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Toy Repair

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 1:58 am
by dpmacri
My kids have a small "suitcase" made of plastic that holds a toy picnic set. The catches for the case had broken a while ago, so I thought I'd try modeling and printing replacements. I took some measurements of the existing broken part using digital calipers and then modeled it up in FreeCAD. A word to the wise, save often if you're using the 0.13 version on Mac. The "chamfer" option sometimes causes a crash :-( Anyway, I was able to print two replacements in white ABS. The picture shown here has the original part (in yellow) and the two replacements still on the bed. Of course, I forgot one thing when I modeled these: ABS shrinks :-P! They fit the case so tightly that my kids can't move them!! Anyway, I'll be tweaking the model slightly to get something actually usable ;-)

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I took it with my iPhone and lighting was pretty poor.
Replacement parts
Replacement parts

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 6:01 am
by maxman
Nice print,

What is that on your bed ? aluminuim foil under the glass?

Are you printing on hairspray ?

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 11:50 am
by dpmacri
maxman wrote:Nice print,

What is that on your bed ? aluminuim foil under the glass?

Are you printing on hairspray ?
That's aluminum foil (3 layers of it) under the glass and glue stick on top of the glass. I've been having adhesion problems with this new filament (Jet, white ABS, ordered through Amazon) and I've been experimenting with different things. I *think* the foil is helping even out the temperature a bit, and the glue stick seems to be working better than hairspray did with this filament, but I've had far more curling and adhesion problems with this stuff than I did with SeeMeCnc neon green :-(

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 1:42 pm
by dpmacri
I increased the size slightly and reprinted. Here's the final parts in use:
Closed case with 3D printed latches
Closed case with 3D printed latches
Open case
Open case
No idea why they're upside down in the post :-P

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 11:09 am
by barry99705
dpmacri wrote:I increased the size slightly and reprinted. Here's the final parts in use:
image.jpg
image.jpg
No idea why they're upside down in the post :-P
Was your phone upside down when you took the pictures? I've noticed that even though the screen auto rotates, the exif data won't be updated, so the images will be wrong. Had to reencode a video because of this once.

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 2:29 am
by int2str
Dad to the rescue!
Well done!

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 5:50 am
by Flateric
Not sure which glue stick brand you are using, but if not using the UHU Brand, give it a shot. It is far and away superior to the Elmers brand for our purposes. UHU however is NOT non-toxic, so don't go eating your paste! LOL

Nice work on the repair. Sorta satisfying even if it is not for some highly advanced purpose or high tech solution isn't it? I printed off some plastic track for my brothers son, "Thomas and Friend's" train set. Small and unimportant and definitely not high tech, but made him happy so more than worth it to me.

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 12:32 pm
by dpmacri
Flateric wrote:Not sure which glue stick brand you are using, but if not using the UHU Brand, give it a shot. It is far and away superior to the Elmers brand for our purposes. UHU however is NOT non-toxic, so don't go eating your paste! LOL

Nice work on the repair. Sorta satisfying even if it is not for some highly advanced purpose or high tech solution isn't it? I printed off some plastic track for my brothers son, "Thomas and Friend's" train set. Small and unimportant and definitely not high tech, but made him happy so more than worth it to me.
Thanks! I started with a generic glue and also have now tried UHI. With this particular filament, it seems like I can only get one print that sticks and then I have to replace the glue :-P

I've also printed some train track pieces for my five year old. Like you said, it's very satisfying to make these "useful" items, even if they're not super advanced :-D!

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:02 pm
by dpmacri
Flateric wrote:Not sure which glue stick brand you are using, but if not using the UHU Brand, give it a shot. It is far and away superior to the Elmers brand for our purposes. UHU however is NOT non-toxic, so don't go eating your paste! LOL

Nice work on the repair. Sorta satisfying even if it is not for some highly advanced purpose or high tech solution isn't it? I printed off some plastic track for my brothers son, "Thomas and Friend's" train set. Small and unimportant and definitely not high tech, but made him happy so more than worth it to me.
I don't know if it's the particular filament I'm using or if I've got the wrong glue stick, but this Jet White ABS is giving me big problems sticking/curling :-P I've tried my bed temp up to 105c without any more luck (it's somewhat random -- occasionally I can get things to print without losing adhesion). I did notice that the UHU I bought says "Non-Toxic" on it. Which makes me think I either got the wrong version or perhaps the Canadian stuff is different :-P

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:36 pm
by cope413
Have you tried ABS Juice? Whenever I'm having an adhesion issue with a part, I go to the juice. It never fails. Just a bit of a mess for cleaning the glass afterwards

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:44 pm
by cope413
And just in case you don't know what that is...

Dissolve 7-8" of ABS in 2-3oz of acetone and use a brush to apply the mixture to your glass. Let it dry and you should have a film of ABS on the glass that your parts will stick very well to.

85C is all you need with juice.

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 3:56 pm
by dpmacri
cope413 wrote:And just in case you don't know what that is...

Dissolve 7-8" of ABS in 2-3oz of acetone and use a brush to apply the mixture to your glass. Let it dry and you should have a film of ABS on the glass that your parts will stick very well to.

85C is all you need with juice.
Thanks! I'll have to give that a try. Should I assume you clean it off with Acetone when you're done?

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 4:07 pm
by cope413
yep

Re: Toy Repair

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:51 am
by Flateric
ABS juice is very effective also yes, I use the "toxic" uhu glue stick so I try not to eat too too much of it :)

ABS glue also works really really well, but holds a little too well at times.