Tag: 3dprinting

Categories
Uncategorized

Rugged Box Silicone Gasket Seal (Part I)

Here’s the short version, I used CHANGTIKEJI Silicone Mold “Super Elastic Liquid Silicone” to make these seals / gaskets for the rugged box(es) I 3D printed. There’s a smaller size available as well. I have not used it but it should be the same thing. Keep reading for more!

I’ve mentioned these Rugged Boxes before which are based on Universal Parametric Rugged Box by Rainer Backes, and the design allows for a gasket to seal the lid and bottom, and the suggestion is to print it with TPU, a flexible filament but I’ve been making a ton of silicone molds lately, so I gave it a go. And it worked!

Here’s the box with the seal rendered in orange…

You can export each part separately, so here’s the seal on its own. Again, you could print this in TPU, but the TPU I’ve tried isn’t very soft or flexible, so why not try silicone?

I make a little frame and differenced out the seal (after filliping it upside down) and then I printed it.

Here’s the print. (And another frame for another box off to the side. The silicone doesn’t stick to the PLA plastic so it peeled right out. I should note two things. First, I should have done the silicone pour on an even surface. In the past I’ve used a level and shimmed up a piece of flat stock to make sure the mold is nice and level so the silicone fills the mold without unevenness.

Second, I don’t have a photo of this, but after the silicone was set I grabbed a razor blade and scraped it across the top to clear off any little overflow strings and give a nice clean edge to the casting.

Here’s the seal in place after the silicone was fully cured. This CHANGTIKEJI “Super Elastic Liquid Silicone” is very soft and rubbery, which is a good thing, but it may not be the best thing… I sort of wish there was a way to “glue” it into place, but you can’t exactly glue silicone, because it doesn’t really stick to anything! I do have an idea for that…

I think next time I’ll make the mold slightly smaller so there is some stretch when placing it into the slot of the box. The one thing I don’t like with this one is that it easily falls out. If this is a box you open a lot you’ll probably get annoyed with it falling out on occasion. On the other hand, if this box is outside and rarely opened, it would probably be fine.

You’ll notice that there is a nice layer of silicone showing between the lid and the bottom of the box. There is a parameter named TSealHeight and while it is set to 0 for a default, I tried it at 1 for this box. So the seal has a “T” shape profile to it. I think next time I’ll try the 0 value again which will make the seal thinner and it should not even be seen when the box is closed.

Anyway, this was a great experiment, and very successful! I’m working on an outdoor box next, and a good seal will be important. I’ll most likely use ASA or PETG instead of PLA for the next one.

If you try this using the silicone I mentioned let me know how you get on. (My daughter originally bought some for a school project and I ended up liking it and ordering my own.) I’ve used Smooth-On silicone in the past and it’s worked well sometimes and not as well other times, that could be due to the scale I was using at the time. This stuff is a 1:1 ratio and when we measured in grams it worked great. We even did some large pours and measure in ounces (not as accurate) and it turned out just fine.

See Also: Rugged Box Silicone Gasket Seal (Part II) and Rugged Box Silicone Gasket Seal (Part III).

Note: This post may contain Affiliate Links. Read More.

Categories
Uncategorized

Pete’s Prints at Maker Faire Milwaukee

Back in 2015 I became a Producer for Maker Faire Milwaukee, and helped put on the Faire for the next four years until 2019. Life changed a lot in 2020 and I did take part in the event as a Maker in 2021 and 2022, but life got a little upset in 2023 so I just attended as an Attendee. Well, it’s 2024 and I’m back as a Maker!

So come on down to the 2024 Edition of Maker Faire Milwaukee happening on November 23rd & 24th November 2nd & 3rd at Discovery World and see Pete’s Prints.

HEY! So yes, the date has changed! It was November 23rd & 24th but is now November 2nd & 3rd, 2024.

I will be there to show off my unique relief printmaking process. If you missed it, I designed and 3D printed my own mould & deckle and I make my own paper, mostly from recycled junk mail and other scraps of paper, and I then 3D print printing plates and print with them (onto the handmade paper) using a DIY printing press I assembled. Oh, I also 3D print frames for the prints.

Yeah, that’s a lot, so here’s a list of all of the posts I’ve written about my printmaking endeavors over the last year or so:

Whew! If you read all of those (or even just some of them) you might have some insight into my process. If not, feel free to come to Maker Faire Milwaukee and ask some questions!

Categories
Uncategorized

Bike Lock Mount Spacer

I have a bike lock that mounts to the seat stay by clamping around the tube and it’s never quite fit right. I can tighten it all I want but the plastic on metal doesn’t really prevent it from rotating slightly. It’s not a huge deal but it’s enough to bother me.

In the past I had a GPS handlebar mount and it came with a little piece of rubber to help shim it tight and grip the bar which prevented it from rotating. I didn’t have any random pieces of rubber around, but I do have flexible filament! TPU (or Thermoplastic PolyUrethane) is 3D printing filament that is sort of soft and flexible, so I loaded it up in the Prusa MINI+ and designed a piece in OpenSCAD.

When I say “designed” there is barely a design, as it’s just a hollowed cylinder with a slit down the side. While 3D printed parts can be complex, they can also be really simple. (I once printed a shim!)

Again, for me it’s all about solving problems. I could have hunted around for a piece of rubber, or ordered some, but I had the filament on-hand, I can design things quickly, and they can print while I do more important work.

Categories
Uncategorized

Bike Seat Light Adapter

Back in February I got a set of bike lights and the rear light mounted on the seat post perfectly, but I recently added a bike rack and bag which blocked the light from view. At first I attached the rear light (which is also a reflector) to the back of the bag, but it wasn’t ideal.

So looking at the options I thought mounting it to the back of the seat (on the saddle rails) made sense, but I needed an adapter, so I designed and printed one. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: This is why I like 3D printing. I’m not interested in printing little toys or trinkets, I am interested in solving problems.

I fired up OpenSCAD and designed a cylinder, split it in half, added holes/grooves to fit around the bars on the seat, and then added a hole for a bolt to go through to clamp it together.

One side of the bolt hole allows the head of the bolt to be recessed so it doesn’t stick out, and the other side allows for the hex nut to be held captive so you can tighten the screw with the nut held in place.

I remember back in 2012 when I asked Michael Curry if he got designs right the first time and the first print worked perfectly, and he said that most designs took about three attempts… I’m happy to say this one took just two! (Well, I could probably slightly improve things with a third attempt, but the second was close enough so I called it done.)

I did have to slightly cut down the bolt with a hacksaw to get it to not stick out too far. Again, a third print could have addressed that issue, but sometimes a hacksaw is the right solution to a problem.

Note: This post may contain Affiliate Links. Read More.

Categories
Uncategorized

Deftaudio MIDI Enclosure

I’ve mentioned Sky Creature before, as I’ve made a few things for them. So back in April I was chatting with Matt and he said he got a Deftaudio Teensy MIDI Breakout Board but would have to figure out an enclosure for it. I said something like “I make a lot of enclosures!” and he said “I’ll keep that in mind!” and then I totally forgot about it.

Matt did not forget about it though, and asked me to knock out an enclosure for it before they headed out on tour. He shipped me the assembled and programmed device and I designed and fabricated an enclosure for it. Oh, I also added circuitry so it could be powered by a standard guitar pedal power supply, which is a barrel jack with 9 volt tip negative. I threw in a power LED while I was at it. (The Deftaudio board is nicely designed and easy to add things to via a set of male pin headers on the board.)

I got this done it about a week. The funny thing is that I sent Matt a photo and he said “That’s a great looking render” and I said “Sir, that’s a photo… I’ve finished it!” but sadly I forgot he wanted easy access to the USB port for (re)programming. I had it so you could remove the bottom cover and get access but I ended up redoing the body of the enclosure to make it easier.

It was sort of last minute and a rush and I don’t know how elegant it is, but there’s a little swinging hatch that pivots on a 3mm screw with a cap nut cranked tight on the end of it. The other side of the hatch has a small screw to hold it in place…

The idea being that you remove one screws and flip the door around 180 degrees to plug in a Micro USB cable, program it, then remove the cable and replace the little door. I think it’ll work well!

I also sent Matt a bag of extra screws. The screw used for the door is the same size as used on the bottom to hold the cover in place, so a few extra seems like a good idea, I used plain old 3mm pan head screws for the top so those could also come out with a standard screwdriver. I typically use black button head screws because they look better, but I didn’t want to include a tiny hex key when a standard Philips screwdriver is probably easier to attain.

I also did a two color print for the top cover and the USB door. The door print didn’t turn out amazing (rush job, didn’t have time to print another) but I think the top looks really good!

Anyway, I really like doing these sorts of things, so if you have a project in mind let me know!