3D printing...

[kelemvor]

I am in the early stages of designing a 4S-3P battery holder for my canister lights. I'm going to print this out today or tomorrow and see how six batteries fit in. I'll decide if it needs to be longer/looser/tighter and then make it longer and add end caps. I haven't even started to suss out the connectors for this project. I'll post pics of the print holding the batteries if it works.

FWIW, this is my first CAD creation and was done with onshape.com. I'm looking forward to learning additional techniques like threads and counter bores for flat head screws.

View attachment 502106

Google sketchup is a very easy to use cad program. There is a free version. If you know anyone who's a student or educator of any kind, you can get "pro" licenses very cheap. I don't remember the limitations on the free, as I've got the pro. Luckily my high school aged son let's me use "his" license . I guess now that I'm married to a teacher I have options. I wonder if you could finagle educational pricing as a scuba instructor...

Edit: I looked it up. Regular sketchup pro is $800. Student is $50 Teacher is $0. Unfortunately, it appears they're sticklers for what constitutes a teacher. Have to be instructional staff at a public k-12 school. Luckily, I know such a person well .

 

[Akimbo]

Don't forget that you can also send your Slice file to service bureaus to produce metal arts. You need to know the shrinkage factor for the metal, processes, and slice thickness. Solids modeling is really addictive. I started with 2D AutoCAD in 1985 and parametric solids modelers in l989. It dramatically changes how you design and conceptualize. Pads of sketch paper last me for years now.

You can also make scaled models with 3D printers to supplement the iterative design process. A good candidate is a "doll house" model for a new house, complete with furniture. Get help when you start modeling down to the ketchup bottles though.

 

[kelemvor]

Don't forget that you can also send your Slice file to service bureaus to produce metal arts. You need to know the shrinkage factor for the metal, processes, and slice thickness. Solids modeling is really addictive. I started with 2D AutoCAD in 1985 and parametric solids modelers in l989. It dramatically changes how you design and conceptualize. Pads of sketch paper last me for years now.

You can also make scaled models with 3D printers to supplement the iterative design process. A good candidate is a "doll house" model for a new house, complete with furniture. Get help when you start modeling down to the ketchup bottles though.

There are a lot of guys pimping out their printer who will help you get it right in advance. However, you do have to be committed. 3d printing metals may be cheaper than processes of the past, but personally I think it's a bit pricey. Plastic is what's in my budget. Unless I came up with something that just needed to be metal.. I think I'd prototype the heck out of that part in plastics, then work with someone who knows their metal printer well... or send it to someone in China for low volume manufacturing I guess.

So far, in my personal experience, even "low end" PLA is surprisingly strong and durable. I remember when I first started printing, I expected PLA to fall apart in my hands after being in the ocean once or twice.

 

[Akimbo]

@kelemvor

Agreed. The normal progression for production parts is to 3D print plastic parts so you can "verify" the assembly (play with it really). Once the design is optimized the parts are prototyped in metal, largely with 3D printing technology so they can undergo limited functional testing. I say limited because the metallurgy is often a little limited. Once that process is completed the company can commit to production tooling like molds, patterns, and dies (stamping, casting, extrusion, etc).

In this case the progression would be 3D print in plastic to iterate, test, and verify the design before getting functional metal parts printed (when metal is required). In some cases I go straight from the 3D printed plastic prototypes to a 5-axis CNC mill, even for a small number of parts. I have also used 3D printed parts for making polyurethane molds for prototypes and very small production.

The commercial diving industry is so small that it is rarely cost-effective to invest in hard tooling. Solid modelers, 3D printing plastic and metal parts, and low production 5-axis CNC has changed a lot of niche industries that could never justify traditional production methods. This phenomenon is filtering down to everything from automotive and aircraft restorers through home garage workshops.

 

[James79]

Dude, that 2nd stage cap is brilliant! I'm stealing it. I can't wait to learn how to create threads and bayonet mounts in onshape. I want to make some breathable caps for my SF2 rebreather, so I can hang up the hoses and still keep critters out. I'm bringing my hoses to the Gainesville Hackerspace tomorrow night to see if I can scan them in.

Maybe we should continue to use thingiverse and add "ScubaBoard" as a tag so we can find our stuff easily.

I'm still figuring out threads in FreeCad, but TinkerCad has a thread generator.... TinkerCad is free and stupid easy, but limited.

 

[The Chairman]

I printed out your cap today... way awesome. I have a number of first stages that are not in use, so I'll be printing a number more.

 

[The Chairman]

@The Chairman please be careful with that buddy. When you start doing complex battery packs it can get real exciting real fast....

Learning as I go. Learning as I go and I still have all my eyebrows.

 

[tbone1004]

Learning as I go. Learning as I go and I still have all my eyebrows.

it's more your house and garage than your eyebrows....

 

[JohnnyC]

Fusion360 is free for hobby use and natively exports .stl files without issue.

I print a good number of things for work, and we simply assume there is some n number attrition rate because, while more durable than you would imagine, PLA is still fairly fragile in certain things, ABS is better, but can take some tweaking to get right, etc. The benefit is that generally you can print a new part overnight.

For prototyping it's great. For actual use, you just have to be careful about what you're using it for.

 

[emoreira]

I've been doing a few small things, and was actually wondering if there should be a sticky in the DIY section for STL files...

www.thingiverse.com/search?q=James1979&dwh=765c4eea89255b6

That's a search results page for stuff I've put on Thingiverse. Some were done in TinkerCad, some in FreeCad... the FreeCad ones I also posted the cad files.

James

Hi James. I've been using DGX valves and flanges for some time to repair BCD broken flanges. As they are, they need to be modified. I've been thinking to 3D print a customized flange but I have not the required knowledge to create the 3D model, and I don't have easy access to a 3D printer.
Using some repair bcd flanges like ScubaFix is too expensive. The other option is to machine a piece of plastic with a machining lathe, which is also expensive unless I order hundreds of them to be made with PLC.