3D Printing to solve a computer part problem?

[Altamira]

This may not be the correct forum for this thread, so MODs please feel free to put it where it should be.

Help! I and other SB members who own Aeris AI dive computers need help and advice on whether 3D printing is a viable solution to unavailability of a battery hatch cover for the computer. Specifically, the coin slot on the plastic battery hatch cover used to tighten/remove the hatch cover degrades over time and breaks, making removal of the battery impossible, and the part is no longer available per Huish/Oceanic. The only way to get the cover off is to drill a couple of holes in the cover and then use a watch case opener or needle nose pliers to unscrew the hatch cover. Does anyone know if it would be feasible to have someone make the part using 3D printing? I, and others, have perfectly useable computers except for lack of a battery hatch cover, and it would be great not to have to replace the computers for lack of a crappy little part.

If 3D printing is a no go, does anyone know of a glue or resin that could be used to fill in the holes that would hold up in salt/fresh water or under high pressure?

Thanks for any advice or recommendations.

 

[JohnnyC]

2-part epoxy, fill the chowdered out coin slot, once cured, use a small file to recut the slot in the hardened epoxy.

 

[Altamira]

2-part epoxy, fill the chowdered out coin slot, once cured, use a small file to recut the slot in the hardened epoxy.

Hopefully the epoxy will be harder than the crappy plastic they used to make the hatch cover. There have been a lot of problems with the notch, and both of mine have had the same issue that is now critical with no parts available.

 

[diversteve]

If you could somehow get the Cad file (.dxf) from Oceanic, anyone with a cad/modeling program like Autocad or Solidworks and a 3-d printer could make you one. It would even be possible to have a design engineer measure/draw it for you but that would be kind of pricey - they don't work cheap. They could also re-think/re-inforce the slot area if needed.

I think there's also places in major cities that allow you access to their 3-d printers for a fee. Like technology incubators and the like. We have/had one here. You can even electronically send the files to be printed then drop by and pick up the finished parts.

 

[northernone]

----- Second hand information. I still don't have a 3d printer but I've been watching the technology for years. - - - -

From the ROV community there are guys doing 3d printing components which are pressure tolerant to 100m. Just a heads up the typical 3d printing method results in micro air spaces in the layers and crushes/deforms even at shallow depths.

Seem possible with the right amount of time and patience. People are cloning all sorts of little parts.

From experience, provided that cap is not some odd material (dried chewing gum perhaps?) and won't bond, an apoxy repair might be the easy solution.

If you go ahead with this I'd love to see the results.
Cameron

 

[kelemvor]

In my opinion 3d printing with a plastic extrusion printer is not likely to work well. Even with 100% fill I wouldn't trust a part to be strong enough and not pass water through imperfections. You might get away with it if you hired out a metal 3d printer from a commercial operation. I suspect that would be expensive.

check out 3D Hubs: Browse online 3D printing services You can probably find a metal printer or have the part cut with a water jet. Any way you slice it, you've got to come up with a solid part design. That's not likely to be easy.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

Same problem with an old NiTek Duo I have.
I thought of the drilling holes method.

I think another option is turning one on a lathe.
You would have to remove the hatch to get specs.
I work in a machine shop, but will get canned for making personal stuff.

At this point, the only reason for me to revive it is to use it in gage mode.

 

[Altamira]

I have pretty much given up finding the battery hatch cover, and while I continue to look for the part, I am going to meet with a 3D print guy tomorrow and see what he has to say about the feasibility and cost of doing a 3D print. As stated in other posts, the part, if made, must be able to withstand the pressure and not allow water flow through the material. I know they can 3D print metal, but as stated in other posts, suspect the cost will be prohibitive. Will find out tomorrow.

I wish I could get the CAD file for the cap, but suspect the part was made in China, and with Aeris no longer in business, I have a better chance of going to the moon than finding that file. I, and others, can't even find spare parts floating around, much less a computer file. If I proceed with this 3D project, and find the part works as it needs to, I will make the file available at no cost to all SB members that want to pursue having a 3D part made for their Aeris AI.

In the meantime, I will fill the drill holes, thankfully I did not drill all the way through, and try to rebuild the broken coin notch with epoxy, but have major doubts as to how durable that fix would be under water and pressure. But, I would likely need to do that anyway if the 3D printing is feasible and not cost prohibitive.

Because I know other SB members are in the same predicament, I will post all of the information I find on this thread. I am always open to all suggestions and recommendations, so please keep them coming.

 

[RyanT]

Good luck Altamira!

 

[kelemvor]

If you have access to an xbox kinect 3d camera you could use it to do a 3d-scan of the old part. Then you could modify it to have an undamaged coin slot.

3D Scanning Tutorial for Microsoft Kinect and 3D Builder

Might be easier than drawing the part from scratch.. maybe.

Actually, I'm not sure about that. You could probably whip up a usable part in google sketchup if you've got a caliper to measure the thing. I thought I'd read somewhere that you could get sketchup pro for free these days but maybe I'm mistaken. I got it pretty cheap using "educational" pricing.