3D Printing

[TWP723]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Here is my latest print. I had a overhead cab light fail on our Seneca and when I removed it, I discovered that Jayco installs and seals the lights before painting so when you remove a light, it’s gray gelcoat under it. It was a very odd size and shape and I could only find the same cheap replacement. So I decided to design my own base that would cover the same area/shape and use the same mounting holes. I designed them to use the sealed 3/4” press in LED lights so replacements would be easy to get if one ever failed. I printed them using ASA which is great of outdoor stuff and after printing I used the acetone vapor method to smooth and shine the print. Got them installed last week and they worked great. The pic next to the original light was the first design, I went through about 3 designs till I got it how I liked it.

Can you 3D me about $250K? Buy ya a beer or 7. TIA!

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by TWP723

Can you 3D me about $250K? Buy ya a beer or 7. TIA!

I have it drawn up for you.....only $100K to print it for you.

[TWP723]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

I have it drawn up for you.....only $100K to print it for you.

Always a catch!

[dee]

Here is a plate I have that is 3d Printed.

[TomC_AZ]

Has anyone 3D printed up a mount/holder for a 12v high speed USB charger? I have been looking for one to replace the junk that came in the trailer. Heck its a 2022 trailer but still only 2A USB ports (at best)... Looking at all different sites and no one has any high speed 12v ports, I have been totally amazed!

I found these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087RHWTJW...ing=UTF8&psc=1

I was thinking of a printed mount to hold them. Dont have a printer though... might be a good reason to buy one!

Has anyone else done anything like this already?

[ARoamer]

Not exactly same, but I bought a dual USB 3.0 socket. Bonus, it has a voltmeter! It involves putting a hole in somewhere though.
https://www.amazon.com/Charger-ADSDI...ARGING_ADAPTER

[TomC_AZ]

I had one of those in my Jeep and they work great. I was thinking more about the ports that are in the wall and always on. They are right by our couch and are just so stinking slow. I am not sure that something that has the screw in back like that will work in that wall since it backs into our bathroom. So I was thinking of the DIY path. Honestly not a bad reason to spend more $$ on a printer as well :-)

I did find this that I might replace the pop up 120v plug/usb port thats in our bed headboard. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...YHOQFM2H&psc=1

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by TomC_AZ

Dont have a printer though... might be a good reason to buy one!

That's all you need to know!

[Nytroxxx]

Originally Posted by J05H

This is a great idea for a thread. I hope to see more RVers taking advantage of this technology. I have done a few pieces for my 2020 Jayco Redhawk 31F. Like others, I did a version of the AC mod, including cleaning up the roof ducting and retaping everything. It helped a lot. I still have to test it out on a hot day, but the vents actually blow in the rear bedroom now. I will add pictures of some other items I printed when I get pics.

What make/model AC unit does this ducting fit?

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Nytroxxx

What make/model AC unit does this ducting fit?

I designed to fit in a Airxcel Mach 15 but many have used it in other units and it fit them as well.

[Spower]

I love this post! I am very intrigued to say the least.

I am under the impression that it is expensive to print things. Is this true??

Thanks!!

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Spower

I love this post! I am very intrigued to say the least.

I am under the impression that it is expensive to print things. Is this true??

Thanks!!

There is the expense of the printer but there are many cost levels as cheap as $179 on Amazon. The printing Filament is relatively cheap IMO, a 2.2lb spool of PLA filament runs $20-25 and depending on your prints, lasts quite a while.

[DustyGeek]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

There is the expense of the printer but there are many cost levels as cheap as $179 on Amazon. The printing Filament is relatively cheap IMO, a 2.2lb spool of PLA filament runs $20-25 and depending on your prints, lasts quite a while.

I second this. When I've bothered to calculate the costs of most of my prints, they're all well within the sub-$2 range and that included an estimate of electricity. The biggest thing I've ever printed took about half a 1kg spool, so around $10.

If you were doing this to make money, it's pretty much solely your time you should account for. The rest of the costs are mostly quiet background noise.

There's still a bit of a learning curve, but tons of information/videos out there, much more than almost 10 years ago when I built my first one. My advise to anyone wanting to get into it, start with a smaller (e.g., 200mm/8" cube print volume) single nozzle/filament printer, learn it well and make all the mistakes, then buy a bigger and/or multi-nozzle/filament one only if you find you need to.

[DustyGeek]

Originally Posted by norty1

I feel kinda stupid when reading how y'all are using this technology for something practical!

Like anything else, it's a just a matter of spending time and not getting too frustrated with it. But here's something both practical and helps your marriage.

If you have a vertically-challenged spouse like I do, I designed this (the yellow bit):



https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3102736

I'd like to claim full credit, but I saw something like it a long while back and never could find it again, so designed this from memory with measurements from our then-current rig.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by Spower

I love this post! I am very intrigued to say the least.

I am under the impression that it is expensive to print things. Is this true??

Thanks!!

I second (and third) what the other's have said. The expense will be in the machine, a one time thing (hopefully) and then the "plastic" filament. I can get a 1kg spool of PLA filament locally for $17ish. 2.2 pounds of filament will last me a long time.


I can state that printing those A/C ducting components was much cheaper that the $180 (I think) the other guy wants for his solution. But I already had the printer, I had probably gone thru half-a-spool learning how to print stuff.


What you get is 10000000% flexibility to make stuff that no one else makes. I'm NO CAD person, but with a few hours on Tinkercad, I'm able to design things that are exactly what I need. And things you couldn't buy if you wanted.

[Rustynuts]

You will find yourself printing all kinds of stuff that you find on Thingiverse, I am always making something for he grandkids. I also have a CNC Plasma table and will often print a part I have drawn up to test or see if I like it, fits and works before I cut out of steel. I built a bumper for my Jeep and DW up a hook/clevis mount and I printed one to test for looks and size.

[us71na]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

Finishing up my new inverter/solar install I designed several clips to hold down 4/0 cables and one that holds three 4/0 and one 6ga cable, they worked great. Very handy to make something that is not available to even buy.

Just a design suggestion for plastic parts. Avoid sharp corners wherever you can. Sharp corners make stress points where cracks or breakage will start. a radius corner is several times stronger than a sharp corner.

[DustyGeek]

Originally Posted by us71na

Just a design suggestion for plastic parts. Avoid sharp corners wherever you can. Sharp corners make stress points where cracks or breakage will start. a radius corner is several times stronger than a sharp corner.

I agree wholeheartedly with one exception. Fillets (radiuses) don’t do well on the underside of items due to the way the FDM printers work (need to always be printing on top of something). I usually do chamfers on those and fillets on tops and sides. Any fillet/chamfer will also trigger some additional solid infill to support it, and running an 0.4mm nozzle with 0.2mm layer heights means at least 50% of the outer perimeter is supported on a chamfer, all the way up, unlike a fillet which might have maybe 10% support, depending on the size of the fillet, between the bottom layer and second layer of a fillet, which leads to a bad surface for the fillet.

Further, I saw one of those YouTube guys (Tom Sanladerer, maybe) do some tests on different levels of infill and additional solid layers/perimeters. The percent infill made less of a difference than the number of layers/perimeters. I usually print at 20% infill (cubic or gyroid) and 1.2mm solid layers (6 at 0.2mm) and perimeters (3 at 0.4mm) and might bump that to 30% and 2mm if I need a particularly strong part.

But this has nothing directly to do with RVs, so I’ll add this: a few other places I’ve used my printer was making customized hooks for things (e.g., 2’ level, broom, branch saw, hatchet) in the belly storage compartment to make use of some of the awkward areas where the frame is in the way, and a removable hooks that hook over the board on our front bunk so we can hang coats when it gets colder as there’s nowhere to put them except throw on the passenger seat or something. This, like mentioned above is one of the benefits as you’ll not likely find anything commercially available that is perfect for your use case.

[Spower]

Again, I love this post!!!

One more question.....how hard is it to design a part (Not sold anywhere)?

I am a full timer and I am always saying, if only I had something for this or that. I can see myself designing a lot of things. I am just concerned about how hard that would be.

Thanks guys!!

[Midnightmoon]

Originally Posted by Spower

Again, I love this post!!!

One more question.....how hard is it to design a part (Not sold anywhere)?

I am a full timer and I am always saying, if only I had something for this or that. I can see myself designing a lot of things. I am just concerned about how hard that would be.

Thanks guys!!

My daughter uses Tinkercad to design items. I haven't tried it. But, she claims that it is easy.

https://www.tinkercad.com/