Hello everyone,
I’m trying to print an icosahedron that will be used to house some electronics. Because of that, I need it to be separated into at least two parts so I can open it up whenever needed to swap parts/batteries.
I’ve managed to make a model in Fusion 360 but am now wondering what would be the best way to slice it up for faster 3D printing? If I use the automated supports (only from base plate) at 4mm spacing, the print is stated to take 2d and 6 hrs… definitely not something I’d like to run. Screenshots below.
Thanks @dannym ! I downloaded Cura to test out tree supports… seems it gets the print time down to 1d and 10hrs… much better!
Will keep tinkering with the model and cut it into smaller chunks so I can print this out in parts.
Cheers!
v/
Here is something I did to make an interlocking set of objects. Because each edge of your icosahedron joins with 4 other edges you might consider redesigning it to use this approach,
As for interlocking, you could do holes and pegs but there is a chance that it would wear out over time, could be a long time before that happens, however.
Thank you @bwatt, @Devmani !
I continued working on it and thought splitting it into 3 parts (top/middle/bottom) would make it easier to put together. Ok, actually 2 parts as top and bottom are exactly the same (picture below). The idea is for the middle piece to hold electronics (an ESP32, battery, ultrawideband module, accelerometer) and some supports for LED’s pointing towards all 20 faces. The faces are right now empty because I want to cover them with translucent engraved acrylic to light from inside the object.
I thought about using simple joints to align the parts and keep them together, but the orientation of the print meant these were very weak and broke off easily, explanation below the screenshot:
Basically the floating part is attached to the top/bottom plates at each corner (5 in total per side). These protrusions are inserted at the widest part of the slot in the middle section and then the top/bottom can be rotated to lock in place.
What I was going to try next is to use neodymium magnets embedded into the parts at each corner, but I’m thinking this may cause two things:
The object as a whole would not be as solid, as perhaps people could slide the top/bottom off the middle section by accident
The magnets could interfere with the electronics inside
So this is still a work in progress, I need to figure out the internal supports for the electronics (am building separate parts for each one and then organizing them if possible into a single module), and best way to add the acrylic triangles to the surface while keeping it as clean as possible (preferably no bolts/screws).
@Devmani I’ll send the 3mf files on a message, both for the icosahedron as a single piece and for the sliced one. Might as well learn best way to 3d print this before I’m done with the full model.
Again, thanks for your help, learning quite a bit!
v/
12h38M at 0.16 resolution. This of course isn’t on a typical Prusa or cartesian printer but a CoreXY build for speed. Tree supports seem like the best way to go about this as I set up for Hybrid and I don’t see single normal support. Also, it may be even faster for me at 0.20 and a reduction of my infill percentage (20%)
Thanks! I’ll tweak my settings to print on the Prusa at ASMBLY, see how low I can get it. Also since I’d be printing in parts I may be able to not hog the machine for a full day at a time. I may bump perimeters to 3 and reduce infill as well and play with timings.
Thank you both!
v/
