First Print Purchase (advice)

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It’s time for me to have a really nice enclosure for my flagship NETMF device and I’ve spent a good amount of time designing something simple and elegant. Now I need a HQ print. My printer is definitely not up to the task, so I’d love suggestions for a print or mold house.

Pictures attached.

Case Details:
Angled base about 254mm from bottom to top (measured on the angle), 200mm wide.

Hardware Details (front)
7" New Haven Capacitive Touch Screen
Metal latching lit red ring switch (Rugged Metal On/Off Switch with Red LED Ring [16mm Red On/Off] : ID 916 : $4.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)

Hardware Detail (back)
SD slot
USB 1x
USB DP

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[url]http://www.shapeways.com/[/url]

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Second them.

Is the bottom part of your design solid? That will make it expensive as the cost from Shapeways is volume of material based. You can upload your STL file and their system will calculate the cost and display this for each of the materials they offer. Be prepared to get shocked at the precious metal offerings :slight_smile:

Your design looks a little top heavy. The LCD modules are not exactly light weight what with using a steel chassis. Have you considered making the bottom hollow on the underside and bonding a piece of metal to it?

PS… Love those Adafruit switches. I use the white ring one.

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@ Dave McLaughlin - I’m countering the top weight of the LCD by placing everything else (Raptor, power, SD, USB at the bottom.

Shapeways is definitely a good suggestion, by far the best price I got. It still ended up being a bit more than I want to spend at the moment, so I’ve come up with an alternate lasercut case to try. We’ll see how it turns out.

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Yuck… Shoot me an .STL file. I can probably print you something that looks decent. A little sanding and some spray paint and no one will ever guess it wasn’t injection molded.

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I’ve done some rework of the case. It’s slightly shorter (though still just a tad too talk for 200mm beds), I’ve reduced the material volume by a good bit, pushed the legs out further, moved the components, and updated the curves.

What do we think? Anymore feedback on this one?

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Looks good.

The printbed on my delta is 280mm.

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You guys all rock!

In the small span of time since I posted the print was too much and was going to try a redesign with laser cut I’ve had 3 print offers and a bunch of suggestions on how to reduce the material volume or split the case to let it fit a smaller bed.

This is just one of the reasons why I love this community. Never, ever leaving.

I put one more hole through the base to reduce materials a bit more and got the new backing modeled. :slight_smile:

I so cannot wait to see Eve’s face. I’m putting all my best gear inside this thing along with my latest software.

My splicer’s material report:
Front 192.2cm3
Back 40.1cm3

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@ Skewworks - Well done, let us know the cost.

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If I went with shapeways front and back together would be $327.40 at the lowest end. Back alone with is $53.98.

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@ Skewworks - I am sorry, I got into this thread late and am too lazy to go back and read what this great device is going to be. Could you give ma a brief description, and when I can buy one? :slight_smile:

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Oh man, I don’t know if you’d want to buy one. But here’s the breakdown.

The case is designed so that you can comfortably look at the 7" New Haven Capacitive Touch screen without having to lean over. The device itself will a custom GUI using my latest software and be a present for my fiance Evee. It will also be my go to device when making Skewworks videos.

In addition to the display the device sports WiFi, USB Host (keyboard, mouse, mass storage), SD and USB DP modules all powered by a FEZ Raptor. The power is controlled using a beautiful lit ring metal button and a Gadgeteer cable that has been spliced.

The software features full 5 point touch support, dynamic font loading (as in from SD card or other source at runtime), full navigation support, windows, a large array of GUI elements, CIFS and Ping support as well as a host of other features.

Eve’s custom GUI will, as always, have a Fallout theme to it. Unlike previous builds for her though this won’t be the standard green text but instead have a full drag/drop interface modeled after what would happen if a Vault Dweller go their hands on some Zetan tech.

The “official” Skewworks GUI sports resizable, draggable windows and an interface that’s modeled after an updated Apple System 7 interface. I went with that as a really go way to save screen space for these displays. Of course, you can create any interface you want using the components.

Components:
Display Adapter: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/549
7" Display: http://www.newhavendisplay.com/nhd70800480efatxvctp-p-6912.html
WiFi: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/282
USB Host: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/270
SD: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/280
USB DP: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/271
Raptor: https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/499
Switch: Rugged Metal On/Off Switch with Red LED Ring [16mm Red On/Off] : ID 916 : $4.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Total without tax, shipping or case: $306.20
Case from Shapeways: $327.40 (though if you have a printer that can handle it, I’d happily send STL files. I even broke the main case into 2 which you’d have to plastic cement together for 200mm bed printers).

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@ Skewworks - Yes, some of that does ring a bell now that you spell it all out.

Very impressive. :clap:

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@ Terrence - Thanks, tell me that again if I get it done anytime soon. :wink:

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Honestly, I like the look of the first one better. The cutout curve looks out of place on this one. I’m assuming you’re going to have power plugged into that power module. Why not just go ahead and drop it down even lower so that the power plug is almost at ground level and keep the basic shape as the original? It would be shorter, more stable, and you would be less likely to see the power cord from the front.

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@ ianlee74 - You might be right on the cut out, but I think it will work and the biggest part of it was to save material.

I really could lower the height but I set it where it is so that on the desk you don’t have to bend over to get a good angle at the screen.

Material/size/height, its tough trying to juggle this stuff and still have a good design.

There’s a print going right now, I have high hopes that it will be stable. I got one shot at this, so one way or the other I’m sure ill make it work. ;D

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Nice work.

The material(and technology) you choose will be very important. Any thoughts. Definitely stay away from the sandstone, it’s very cheap, but not great for something like this. You certainty cant tap screw holes into it.

Have you considered https://www.3dhubs.com ?

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Why does he need 3D Hubs when he has us? :wink:

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@ ianlee74 - fair point

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I wonder how many of us have 3D printers and what kind. Should we start a new topic? Is it time to create C# powered 3D printer?