Possibilities of Implementing 3D-printing Into Projects? A Brief Example

Other Types of Lights LED Lanterns
1

Hello everyone, I have been a slient observer since I discovered BLF, and I think this is a good opportunity for mr to share an idea about projects.

By no means I am a skilled DIYer, and this project definitely has a lot of rooms for improvement, but its main goal is to explore the possibilities of incorporating 3D-printing into projects.

Let’s get to the topic! So I’ve assembled a 3D-printer (Anet A8), and after printing all sort of stuff 24/7, I started creating mini projects to see what I can do with 3D-printing. This is my second project (my previous kne is a horribly designed XHP70.2 floodlight) implementing 3D-printing. I wanted to make a general use/ camping lantern using spare/ old parts. Here are the parts that I picked out: XPL-HI V2 1A, 219C D240 3000K 80+ CRI, Convoy AK47 7135*3 driver, Convoy C8 42*2mm AR coated glass lens, a reverse-clicky from Convoy, and lastly, a 18650 battery box.
Both emmitters are not new, and since I found the 1A tint too cool and the 3000K color temperature too warm, I decided to use they together, hoping for a better light color. I also hacked up a heatsink that should suffice for the ~1A drive current at full power. I used around 2 hours (yes I am a really slow worker :/) to design the body/ frame of this lantern. I decided to go with rectangular shape instead of a circle due to better utilization of spaces. The main body took around 5 hours to print.
Here are the materials:

Connecting the driver to the emitters:

Putting the light, heatsink and driver into the casing:

Sorry for my lack of proper craftsmanship, there are of course better ways to secure things other than hot glue…
I accidentally melted the switch, causing it to fell apart, so I took another switch from a 501B parts body as a replacement. Amazingly it fits perfectly into the slot that ai designed! I also added a board after putting the driver and emmitters in to prevent interference when putting the battery box in.
Here we go, a functioning 7 mode lantern!

It might not seems like a lot of work, but I have surely put a lot of time into it…

Building a lantern from scratch is not an easy work (for me, this would probably be a piece of cake to experts :laughing:, but I definitely learnt a lot from it.

Fusing 3D-printing with DIY projects has multiple benefits:
It can make the model highly integrated, e.g. in 1-piece/ few major parts while completely satisfying requirements.
Less work/ physical effort is needed to construct the model, and the cost maybe lower too.
Designs can be maded case my case, and each project can be very specific.

This is actually my first time sharing in BLF (my first post is a GAW entry lol), I hope you enjoy the content, thank you!

2

Nice job CTC. I see the start to lots of adventures here.
It appears you have enough room in there for a charger board for your next mod. :slight_smile:

3

I like your build. I wish I had a 3D printer. I’d probably make flashlight parts as well. But first, I’d have to learn how to design them!

One thing, though: Please size down the pics to fit on screen. The “insert image” tool can do this automatically if you choose a “Relative Width” of 100 or less.

Here is your first pic, sized automatically to 90% Relative Width:

4

I’m not a fan of 3d printing, the finish and properties just aren’t good.
The only one I would possibly consider is SLA, which gives a nice finish, but it’s less affordable.
Even then it’s got all the issues of 3d printing, strength and heat resistance.
Pretty much everything I build either needs high strength or high heat resistance/conduction.

A lot of my friends have or are into 3d printing but I don’t think I’ll ever really get into it.
A home-sized CNC or waterjet is more my type of thing :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Thanks a lot for the tip on sizing the images! I still have a lot to learn in the forum.
Designing model for 3D-printing isn’t very diffcult, for example I only used simple free CAD platform like TinkerCAD to design this model. It might take some time to get familiar with the interface, but I am sure that anyone willing to give it a try can master the basics of 3D-modelling.

6

Thanks for the suggestion, I don’t even realize that I can add a charger board into my design :smiley:
For projects with larger battery numbers, I would probably stick with the battery only design, as I would either bring replacement cells or charge the cells independently at home (especially when the setup is in series).