3D Printing and why I really bought one of these things

Darren
Darren
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That's pretty cool Robl. I

That's pretty cool Robl. I wish I had that sort of electronics knowledge.

I did build a 3 axis CNC though so if you wanted anything machined Id be happy to help if you had cad drawings.

Anonymous

RE: That's pretty cool

Quote:
That's pretty cool Robl. I wish I had that sort of electronics knowledge.


Thanks, but you give me too much credit. A couple of websites that provide the electronic boards I use (Adafruit in the US and Piborg in the UK) also provide outstanding documentation for how to "use" their products. Piborg also provides excellent code examples to interface to their boards. The skill you need is how to solder and Adafruit has videos on that too.

Quote:

I did build a 3 axis CNC though so if you wanted anything machined Id be happy to help if you had cad drawings.

If you can build a CNC machine you can do electronics. :>) I would be interested is seeing your CNC setup. A pic if you have it. Is it laser, milling, or router? And thanks for your offer.

My next project is to construct a case for the Pi Foundation 7 inch touch screen that will support a PI3 and a battery source for the Pi and touchscreen so that I can control a crawler. The 7" touch screen will support an application with embedded onboard video with two sliders. One slider for forward/backward travel and the other for left/right. This will definitely make the crawler portable. For now I login with a laptop "start" things then switch to the PS3 game controller.

A case for this touchscreen exists but it does not provide battery storage for Pi portability. I would have thought this would have been an obvious "need" so now I am considering building my own. I extruded a base rectangle as a start and am awaiting the touchscreen before proceeding further. I did locate the mech drawings for the touchscreen but holding it makes it easier.

3D printing is more challenging that other types of CNC I believe. Because it is hot and liquid when extruded it wants to shrink. And various factors influence this. Shrinkage is not something you have to contend with in other types of CNC.

Anyway it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

Anonymous

RE: My next project is to

Quote:


My next project is to construct a case for the Pi Foundation 7 inch touch screen that will support a PI3 and a battery source for the Pi and touchscreen so that I can control a crawler. The 7" touch screen will support an application with embedded onboard video with two sliders. One slider for forward/backward travel and the other for left/right. This will definitely make the crawler portable. For now I login with a laptop "start" things then switch to the PS3 game controller.

A case for this touchscreen exists but it does not provide battery storage for Pi portability. I would have thought this would have been an obvious "need" so now I am considering building my own. I extruded a base rectangle as a start and am awaiting the touchscreen before proceeding further. I did locate the mech drawings for the touchscreen but holding it makes it easier.

As luck would have it I found a design on Thingaverse that greatly simplified my task of building a case for a Raspberry Pi 7" case.

But first some legal stuff.

I used Raspberry Pi 7 Inch Touchscreen display case by luc_e used under CC BY-NC 3.0
By clicking on the above links you can see the actual cad parts on Thingaverse and get a feel for how this works.

This design was ideal for my implementation in all respects but one. I needed to be untethered so it was necessary to modify two parts of this design to accommodate a battery capable of powering both the Pi3 and the 7 inch touch screen. Most of the project has been completed except for that part of the case that will house the Powerbank. I won't be able to move forward with that build until I receive the Powerbank sometime tomorrow. I took the advise of SpaceX and Company and took the time to "just read the instructions" regarding the slicer program I am using and this made significant improvment in the quality of the print.

Two parts have been completed.

The "front plate" and the "case with SD hatch" seen below.

The second image was part of the original download but modified to accept 3M bolts rather then what I believe the original author intended - self tapping screw to hold a lid. I will be designing a lid to fit on the top that will hold the Powerbank.

This is what it looks like now after assembly:

From this:

(In the more recent deliveries the driver board with two ribbon cables is now pre-assembled and mounted to the back of the touch screen as shown here.)

to this:

You might note also that this Pi3 and Pi Foundation 7" Touchscreen are running on Ubuntu Mate 16 (most seem to favor Rasparian). On initial boot the image was upside down but that was easily corrected by a change to a boot file which shifted it 180 degrees. Also you see a virtaul keyboard. This is needed because there will be no "real keyboard/mouse". Just the touchscreen.

All that is left to do is design the back cover with built in Powerbank compartment and this will be a great little tablet. Total print time around 8 hours.

For more build detail and pictures you can see it here

I must admit that I am delighted with the outcome and the original designer (noted above) did a nice job.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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RE: ..... modified to

Quote:
..... modified to accept 3M bolts rather then what I believe the original author intended - self tapping screw ...


Do you mean that the 3D printing process can construct certain thread characteristics to receive a given screw ? Cool .... :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Anonymous

RE: RE: ..... modified to

Quote:
Quote:
..... modified to accept 3M bolts rather then what I believe the original author intended - self tapping screw ...

Do you mean that the 3D printing process can construct certain thread characteristics to receive a given screw ? Cool .... :-)

Cheers, Mike.

In my case there where holes that were slightly smaller then an M3 bolt, i.e., 2.8mm in diameter. This implied that the original designer wanted to fasten a lid using self tapping metal screws. This is fine unless you find yourself taking things apart several times. Eventually the metal screws will cease to gain traction and hold things in place

As for the question regarding the construction of thread characteristics within a "hole" to match a given screw or bolt I am uncertain. I needed to open up his design from M2.8 to M3.0 to take a standard bolt to which a nut would be attached. This would allow multiple disassembles over time without the fear of stripping/wearing out the hole. I have seen some mechanical designs with gears that are so "wow" that it would seem you could design your own screws with what ever pitch and frequency you would want. Just not with plastic or a home machine. Again I am new to this and am constantly amazed by the capability of these home units - they will only get better with time.

For example I saw a garden Buddha printed with a filament containing iron particles. At first is looked a bit plastic but after a while the iron filings began to rust. This gave it metalic look and advanced its appearance.

Other filaments have metalic components and these can be used in an electrical circuit. Say your print a car with this filament. Its body/frame can now become a common ground for your other electrical components.

Anonymous

Finished the Pi3 mobile case

Finished the Pi3 mobile case after the Powerbank arrived. Here are some pics:

Powerbank sitting in printed case w/o lid

Moving lid into place

Assemnled unit from back show LED indicator slot and power button

Side of unit showing micro USB, HDMI, sound connectors

Screen powered by battery.

Rear. shows button access to Powerbank and slot for Powerbank LEDS

End shot showing 4xUSB and network connection

I have some configuration to do to make the desktop more manageable and to resize the virtual keyboard at the login screen. It is small and unless using a stylus a bit difficult to use. I was going to make the mods to the original download for the case available but these cad files would only be viable if using the same Powerbank. It is difficult if not impossible to design a generic battery pack with so many different options available. If the "Pi Juice" ever reaches the market it would be the perfect solution although I am not sure if it could power this 7" inch touch screeen.

This was an interesting effort requiring about 13 hours of print time.

Gary Charpentier
Gary Charpentier
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Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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Joined: 1 Dec 05
Posts: 6591
Credit: 321060483
RAC: 416212

RE: This was an interesting

Quote:
This was an interesting effort requiring about 13 hours of print time.


That is a really snappy job. Well done ! :-)

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

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