Project idea - quick (but technical 3D print)

[edcharlwood]

I have been playing with creating this little product for my students - quick, technical work that can be quickly 3D printed and iterated. Does anyone have any creative ideas they think could be added? e.g. cable caps, amination the assembly, making the thumbscrew have a knurled surface.

Ed 

[dan.banach · Accepted solution]

Hi @edcharlwood 

Thanks for posting your question. Would this phone stand amplifier work? Here is a link to download the file.

The design can be modified to fit other phone and make addition to hold pencils, cords etc.

Are there other projects that the community is using / recommends?

Thanks,

-Dan

[edcharlwood]

Ah, thanks. That's a nice project! I actually meant for additions to the cable holder, but I think I wasn't very clear

[o.briggs]

@edcharlwood I love this! Coupe of ideas off the top of my head:

• You could join two together or make it bigger that so it can hold multiple cables
• Design it in such a way that multiple clips could be stored/stacked together efficiently 
• Im not sure how you currently are choosing to remove/insert the cable....but assuming you don't need to unscrew the bolt, you could make it a single print item, where the orange knob and grey holder are printed together in a single print. People always love parts that can only be made through additive! 
• If you do currently unscrew the bolt to insert a lead, maybe you could adapt the design so that spinning the orange part inserts the lead into the slot for you!

I absolutely love designs like these that can be easily and quickly printed. They make excellent items to give out on open days/visits!!

[edcharlwood]

These are great suggestions, thank you Oliver. I had thought of printing threaded parts, but I don’t know if I’d work on an M4. Printing-in-place would be really cool. Do you know where there are any guidelines?

(I had used a brass insert plus a standard components - M4 CS 20mm - to give a range of materials, and to print to exact tolerances)

[o.briggs]

@edcharlwood Apologies, but I am not sure I am completely clear on what you are saying, could you explain in a little more detail? 
Thank you!

[edcharlwood]

Sorry, my initial message was rushed - and a garbled mess. Should make sense now, but in short: 

1) do you have any print-in-place design guidelines?

2) I wonder if my Prusa can do threads for M4 with any accuracy, or if a different type of fixing is required. 

[o.briggs]

Going down to M4 can be tricky. It depends on your design and how you are doing it. It would be possible to redesign it in such a way that it didn't make use of threads but another locking mechanism that does not require such finely tuned features! How is the wire currently clipped in/out?

[edcharlwood]

The use of standard parts (nuts, bolts, threaded inserts) was there to give students an experience of using bought in parts. I’ll see about offering the print-in-place as an extension challenge. I’m just doing a knurled thumbscrews as a variation - I’ll share it shortly. Thanks for the input. 

[o.briggs · Accepted solution]

Ah ok got it! Makes perfect sense 🙂 I love the design! Another idea I thought of....using TPU or a flexible material to print certain parts of the design (either to insert a wire, or as a softer more comfortable material to hold/turn! Looking forward to seeing the knurling!

[edcharlwood]

 

Knurled thumbscrew, and quick cable cap covers with a tolerance fit