useful electronics related 3d prints? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 11:27:38 pm
content: Did you find any useful 3d prints on thinkverse or whatever that are considered general purpose electronics lab or shop tools?I like the lead benders that are there. I printed one and it actually works well, I think it just needs some ESD paint so I can deal with diodes safely.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2020, 06:27:00 am
content: Any kind of small scale jigs or forms for soft parts are really easy to do.... while I can't point you to a repository of them, I basically just design and print the ones I come across, most of which don't end up published. Most of the ones I've published are replacement parts for test equipment, but I've made some more general mounts for things and adjustment tools - an tri wing SMA security nut removal tool (needs to be printed in polycarbonate to really be strong enough, though), a lens adjustment tool for a thermal camera, and a few other things.If you've got a printer, I'd highly recommend you learn a bit of CAD software so you can design your own jigs and tools. Generally the base geometries can be very simple, and all you'll likely need is a decent caliper and a few iterations to get something usable and reliable.Also unless you're forming leads on sensitive RF diodes, I would never bother with ESD considerations...... you can actually get conductive PLA, though, which would probably do the job if you had the concern without paint.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 03:46:28 am
content: part of the appeal of one is that you can print alot of stuff right off the bat to pay for the cost if you get a modest one.I am tempted to try the pliers, but I don't think its worth printing because I assume I should get the Wiha ones that are plastic, I have yet to regret buying a hand tool, btw fuse/bus pliers are great for getting the prints off the print bed (plastic pliers sold in electrical section of hardware store), they just need a dash of oil on the pivot so they don't squeek, and a bit of file work on the mold seam.The print is too slow to be super useful when you combine the design work and the print time, ultrasonic clean time and hand fit time (lapping). I feel like in most cases I can get by with watchmakers stuff rather then wait that long.The silica gel boxes are interesting, because you can get silica beads that change color and actually check on them unlike the ones in a bag without having to resort to baby food jars. The threads from my DLP printer are nice but it seems I need to use a bit of compound to make them less crunchy. That is actually a decent print because it does not benefit at all from being strong and cutting the threads would require a lathe... unless you are someone with a serious lip balm addiction I don't see you having too many containers like that around.Another one on my mind is some kind of cable clamp kit, so you can outfit a work bench to do neat cable work, since the vises would not need to be strong and it could pack away nicely. Panduit stuff is exorbitantly priced for home cable manufacture. I just don't feel like making all those parts manually.A standard fuse holder is also a interesting idea, but that one is too simple that I am inclined to think drilling holes into a wood block and finishing it would be more satisfying. For automotive fuses maybe.. cylindrical holders do not benefit from any 3d printer strength (making sharp corners).

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 04:27:16 am
content: In general I have found it faster to design tools, jigs and parts to my needs than to search through the repositories looking for something. Most things that 3D printing is suitable for are pretty simple. The most complicated thing I have thought about doing are things like a Panavise like tilting base for holding boards and that is still pretty quick to draw up. Pliers, cutters, wrenches and the like are generally not really too useful when implemented in printable materials. There are exceptions, like dielectric adjustment tools, but again these are easy to draw up.I have used knobs, feet and the like from repositories - with varying degrees of satisfaction. And best results from the sticky thread on this forum. The only "tool" I can think of that I have used from a repository is a test lead rack. In each of these cases the search was tedious, with "many frogs kissed" before finding the prince/princess.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 04:46:12 am
content: cable hangers, pcb mock-ups, wire management stuff.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 04:50:43 am
content: 3 of these is an immediate win, I think I will print a bunch of them in different scale and weigh them downhttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16847201 alone is not enough to prevent a springy wire from being annoying, but if you have 1 to make the joint and 1 at some distance away from the wire its going to work quite well. And a few of those in different sizes with 2 glued close to each other to give wire better support. It needs a mating part so you can put a cable in a large one and weigh it down so you can put a bunch of crimps on a cable without frustrationhttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:63578this one too, I can make a insert plate for my proxxon drill to give it a very wide base and polish the bottom of that jig so I can slide a circuit board around while I drill holes in it. Better then sliding the PCB around on a bed of annoying scratchy fiber dust grinding up the aluminum, once you drill the holes the friction changes/becomes nonlinear and you can easily break carbide microbits just trying to slide a PCB around, maybe the jig will make it consistent. XY table is painfully slow for anything but the smallest of TH pcbs.Just need a micro fan to put over the proxxon drill collet to reduce the piles of dust that build up (like the dremel fan). If you ever made a board with hundreds of holes you will understand the frustration of blowing on it all the time to see whats going on exactly.you guys got me almost depressed thinking there is no useful general tools that can be 3d printedhttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2164548beautiful, should fit proxxon tools. Search proxxon on thinkverse KL27X

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 05:10:38 am
content: There are plenty of useful tools you can make, but they're generally not going to wear as well or be as useful at extremes as cheap metal ones, so it doesn't seem to be worth the effort, at least to me.I've seen pliers, wrenches, sockets - that kind of thing - but the harbor freight special is going to last longer even if the quality is similar, and I've already got a compliment of good tools, so why would I need to print extra disposable ones?Lower durability requirements and custom jobs is definitely where the technology shines. There are certainly some creative solutions (that dremel fan is neat!), but as said if I need something fancy and unusual, there's a good chance I'll just design it anyways.A perfect example: a print that just finished and took all of 5 minutes to design - a 2.5mm spacing gauge. I was working on a project where I need 2.5mm of clearance along the edges to fit other parts in, and while making a wooden one or something would be straightforward enough, I could just pop a basic T shape into fusion360, export it as an stl, and then print it on my printer - the estimate was 12 minutes, but I think it took 50% more for the initial heating time.If I needed a hundred of them, it would take a day or so of printing probably, but otherwise it would be a special order part. Since I only needed one, I got the part I wanted in like 25 minutes and know from how the printer is setup that it will be the right size, and know since I designed it that it's going to be easy to use for the job at hand. The geometry is so simple it would have been similar effort to make it in another material, but the complexity could be hugely more complicated and aside from the design time, it's no more effort to get a good quality, dimensional, finished tool.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 06:17:50 am
content: I am not sure if you can get counterfeit panduit stuff from harbor freightI have a dust shoe, a fan and a fluid-hose attachment printing for my proxxon stuff right now, 3 full prints scheduled. I am dubious about using the fan on a 20k rpm mill but it should be ok for the drill. Not sure if it makes sense to add a dust shoe to a sensitive drill press or how the fan will feel on it.then I will do the cable holder V things (i suppose you can easily make those with a knife file or possibly a hack saw but i don't want to do that)I agree that hand tools are not a great application, i intend to buy the wiha ones. I only have nylon jaw flat jewelers pliers and the fuse pullers at the moment.I wonder what kind of crap you can cobble together for magnet wire work or maybe an apparatus to make custom litz wireanyone want to make a program which generates litz wire weaving accessories to make small amounts pain stakingly to custom specifications?

author: hli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 06:49:41 am
content: (Soldering helping hand)Quote from: coppercone2 on October 21, 2020, 04:50:43 amHad these, but they broke. Layer adhesion is a problem with how they are designed. One of my next print ishttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2757071for which I have better hope.Apart from that - look fort customizable enclosures / project boxes. These are very handy - nothing is better that having a box the right size for your project. Customizable wire spools are also very nice.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 06:51:31 am
content: that looks interesting, the rubber band will be what breaks. you might want to try to use a o-ring

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 07:25:45 am
content: Wire braiding or big coil winding should be pretty easy unless you're going to big gauge. If you want long lifetime, you just need a steel axle and a couple indents for bearings, but you could probably make some pretty complex winding mechanisms with printed gears and a crank. There are some more complicated mechanisms for various things on model sites, but while they probably have some basic rope braiding ones, I don't know of any wire-specific ones.Of course simple air core inductor forms and the like is easy, and project enclosures or strain reliefs or similar are pretty easy to build up and test out.If you're worried about the rubber band, you could always print a small C clamp. I find around 8-10 layers per thread is a good lower limit for layer height, but it does depend on the gap built into the threading. I've printed some M8/M10 threaded stuff but even on 125um layer heights they are a bit too tight to really be easily usable. Something like an M12 or larger with a coarser thread pitch can work really well, and if the clamp is only going to be doing moderate pressure (like flexing plastic parts), it's very easy to achieve.PLA is somewhat less flexible, but PETG is easy to print, slightly higher temperature, and has notably more flex and toughness, then there's TPU which is a 'flex' filament, but especially with extra perimeters can still be fairly stiff. You can actually find flexible reusable cable tie wraps for printing in TPU which work just fine.

author: hli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 03:11:32 pm
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on October 21, 2020, 06:51:31 amBut I can replace it in like 5 seconds or so (instead of a new 4 hour print)

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 09:51:58 pm
content: Frustrating though, I see klien tools actually sells pliers with o-rings, with rubber bands I find them disintegrated in my parts drawer (they supply it over a DIP tube sometimes).. not even 5 years old and stored in good indoor conditions in a esd bag in a box on a shelf and it comes apart like clay. I imagine that they are good quality rubber bands, being from electronics companies.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2020, 02:53:38 pm
content: the fan does not spin enough on a proxxon sensitive drill press to be useful with blowing away fiberglass dust, but it seems to work on a higher speed proxxon devicealso, I would recommend you make it stiffer if you use a DLP printer, that ring around the perimeter can be thickened in a editing program

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2020, 06:11:16 am
content: the wire holding jigs came out fine, on a 18 second per layer exposure time they are very strong.The failure mode for these prints on impact is more like glass, they don't delaminate, it fractures.Has anyone tried the vortex tubes for cooling?

author: BobRyan
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2020, 02:02:59 am
content: I've got four of these hanging in my office. Now only about 1/3rd of my workspace is littered with probes and cables!https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:625777