Hey guys, hope you are all enjoying your day! I got a Prusa I3 3d printer about 1.5 months ago and have been loving it so far! Naturally, 3d printing opens a TON of doors in terms of what's possible. Since my usable printing area is about 200x200x200mm, I can print STX cases and small ITX cases without subdividing parts into smaller sections.
I've been on a sort of retro kick lately and, a few days ago, I designed a quick case roughly based on the Apple II. Unfortunately I didn't have any Beige colored filament, but I was pretty happy with the result! There was some stringing, warping, and layer shifts, but I'm guessing that's a combination of weird firmware issues and my really cheap PLA (in an almost 0C garage at night). Nevertheless, I'll be upgrading/reprinting many parts on the printer that are negatively affecting print quality, so it's only upward from here!
The case isn't very detailed at all, but it was a fun experiment to see how a fully 3d printed case would turn out on my printer!
In the future I'll want to account for tolerances between seperate parts. You can see a very visible gap between the top and bottom shell which could have been mitigated with proper tolerances and something like a lip to hold it together.
Tolerances also make a huge difference for the rear IO shield. I totally overlooked the small bottom lip of the shield so it didn't fit in the case (the lip is 3mm, and I only added 1mm of clearance.) Also, the top of the IO cutout needs supports (as it is printing totally horizontal), and will sag when printing, requiring extra space in the model.
Things I used:
Plastic: Catalyst DS 1.75mm Blue PLA on a lightly modded Prusa I3 Mk3
Inserts: McMasterCarr M3 3.8mm Heat press inserts
Screws: M3 6mm Button head
Things to work on:
I just bought a cheap AC-DC 19v brick, so I can actually hook this bad boy up (will be used for arduino and 3d printer stuff). This also gives me a chance to see if my vents are enough to cool the 35w CPU, or if the case turns into hot goo.
If you have any questions, please ask!
I've been on a sort of retro kick lately and, a few days ago, I designed a quick case roughly based on the Apple II. Unfortunately I didn't have any Beige colored filament, but I was pretty happy with the result! There was some stringing, warping, and layer shifts, but I'm guessing that's a combination of weird firmware issues and my really cheap PLA (in an almost 0C garage at night). Nevertheless, I'll be upgrading/reprinting many parts on the printer that are negatively affecting print quality, so it's only upward from here!
The case isn't very detailed at all, but it was a fun experiment to see how a fully 3d printed case would turn out on my printer!
In the future I'll want to account for tolerances between seperate parts. You can see a very visible gap between the top and bottom shell which could have been mitigated with proper tolerances and something like a lip to hold it together.
Tolerances also make a huge difference for the rear IO shield. I totally overlooked the small bottom lip of the shield so it didn't fit in the case (the lip is 3mm, and I only added 1mm of clearance.) Also, the top of the IO cutout needs supports (as it is printing totally horizontal), and will sag when printing, requiring extra space in the model.
Things I used:
Plastic: Catalyst DS 1.75mm Blue PLA on a lightly modded Prusa I3 Mk3
Inserts: McMasterCarr M3 3.8mm Heat press inserts
Screws: M3 6mm Button head
Things to work on:
- Better tolerances alluded to above. 0.5mm for most things seems to be a good rule of thumb, but should be increased or decreased depending on application.
- Improved print quality via new filament, printer upgrades (no more stringing!!!!!!)
- Fixed IO shield cutout
- Better front IO
I just bought a cheap AC-DC 19v brick, so I can actually hook this bad boy up (will be used for arduino and 3d printer stuff). This also gives me a chance to see if my vents are enough to cool the 35w CPU, or if the case turns into hot goo.
If you have any questions, please ask!
