My 3D printing journey - now under new ownership!

[TB]

@TB , what material would you recommend for a fairly simple bracket that will be subject to ~20lb loads? I was thinking Nylon would probably be sufficient. This is the piece I've designed, for reference.

(dimensions in mm, thinnest wall at the gusset plates is 1mm)

I haven't done anything for either strength or with nylon, only PLA and ABS and the ABS was for heat resistance, not strength.

What direction would the load be? Pushing down on the right and up on the left?

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I haven't done anything for either strength or with nylon, only PLA and ABS and the ABS was for heat resistance, not strength.

What direction would the load be? Pushing down on the right and up on the left?

The left side would be bolted to a rigid metal support and the right side would be supporting an aluminum rail/extrusion above it, running parallel to the long dimension of the bracket. To further explain, there are two of these brackets so the aluminum extrusion is supported at both ends. The extrusion itself has a bicycle fork mount attached to it, so it will be taking about half of my bike's weight. Figure 18lbs / 2 = 9lbs total. Then divide that by 2, and each 3d-printed bracket would be supporting about 4.5lbs gravity load. There will likely be some lateral load too.

 

[TB]

The left side would be bolted to a rigid metal support and the right side would be supporting an aluminum rail/extrusion above it, running parallel to the long dimension of the bracket. To further explain, there are two of these brackets so the aluminum extrusion is supported at both ends. The extrusion itself has a bicycle fork mount attached to it, so it will be taking about half of my bike's weight. Figure 18lbs / 2 = 9lbs total. Then divide that by 2, and each 3d-printed bracket would be supporting about 4.5lbs gravity load. There will likely be some lateral load too.

I don't see why ABS wouldn't work for that. I think...

Do you have access to a printer?

If not, do you have an stl file available?

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I don't see why ABS wouldn't work for that. I think...

Do you have access to a printer?

If not, do you have an stl file available?

It seems like its worth a shot. ABS seems pretty tough.

I do not have access to a printer, but I do have an STL file. I'm still tweaking the geometry at the moment but I think V1 is almost ready to go.

 

[TexRex]

 

[TB]

 

[Jump_Ace]

Now that it's been many years, I just got myself a Qidi X-Max 3D printer. Got her setup in a jiff (well, assuming I lelved the plate properly) and it's doing the test file on the flash drive 🤞

After that, I'll start printing my lego organizer bins. We'll see if my rookie CAD skills are ready to be upgraded to lowly amateur


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Aaand the printer got filament jammed in the extruder in the middle of my 2nd print.

EDIT: I decided to give the Hatchbox filament a try with the other higher temp extruder. It's just ABS, but maybe it will perform better(?) I did tear apart the original extruder and sure enough, it was all mucked up...baaad. I even had a black clog in the plastic feeding tube and had to get out my skinniest hex key to clean it all out. I can easily see through the extruder now and I'm like 95% sure I re-assembled it properly So, I'm holding off on returning it for now.

Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I tried so many things this weekend, Cura setting changes, baseplate temps, higher/lower temps, even the default settings and tons of reddit/youtube tips. I just had to return it. I had to clean out a clog in the extruder each and every time. Maybe I'll try again in 10 years.


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I'm back, two years later. I just did my first print on the new printer, which is also my first successful print ever. Proof this printer is idiot-proof I also dried the filament after heavily modifying my Eibos Cyclops dryer with some extra wood, nuts and screws I had laying around in the garage. I went straight to the interwebs for suggested PETG printer and filament settings, so its good to see those pay off.

I have the basics of my lego organizer ready to print. But I think I need to figure out a way to put on a removable lid so I can store the organizer away if my lego rebuild needs to be paused (because kids, life, etc.).

Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Getting there. I need to make the 'nubs' that you push in a little longer as the lid just slides off. I think another 1.5-2mm whould do it(?). Otherwise, I think I'm good. I had a previous prototype that had shorter alleys surrounding the nub and I broke the ledge holding the nub quite easily. With it being longer, there is more length to distribute the stress of pushing in the nub. And it's easier to push in too, so hopefully I won't break another push tab.

I'm reminded why I love math when engineering this stuff. This is so much fun.


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I stayed up way waaay too late last night to finish the STL files for all my lego rebuilder buckets. But it's all dialed in now, the lid can even hold the weight of the bucket as long as the side clips aren't pressed in too far, of course. They are stackable and with some 1/2" binder clips I can string them together to stay in place on my lego table. I'll be printing 4, 3x3 buckets with a lid eventually when the new green PETG filament comes in.

I'll stop taking over your thread now @TB 😗

Jerome

 

[TB]

I'll stop taking over your thread now @TB 😗

I obviously haven't been using it so feel free!

Also, thread title change says you have to.

 

[Jump_Ace]

I obviously haven't been using it so feel free!

Also, thread title change says you have to.

Thats some mighty big shoes to fill buddy!



Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I printed an Uno card deck holder, only to realize as I was putting it away, that I can print another one for Phase 10. 👍

I also printed the popular crescent wrench last night, it 'works', but not very well as there's flex in the piece that slides back and forth and part of the spiral cylinder is flat making it hard to roll up/down in a spot. But it's cool to see none the less.

I just took some measurements to make a replacement Jenga Tower Guide. Gonna print a test strip and see if I got the length right. I will say now, more than ever, I wish 'merica would adopt mm. Converting and estimating from english measurement sucks balls....i wonder if there's any mm tape measures 🧐


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I printed my first Lego Rebuilder (1 of 4) to give me 36 buckets for organizing mega Lego sets should I want to rebuild them in the future. I'll print the lid after 2 of 4 is done printing this evening.

I was initially going to use Yellow filament, but went with the green instead. For me, anything but white, gray and black would've been alright, but this green is pretty bright so it should make all the colors inside 'pop'. I thought about doing clear filament, but heard some horror stories on YT and a friend of mine, so I chickened out.

Jerome

 

[Chris30]

I'm back, two years later. I just did my first print on the new printer, which is also my first successful print ever. Proof this printer is idiot-proof I also dried the filament after heavily modifying my Eibos Cyclops dryer with some extra wood, nuts and screws I had laying around in the garage. I went straight to the interwebs for suggested PETG printer and filament settings, so its good to see those pay off.

I have the basics of my lego organizer ready to print. But I think I need to figure out a way to put on a removable lid so I can store the organizer away if my lego rebuild needs to be paused (because kids, life, etc.).
View attachment 1372209


Jerome

Wow man, that's impressive technology, how much did that cost? Speaking of Legos, I used to play with them a lot when I was a kid.

 

[Jump_Ace]

Wow man, that's impressive technology, how much did that cost? Speaking of Legos, I used to play with them a lot when I was a kid.

I actually didn't pay a dime for my printer or filament dryer as I used my credit card miles. But it was about $1,300 for both. The real kicker is, that if I wanted to have a company 3D print my Lego Organizer, it'd cost $800 plus shipping, which is just outrageous imho. So, it has always been a no-brainer to one day do this. I've tried 3x in the past which all failed miserably (I could be to blame as much as the printers???). I'm printing the 4th set of 9 buckets today, but here's the first 3 of them plus the lid.

My measurements were slightly off for the lid holes, so I just took a slightly bigger drill bit and expanded the holes a little; 1 minute fix, thankfully. I then did the same for the holes on the bottom of each set of buckets so they stack easier, another 3min fix. I may go back and adjust the holes later, we'll see. For now, here's what I've got:

Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Old vs. New Lego Organizers. The cardboard one costs like $5.00 for the packaging tape, and I used the Medium Flat Rate USPS (long rectangular ones). I think I ended up using 4 of them, but since they are free, the only other thing you need is scissors. This was after I decided to rebuild the 10178 Falcon and I just literally dumped all the pieces into a clear bin The headache that was #neveragain. So I made the cardboard one in 2009, so it lasted 15 years and held up alright, considering.

I think the wife boss said I should print a hammer and a screwdriver for my youngest to play with since he likes the crescent wrench so much. Before that, I have a couple playing card holders I want to print up so my oldest son can play cards. He had a stroke at birth and can't really use is right hand at all, so it'll be nice, once we convince him to play.


Jerome

 

[Chris30]

Old vs. New Lego Organizers. The cardboard one costs like $5.00 for the packaging tape, and I used the Medium Flat Rate USPS (long rectangular ones). I think I ended up using 4 of them, but since they are free, the only other thing you need is scissors. This was after I decided to rebuild the 10178 Falcon and I just literally dumped all the pieces into a clear bin The headache that was #neveragain. So I made the cardboard one in 2009, so it lasted 15 years and held up alright, considering.

View attachment 1377454

I think the wife boss said I should print a hammer and a screwdriver for my youngest to play with since he likes the crescent wrench so much. Before that, I have a couple playing card holders I want to print up so my oldest son can play cards. He had a stroke at birth and can't really use is right hand at all, so it'll be nice, once we convince him to play.


Jerome

That equipment and artwork looks amazing!! Also, don't buy Canon printers. We bought one for $400 Christmas 2022 and came home and set it up and when we did a test print, the screen said the paper was jammed. That was weird. And Canon doesn't even have a customer service line where we can call someone about this issue. So we couldn't even use it, we had to take it to the local junkyard.

 

[Jump_Ace]

Up next is the #2 item I've most wanted to 3D print; a full chess set. This would include obviously the pieces, but also the board itself. But, with roughly 2in. squares, my 256mm x 256mm build plate isn't big enough to do it in one print. Even if I had the AMS multi color unit, it wouldn't work to design a black base and alternate top square colors in one go.

After about 2 min of research, I found what is called the 'open lock' system. This system is a standard for making RPG, DnD building (walls, floors, etc). Best of all, they are free and have ready to go STL files. So the plan is to make a test set of 4 squares in the 'neon hulk' (color name according to my youngest son) with their clips and smallest square piece (named 'ED').

I know after Its done printing, I'll need to take some needle nose pliers and remove the outer most support beams so that I can insert their clip and begin joining the squares together. All in all, if I were into DnD, this would be pretty hot ****. It's a really great system and is quite an impressive community project. If anyone is into making their own DnD or RPG maps for live play, check it out!

Anyway, after that word from our sponsor....here's what their most basic pieces look like in the Bambu Studio:

It does look like I'll have to figure out the best way to string all 64 chess board squares together and then I think I'll try and figure out a way to create a border (assuming they don't already have one which I'm guessing they don't).

To accommodate the original size of the squares, I did have to import the Staunton chess STL files into TinkerCAD and I resized the base (thus the rest of the piece) of the pieces to match the width of the squares.


Jerome

 

[daan]

Even if I had the AMS multi color unit, it wouldn't work to design a black base and alternate top square colors in one go.

We've got an X1 Carbon with AMS at work (along with a couple of Ultimakers and a Raise 3D Pro3.)

The AMS is a great idea but doesn't really work all that well for multicolour prints. It'll print the colours off just fine but there's a load of wastage, of both filament and time, every time it changes colour. The only time it works well is if all of one colour is higher than all of another colour.

It's still a great printer though.

 

[Jump_Ace]

Here's the 'new edge clips' I created/modified. This 'should' all work.....right? RIGHT? We'll see when I try printing some of these:

Thats good to know abut the AMS, @daan I think the only thing that would appeal to me with multicolor prints would be something like a measure where the text ontop would be black ontop of another color. Which, sounds like it really the only way to go with the AMS, basically just this is what I would want to print with an AMS.....not really worth the $300 (?):

Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

The open lock system 'works', but not very well. Everything is super loose and has to be glued in its current state. That is something I don't want to do, so if it comes to that then I'll just buy a 2in. chess board. I'm going to make some modifications to the clips and the squares to help tighten things up; make the clips thicker so they slide in more tightly and I'll make a bar that extends out from the middle of the each side of every center section of the square....if that makes sense.


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

I have given up on the Open Lock as I guess I have high standards and want to avoid using glue, Oh well. I did find this printable chess board: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4062478 Looks very promising, simple. After thinking more about it, and seeing how other chess sets are, I'll have the diameter of the base of my pieces be 38mm (1.5in) and the squares be 50mm (2in.).


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Now, I went ahead and created a checker piece that I thought of when I was waking up this morning. I 'think' all the designing is done for my chess and checkers sets. I just need to buy some filament, at some point.

Here's my stackable (kingable?) Triforce Checkers piece:

I'm not quite talented enough to put the whole Hylian Crest on there Although that would be super bad ass.


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Okay I did a quick search and found a Hylian Crest STL file. I made it a 'hole' in TinkerCAD and boom, looks great.

Jerome

 

[Chris30]

Up next is the #2 item I've most wanted to 3D print; a full chess set. This would include obviously the pieces, but also the board itself. But, with roughly 2in. squares, my 256mm x 256mm build plate isn't big enough to do it in one print. Even if I had the AMS multi color unit, it wouldn't work to design a black base and alternate top square colors in one go.

After about 2 min of research, I found what is called the 'open lock' system. This system is a standard for making RPG, DnD building (walls, floors, etc). Best of all, they are free and have ready to go STL files. So the plan is to make a test set of 4 squares in the 'neon hulk' (color name according to my youngest son) with their clips and smallest square piece (named 'ED').

I know after Its done printing, I'll need to take some needle nose pliers and remove the outer most support beams so that I can insert their clip and begin joining the squares together. All in all, if I were into DnD, this would be pretty hot ****. It's a really great system and is quite an impressive community project. If anyone is into making their own DnD or RPG maps for live play, check it out!

Anyway, after that word from our sponsor....here's what their most basic pieces look like in the Bambu Studio:

View attachment 1382096

It does look like I'll have to figure out the best way to string all 64 chess board squares together and then I think I'll try and figure out a way to create a border (assuming they don't already have one which I'm guessing they don't).

To accommodate the original size of the squares, I did have to import the Staunton chess STL files into TinkerCAD and I resized the base (thus the rest of the piece) of the pieces to match the width of the squares.


Jerome

That looks like quite a good plan and blueprint of your project. Super work!!