints came out with a lot more detail. Everyone enjoyed having their personalized train.

The model was developed in SolidWorks and tokens printed in ABS. Of course different colors had to be developed for all the players.

 

3D Printing Projects 201318 – Sorry Token or attack of the pawns

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Sorrytokens In describing the 3D printer to some friends, one asked, “What would I do with it if I had one?” Off the top of my head I said, “If you lost a token for your Sorry Game Board, you could print another one.” Then as sort of a joke I made a collection for her and her pals. The model is sort of convenient as it prints in 20 minutes and works fast enough that people get to see the process of 3D printing. They would equally well as pawns in a chess game. Parker Brothers effectively used Social Media for the demise of the flat iron in Monopoly. In the not too distant future they may have a whole catalog where you can choose custom tokens and better yet, nicer looking houses and hotels!

This model was developed in SolidWorks but it is a simple revolution so many tools would do an ok job. These models are printed in ABS.

3D Printing Projects 201317 – More Gear Bearings

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gearbearings The original gear bearing on Thingiverse was posted with an OpenSCAD model that had the parameterized diameter of 55 mm. From the caster wheel experiments a few design issues popped up. Is there a better configuration of planet quantity and size? Is there a better way to attach the center than the 1/4″ hex hole in the center of the sun gear? Can features be added to prevent warpage of the outer ring during printing?

Here’s a pictorial of some of the tweaked designs and configurations to answer those questions. Some of the gear bearings use a 60 mm outer diameter. Some have larger sun gears. On has a ring and large external hex protrusion for solid attachment. We find the grooves around the outer diameter provide some aesthetics as well as strength and also as a sort of cooling fin to minimize warpage. OpenSCAD was used to develop these variations.

3D Printing Projects 201316 – Roof rack accessories

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RonracksAnn
A friend’s roof rack needed some way to hold the ladders and other long things and keep them contained within the footprint of the vehicle. These stops were developed to keep things from sliding off sideways. The clamps are close fitting to the roof rack rail extrusion and have a key that engages the T-Slot on the top. The bolts pull the two halves together to form a clamp around the extrusion. The hex nuts are trapped in the bottom half so only an allen wrench is required to tighten the clamps.  Extra grooves and ribbing make the clamps very sturdy beyond the typical honeycomb core. The design is an original and modeled with SolidWorks. Extra rings on the protrusion of the stop allow for bungee cords or ropes or hooks to help fastening to the rack.

3D Printing Projects 201315 – Caster wheels with Gear Bearings

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Caster wheels with Gear Bearings

Caster wheels with Gear Bearings

Some brilliant designs for gear bearings where posted on the Thingiverse. Rather than spheres which are hard to perfect in 3D printing the units use double helical gears (herringbone) so they won’t come apart. The come off the machine in one pieces and are ready to spin! We developed a mounting flange and wheel yoke to test them out. The bearings were from the OpenSCAD model and the flange and yoke were designed in SolidWorks.