6th Annual Scratch Made Light Contest - Flashy Mike's machined project

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-06T14:08:00.000Z

Cut this charger module in 2 parts:

The left part will be glued in to provide water protection.

And I made some first test prints with the ASB filement which I’ll finally use.
This is a small part of the top reflector. As you can see the small text printed on the outside does not work out well, so it will be omitted. My printer is currently printing the complete shell of the reflector, according to the slicer software it will last 4 hours.

Another point to improve is this half trapecoidal groove which I designed to take an o-ring. This picture shows a test print of a section of the lower housing, which has to be printed top down. This means the bottom of the groove is actually printed on top, called “bridging”. This didn’t turn out well probably because its so close to the edge. I tried to cure with a knife but this didn’t work out well either. Finally I used a 1mm ball point mill bit by hand (after I took this picture), this might work. Have to be careful. The remaining o-ring grooves will be printed bottom down which shouldn’t cause problems.

Now to the pros of the test prints. The knurling turned out pretty well, also the cut out for the USB connector what I didn’t expect since the “roof” of this cut out is also printed with “bridging”.

CRX · 2018-11-06T17:31:32.000Z

Interesting stuff :+1:
Must be fun watching those printers go.

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-06T18:01:33.000Z

CRX:

Interesting stuff :+1:
Must be fun watching those printers go.

Yeah, its relaxing - particularly that the machine is doing my work.
When printing the knurling the printer is almost “singing”. I have even seen a video where someone made his printer play the star wars theme.

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-06T19:04:55.000Z

Have the first bigger parts printed: the reflector shell and the reflector which will be glued together later. Worked out not too bad but needs more sanding. Unfortunately there is a problem with the dimensional accuracy of my printer (or perhaps the slicer software): the outer diameters of discs are pretty exact but the inner diameters of circular holes are too small. The white reflector component is supposed to fit into the cutout of the green shell but the inner diameter of the cutout is almost 1 mm too small. Had to decrease the diameter of the reflector with a big scissors and some sanding afterwards. Perhaps I’ll print it one more time with smaller dimensions.

MRsDNF · 2018-11-06T18:48:39.000Z

The printing is an artwork in itself.

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-29T22:48:22.000Z

Experienced some adversities lately:

1.) Ordered parts not showing up (LEDs, o-rings, magnets …)

2.) My 3d printer shows imperfections on surfaces. I guess the nozzle is somewhat damaged, ordered new ones yesterday. Hopefully they’ll show up tomorrow.

3.) Design flaw at the joint where reflector shell and telescope stick meet. Broke because its too weak. Did a redesign yesterday, new component is currently printing.

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-08T10:27:50.000Z

On the other hand: hardware, firmware and the android app I created for remote control are completed and working flawlessly:

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-08T13:44:35.000Z

This is the new reflector shell and telescope stick design, I guess its ok now:

View from the top. Don’t mind the rough surface and edges, will be sanded later.

CRX · 2018-11-08T14:19:39.000Z

MtnDon · 2018-11-08T14:27:05.000Z

:+1: :+1:

DavidEF · 2018-11-09T00:24:38.000Z

Wow. An Android app. For a scratch build lantern.

pinkpanda3310 · 2018-11-09T00:47:54.000Z

Lots of ‘out of the box thinking’ on this build. Kudos

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-09T08:59:29.000Z

DavidEF:

Wow. An Android app. For a scratch build lantern.

Well, actually this app is not completely built from the scratch, luckily I was able to re-use some code from former projects. I built other remote controlled devices in the past, for instance RGB light strips and this LEGO-Arduino-Hybrid (built with my little son) with tilt control and telemetry which you can see in the following images, and even a flashlight. I have a bluetooth (not LE) remote controllable and programmable Q8 for about a year which I haven’t presented in the modding thread yet since I wasn’t familiar with video publishing that time. Will do this later and of course I will also show a video of this contest light working remote controlled.
The most work for this new app made the Bluetooth LE support which was new to me. Programming interface is different to standard bluetooth, its not well documented and not working consistent on different devices. But I got it right meanwhile and the reward is a pretty low power consumption: in light-off state but sending telemetry data once per second and being ready-to-receive all the time its only about 2.5 milli amperes. So the 2 cells in this lantern allow for more than 2 months of being ready to receive!

FmC · 2018-11-09T09:03:39.000Z

This is looking great :+1:

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s part’s didn’t arrive when expected :weary:

MtnDon · 2018-11-09T14:11:56.000Z

I like the LEGO-Arduino-Hybrid truck too!! :+1:

DavidEF · 2018-11-09T21:42:51.000Z

MtnDon:

I like the LEGO-Arduino-Hybrid truck too!! :+1:

If he’d put headlights on it, he could make one of those for the contest. I would love to watch that build progress!

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-09T23:31:28.000Z

Would this qualify?

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-11T13:55:48.000Z

Problems with my printer :rage:
The print bed is hold and led by 3 rubber wheels running horizontally in aluminium V-profiles. At least one of the wheels is wanderning on its bearing which causes bad prints. This particularly happens with this ABS prints that require a print bed temperature of at least 100°C, which also warms up the wheels. As I read in a german 3d print forum this might be a design flaw in the wheel construction. Don’t know if I can fix the wheel with some super glue since I have to disassemble and re-assemble the whole thing. Haven’t found a fast source for replacement wheels up to now.

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-11T16:05:58.000Z

Well, this fix appears too easy, I don’t dare to trust the outcome yet.
I disassembled the wheel. It actually contains 2 bearings which are separated by a ridge in the rubber wheel with a width of 0.8 mm - and an additional small washer between the bearings with a thickness of 1.0 mm. So pressing the bearings together with the washer in between with screw and nut there is still 0.2 mm left for the rubber wheel to move, which results in a pretty large height difference at the edges of the print bed :person_facepalming: . I consider this a design flaw!

I’m not very gifted with hand crafting skills but I followed many of CRX’s handmade builds . So I was confident to solve this problem. Sanded the small washer down to a thickness of also 0.8 mm by hand and assembled all parts. And wouldn’t you believe it - the print bed mount looks very solid now. The next bigger component is currently printing.

The other wheels (9 in total) look good so far but I should fix them also later, I guess.

CRX · 2018-11-11T16:48:01.000Z

Glad I could help
Hope it stays fixed, for the build at least :+1: