ABS? I am new to the 3D printing game, but what does the stuff end up as? Hard plastic? Something that would hold up to moderate use? Such as a magazine follower? If so…i am interested
It ends up coming out as hard plastic yes but strength is based on thickness, you can even make threads with it. Another issue is that strength is better on certain planes due to the nature of 3D printing and the orientation of the print. For example, below is an 18650 battery carrier we printed. If you look really closely you can see the layers on how the 3D print was made. The weak point in this particular print is in the neck where the threads are as that is where the walls are thinnest. I threw the carrier around and that was the breaking point, otherwise it is reasonably strong.
People have designed and made all sorts of things from moving gears to flashlight holders: http://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:6?q=flashlight&sa=
make a 3x18650 battery holder and all u would need to have made is copper tabs ?
Basically yes. There are quite a few battery holder designs, but not many in specialized li-ion form: https://www.thingiverse.com/search/page:1?q=battery&sa=
Thank you, i will look into it
If memory serves ABS is what they use to make Lego
Gear printed and moving.
So how much do you charge? Say I wanted something made up how would I go about doing it? Also I have been messing around and it looks like sketchup saves as .SKP. Can that work or does it need to be converted?
We're kind of making it up as we go along, we'll probably charge based on print material volume. I believe you can export Sketchup files to STL. It's highly experimental since print settings will be different depending on the intended use of the object. We've been testing out different materials mostly for our own product housing and seen good results. The only problem I can foresee is if the design people submit isn't structurally strong enough because the "walls" are too thin, which is why we don't want to offer a design service because we don't have enough experience in structural and material design. This is more of a test hobby service we're offering on the side since we have the machine available and as we pick up more knowledge we may make it more official. The time requirement for 3D printing is pretty high especially if a print doesn't work out. The Radiant Cases we have take over 2 hours to print.
Interesting. Well if you need someone to give you a trial run I did just make my first thing in sketchup haha
Using OpenSCAD I downloaded and modified a parametric battery holder. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5079/
I entered in some rough measurement for a dual 32650 holder, this particular design looks like it requires some screws, nuts, and bolts. You can even set the dimensions of the spacing between the batteries, size of the nuts, bolts, and screws using OpenSCAD (free software).
I went and generated a triple 18650 holder as well:
What have you sketched up?
Nearly all the plastic you see on cars and bikes is ABS so you know it’s durable. Welding is about the only way to repair it. Adhesives and epoxies don’t stick to it very well.
Just a small simple thing
I would probably need dimensions on how big a diameter for the entire holder and max height.
Got a file link?
Not yet. I just uploaded a picture for a general idea type thing
That blue 18650 protector is pretty cool!
Any price on them?
What a great toy you’ve got there. Would the plastic be tough enough to hold up to the typical fine threads of a battery tube, and can it reproduce such fine threads?