3d printed box for gear cutters

[SpringHollow]

I am curious. What is your best guess as to the cost in materials for printing one of these boxes? I saw a project that I was interested in once and got estimates for having it printed at several online places and was shocked to see the cost. So it is difficult to tell whether I would want to invest in a printer for all of my "it would be nice" projects.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[awake]

Being of the "Old School" I will try to modify your drawings to a box for Imperial (Are we allowed to say that anymore?) size cutters.

Let me know if you have any questions. The key will be to create a new vector variable like this:

dp24_cutters = [ 50.8, 5.7, 25.4 ]; // don't use these numbers - I made them up!!!

The first number should be the OD and the second number should be the thickness of the cutters. The last number is not actually used - in theory it is the ID of the bore - you can leave it out if you wish.

Then assign this variable to the cutter_size variable:

cutter_size = dp24_cutters;

Note that all dimensions need to be converted to mm!

Once you have set the parameters that you want to adjust, press the F5 key to generate the draft model, then the F6 key to generate the final model; then click on the STL button to generate the .stl file.

 

[retailer]

awake:- Here is my version of your idea, I decided to include a recess for the arbour I made, it is not perfect, but I'm happy enough for a first attempt at design and print.

I had to do a little bit of "fettling" with emery paper to get the lid to go on easily, probably should have allowed for a bit more clearance, possibly a bit more of a radius on the corners and I wasn't sure if there would be any shrinkage - it was a good learning experience and I have a useful holder for my cutters, way better than the plastic bag I had them in, thanks again for presenting your idea.

I drew it in Fusion360 and used it's inbuilt slicer to output the gcode to a sim card for the printer - print time was 10 hrs, PLA filament, 220 deg C nozzle, 60 deg C bed, 0.1 layers, the 3D printer settings in Fusion360 are like a foreign language to me but I managed to bumble my way through.

 

[awake]

I'll be curious to see how you're handling your "eased" surfaces. I've approached that challenge using Minkowski addition/subtraction before, but that certainly isn't a cheap operation in OpenSCAD!

No, not using Minkowski; instead I am generating appropriately shaped corners and doing a hull operation. Depending on the type and combination of corners, this can be very expensive in terms of time, though if you keep $fn set relatively low (32 or so), it is not too bad. Some shapes (concave fillets, for example) use a difference operation.

I will welcome input!

 

[awake]

I am curious. What is your best guess as to the cost in materials for printing one of these boxes? I saw a project that I was interested in once and got estimates for having it printed at several online places and was shocked to see the cost.

Ken, the actual material cost is trivial - much less than $1 per box, unless you are using some exotic filament. But it does take a good bit of time for the printer to crank it out. I expect that the online services are mostly charging for the time and handling, not the material.

 

[awake]

awake:- Here is my version of your idea, I decided to include a recess for the arbour I made, it is not perfect, but I'm happy enough for a first attempt at design and print.

I had to do a little bit of "fettling" with emery paper to get the lid to go on easily, probably should have allowed for a bit more clearance, possibly a bit more of a radius on the corners and I wasn't sure if there would be any shrinkage - it was a good learning experience and I have a useful holder for my cutters, way better than the plastic bag I had them in, thanks again for presenting your idea.

I drew it in Fusion360 and used it's inbuilt slicer to output the gcode to a sim card for the printer - print time was 10 hrs, PLA filament, 220 deg C nozzle, 60 deg C bed, 0.1 layers, the 3D printer settings in Fusion360 are like a foreign language to me but I managed to bumble my way through.

Very nice! Yes, figuring out the proper clearance can be a matter of trial and error - it will change depending on the machine, the layer height, the shape, the filament used ...

 

[SpringHollow]

Ken, the actual material cost is trivial - much less than $1 per box, unless you are using some exotic filament. But it does take a good bit of time for the printer to crank it out. I expect that the online services are mostly charging for the time and handling, not the material.

Thanks - that is real helpful. I had gotten quotes of over $200 for a mouse trap! What machines do people like - seems like being able to do ABS with generic filament or resin would be useful.

Ken

 

[Cogsy]

Thanks - that is real helpful. I had gotten quotes of over $200 for a mouse trap! What machines do people like - seems like being able to do ABS with generic filament or resin would be useful.

Ken

I only have a cheap printer but it can do ABS and PLA. I have a roll of ABS that I use when absolutely necessary but generally I stick with PLA - especially now that I've found out you can 'temper' PLA prints to get extra strength and temperature resistance from them when needed.

 

[awake]

Ouch! For $200 you can get a decent 3d printer, and print it yourself!

The Creality Ender seems to have a good reputation as a budget printer, but there are a bunch of others out there as well. You might find it helpful to watch some YouTube videos by Thomas Sanladerer or Maker's Muse (and again, there are many others). Tom is in the midst of a series of introductory videos that might give a good idea of the options.

I don't know off the top of my head whether the Ender can print ABS. The starting point would be whether it has an "all metal" hot end and how hot the heated bed can go - if all-metal and 100°C or so, you should be able to print ABS with some success. Note though that, depending on the model, it may not be possible to print ABS without an enclosed printer to control ambient temperature.

Small resin printers have come way down in price, and some are now down to around $200. The print size is smaller than a typical filament printer; the resolution is way better; the cost per print and the "hassle" per print is significantly higher - you have to deal with a resin that can cause allergic reactions, wash the print in isopropyl alcohol, and cure it in UV light.

Just to be clear, I have no stake in any particular brand - my 3d printer is my own home-brew design, built around standard, inexpensive, and widely available components.

 

[awake]

I have a couple of rolls of ABS, and with proper preparation of the print bed, I can print it successfully. But I haven't used ABS in forever - generally I use PLA or PETG. I have attempted to print nylon and POM (generic name for Delrin), but both of those really need an enclosed printer - "someday" I plan to go make the Mark II printer with enclosure.

 

[Cogsy]

Awake - not sure if you're aware but many people get a couple of IKEA 'Lack' coffee tables and stick them together with brackets you print off Thingiverse, then cover the sides in coreflute or similar to make a cheap, quick enclosure. If you printer fits in the footprint of the table it's an easy job to enclose it.

https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/lack-s...MIqsmWmLKZ6gIVDSUrCh1pAwQVEAYYAyABEgJjOPD_BwE

 

[willray]

Awake - not sure if you're aware but many people get a couple of IKEA 'Lack' coffee tables and stick them together with brackets you print off Thingiverse...
https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/lack-s...MIqsmWmLKZ6gIVDSUrCh1pAwQVEAYYAyABEgJjOPD_BwE

What an exquisitely ugly table!

The real trick with printing ABS isn't just the enclosure, it's keeping the environment of the printer at a uniform and usefully elevated temperature. Enclosing the printer helps. Enclosing the printer in a draft-free, thermal-stratification-free environment at 50ish C, is magical, especially if you have a dual-material printer and can print ABS for your model, and PLA for support structure.

I have a printer that does this. I can reliably print ABS models that you'd call impossible to print in PLA with consumer 3D printers (and yes, I think stratasys are jerks). Reliably, as in I think I've had two print failures in 4 years of printing, and they were my own fault for trying to re-use a print-bed far beyond it's useful life. Good stuff. I wish someone in the consumer-printer world would push the issue on "a heated box is not patentable", and start making useful enclosures available. The stuff you can do with ABS and reliable dissolvable support is really impressive.

 

[werowance]

Just wanted to say thank your for posting those stl files. looks like the same M1 cutters I have and that box will be nice to put them in. will have to print one this weekend.

thanks again.

 

[ddmckee54]

Willray:

What do you use for the dissolvable support? You mentioned printing ABS with a PLA support structure. If that's it, what do you use to dissolve the PLA?

Don

 

[awake]

Thanks, Cogsy. I hadn't seen that specific approach, but of course there are any number of ways to make a box. I've thought about going that route, but the space where the printer lives is already rather crowded, and the design of the printer is not optimal. So, I have worked up a new design ... which I will build ... "one of these days" ...

 

[willray]

Willray:

What do you use for the dissolvable support? You mentioned printing ABS with a PLA support structure. If that's it, what do you use to dissolve the PLA?

Don

Yup, PLA. PLA dissolves in (reasonably) strong base solutions. The support-cleaning solution we use (I'm afraid I've forgotten the exact molarity - we worked it out once, it's nasty, but not /that/ nasty) is something like 100g NaOH per gallon, plus a healthy dose of what's basically laundry detergent. Heated to 40ish C with an agitated bath, and the PLA goes away pretty quickly.

 

[gredeby]

Yup, PLA. PLA dissolves in (reasonably) strong base solutions. The support-cleaning solution we use (I'm afraid I've forgotten the exact molarity - we worked it out once, it's nasty, but not /that/ nasty) is something like 100g NaOH per gallon, plus a healthy dose of what's basically laundry detergent. Heated to 40ish C with an agitated bath, and the PLA goes away pretty quickly.

Hi I use PVA filament as support material. It dissolve in water.

 

[gredeby]

Awake, I have printed the boxes perfect fit between the box and the lid.
Thanks a lot.

 

[awake]

Glad to hear it worked! And I like the green color!

 

[willray]

Hi I use PVA filament as support material. It dissolve in water.

If you want to print PLA as your model material, or can't reliably print ABS due to lack of a heated enclosure, PVA is certainly one of the better options. I've found it much harder to get fine detail in the support structure with PVA than with PLA though. Still, any dissolvable support structure is orders of magnitude better than no dissolvable support structure!