Hey everyone! Just sitting around waiting for Zim’s to arrive, I’m sure you are all thinking of some project in mind to be your first print. Maybe it’s something you’re working on modeling now, or maybe you just have an idea of what it will be. Let’s hear about it and what progress you’ve made or what challenges you face ahead.
My first print will likely be something I had a mechanical engineering friend of mine model up for me, for the Spark Core. I’m keeping it kind of under wraps for now, but I’m very eager to start iterating on the design and see if it works as cool as it looks in the model.
I also have a 3 axis 24" x 24" cnc “robot” that has servo motors on it, and one of the motors has a broken strain relief piece on the end cap. It’s just a plastic piece that covers up the encoder that’s embedded in the endcap of the motor, but very important to keep the dust and other crap out. I’d like to make a replacement piece that fits this that I can just bolt back on. Then also outfit the Z axis with something useful like a high speed router or maybe even a solder paste dispensing head. It was originally a machine to dispense peel-able solder mask, but there is no longer anything there except for a carriage to bolt something to.
Here’s a picture of the servo with the missing piece.
Should be fun. Even though it has a slight crown to it, I think a thin piece of PLA that starts flat might bend into place with VHB adhesive tape. If not, a little heat with my hot air tool should allow it to conform to the crowned endcap. The strain relief part doesn’t have to be perfect. I’d likely print the part upside down from how it will be oriented here.
Beyond that I’m hoping to create a bunch of cool enclosures for all kinds of one-off electronics projects.
What else are you guys up to?