How would you model something like this for a 3D print?

[valerie (Valerie Grace Wilmot)]

You can always count on @Branislav to have interestingly designed collectors items

[bwatt (Brian D. Watt)]

Photogrammetry scanning done and mesh created.

[Branislav (B.C.)]

Indeed – Brian truly delivered!

Now it’s my turn to figure out the rest

[Branislav (B.C.)]

One of these days I’ll grow out of it…

Jut not anytime soon if my recent auction wins are any indication : https://i.imgur.com/W3FoSOh.mp4

[ilya (Ilya Nekhay)]

Branislav, if you’re new to Fusion, I would totally recommend this YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@cadcamstuff?si=BTzra8mt5LqXsAUK

A couple of years ago I watched it for a couple of days, and went from total zero in 3d printing to being able to do some decent designs that worked well for my purposes.

My main goal was building an enclosure for a microcontroller and a little fan, that will attach to a hose and pump air in it. I even ended up printing threaded nuts

[bwatt (Brian D. Watt)]

Working on a parametric CAD model for Branislav in FreeCAD.

Here are the current parameters using a 3D print of the mesh from yesterday.

Next step is to print it and see if it fits on one of the calculator, adjust, print and repeat. I haven’t done the tabs. I thought that we should get the overall size done first.

[Branislav (B.C.)]

Thank you so much, @bwatt! I’ll drop you an email

[Branislav (B.C.)]

Those look exactly like the kind of help I need – thank you @ilya . I have a chunk of the weekend set aside for following along with that tutorial series

[bwatt (Brian D. Watt)]

Latest 3D FDM print after printing and measuring against the original part.

Branislav and I will probably need to meet again to see fit it to one of the calculators and if further adjustments to the CAD model are necessary.

On a separate path, this cover has tabs to hold a bent metal conductor for the calculator’s batteries. This metal piece needs to be cut out of 0.3 mm spring steel sheet and then formed. The piece needs to be cut out and then folded back and forth two times. Here is the CAD drawing of the flat piece, and its initial parametric measurements.

Question: Can any of the laser-room lasers cut thin metal? If not, would this be a good test case for something like the fiber laser?

Next a set of bending jigs might be helpful.

[JoeN (Joe Ngo)]

I can cut it. I don’t have any bandwidth to bend it

[jamesfreeman]

Lasers in the laser room can’t cut metal. It will be a while before the fiber laser is available, I’d take @JoeN up on his offer.

[bwatt (Brian D. Watt)]

Thanks, I’ll let Branislav contact Joe if he is interested in pursuing this.

[pearlgreymusic (riko balakit)]

I think everyone else has the design part covered, just want to throw in my two cents that 3D printing is considered a “Rapid Prototyping” technology, so don’t be discouraged if the first print doesn’t quite fit right (I like to use the freebie filament around the space for test fits before using a nicer one for my final print), and I think each iteration could take as short as 15 minutes to print so you could definitely book a few hours with one of the printers, bring a laptop with CAD and your part/device you’re repairing, and go back and forth til it’s just right.

Something else I like to do especially when trying to get an exact-fit type part, is instead of printing the entire piece out, I’ll only cut out the piece I am testing out and print it (it does have to match the orientation I am intending to print the whole part out in the end though just because layer lines interaction matters quite a bit) so I use less plastic and have much faster turnaround time between test fits. This tip won’t help too much for your piece since it’s so small, but it’s a huge time and material saver for multi-hour prints!

[Branislav (B.C.)]

Thank you all! I was out of pocket for a bit so I’m catching up.

@bwatt , we can coordinate another meet, I should be available much of the weekend and Monday.

@JoeN , I appreciate the offer! I’m wondering whether I can redesign the metal piece to avoid the bending, so it may end up looking different. That’s TBD once Bri and I can figure out the final cover.

@pearlgreymusic thanks for the excellent pointers. This particular cover may be a one-off, but I can absolutely see the benefits of what you outlined. And given how impressed I am with the incredibly quick work Brian accomplished, I absolutely see more 3D printing in my future.

[bwatt (Brian D. Watt)]

@Branislav Tell me when you’ll be at ASMBLY next and I’ll stop by to try out and give you the latest 3D FDM print.

[dannym (danny w miller)]

Those battery springs are usually spring tempered to do their job. Plated, too. I would look around for battery holders online to see if there’s something with a precut, nickel plated, spring temper piece in the right shape to scavenge off it

[WilliamH (William Haines)]

Wow, this is really coming along. Cool stuff.