Thought some might get a giggle out of this.
My DIY dive torch, a 3000 lumen LED monster, sucks a bit of juice. I'm feeding it with eight 3000mAh Li Ion 18650 format batteries. Say that five times in a hurry.
At the moment the carrier for these cells is cobbled together with tape, a bit of copper sheet and an old PET soft drink bottle. And it has its issues with intermittent connections, the vulnerability to shorting out against a metal case etc.
Time to fix with a printed custom pro looking jobby.
Printed in a rush so quality is fairly rough (0.4mm layers on a 0.5mm nozzle!) but still took well over two hours to crank out this version. As it threw on the "lid" it dawned on me - the captive design will not let any batteries out once installed but, D'OH, nor will it let them be installed.
Version 2 over the weekend
I was always taught measure twice, cut once. But this is something between the measuring and the cutting - I'm ever so glad it's not a thousand bucks worth of NC milled billet I just got back!
[img]http://www.simonlockwood.net/linky/3dp/batteryfail.jpg[/img]
Measure twice, print once?
- Captain Starfish
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- Eaglezsoar
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Re: Measure twice, print once?
It may not work but it does look nice. Drill a hole in the end, put in a little hamburger and it would work good as
a fly catcher! They fly in but won't fly out.
a fly catcher! They fly in but won't fly out.
- Captain Starfish
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Re: Measure twice, print once?
No, I think I'm going to mount it above my computer as a general reminder in future... "Are you SURE you've thought this one through, Einstein?"
Re: Measure twice, print once?
I think the rule goes, "Measure with micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with chainsaw."
We've ALL been there, so you're in good company.
g.
We've ALL been there, so you're in good company.
g.
Delta Power!
Defeat the Cartesian Agenda!
http://www.f15sim.com - 80-0007, The only one of its kind.
http://geneb.simpits.org - Technical and Simulator Projects
Defeat the Cartesian Agenda!
http://www.f15sim.com - 80-0007, The only one of its kind.
http://geneb.simpits.org - Technical and Simulator Projects
Re: Measure twice, print once?
I think the rule goes, "Measure with micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with chainsaw."
We've ALL been there, so you're in good company.
g.
We've ALL been there, so you're in good company.
g.
Delta Power!
Defeat the Cartesian Agenda!
http://www.f15sim.com - 80-0007, The only one of its kind.
http://geneb.simpits.org - Technical and Simulator Projects
Defeat the Cartesian Agenda!
http://www.f15sim.com - 80-0007, The only one of its kind.
http://geneb.simpits.org - Technical and Simulator Projects
- Jimustanguitar
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Re: Measure twice, print once?
geneb wrote:I think the rule goes, "Measure with micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with chainsaw."
A friend of mine was telling me about his experience with the Air Force / Skunk Works on the now unclassified F117-A project... His summary of building a state of the art airplane was "The design is digital, the parts are cut on CNC, measured with lasers, and assembled with a sledgehammer."
- Captain Starfish
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Re: Measure twice, print once?
Looking at it this morning I've realised I can open up a single battery sized loading hole with a file, and incorporate this with a few other improvements into my CAD drawing for next time. So all's not lost.
Still. Think ahead!
Still. Think ahead!
- Captain Starfish
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Re: Measure twice, print once?
Part of the fun of prototyping.
I remember paying mega bucks years ago to send a design for STL printing so we could check for fit/interference, ergonomics etc before we went out to the toolmakers to make moulds etc. It took weeks to get organised, cost a mint but the part taught us enough before it went in the bin that the process saved a bomb on tooling rework later on.
The D'OH moment was a moment of annoyance but like I said a lot better than discovering it in a $5,000 mould that had to be scrapped or reworked.
And being able to achieve all of that in a lunchtime now without even leaving my desk?
That is a pretty marvellous place for us to have reached.
I remember paying mega bucks years ago to send a design for STL printing so we could check for fit/interference, ergonomics etc before we went out to the toolmakers to make moulds etc. It took weeks to get organised, cost a mint but the part taught us enough before it went in the bin that the process saved a bomb on tooling rework later on.
The D'OH moment was a moment of annoyance but like I said a lot better than discovering it in a $5,000 mould that had to be scrapped or reworked.
And being able to achieve all of that in a lunchtime now without even leaving my desk?
That is a pretty marvellous place for us to have reached.