3D printing fun

[Davidasailor26]

My son wanted a 3D printer for his birthday a few weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking of getting one, so that made a good excuse. We quickly started looking around the boat for things we could use it for.

First we decided it would be nice to have an extra cup holder behind the helm. We have space for three cups in front of the wheel, but sometimes when you’re sitting behind it that’s a tricky reach. So I went onto Tinkercad and designed something to fit on the stern pulpit

Next we started thinking about how we hold our VHF handset at the helm. For a while we’ve have a convenient Velcro strap to clip it to the pedestal guard.

That works well, but on a bumpy day it would be nice to be able to grab the railing without the handset in the way. So I designed a little extension to hold the handset in the same area and free up most of the railing.

Looking forward to coming up with more uses for it. If anyone has any inspiring ideas send them along.

 

[smokey73]

What kind/model of 3D printer did you buy?

 

[Davidasailor26]

What kind/model of 3D printer did you buy?

A Sovol SV06 Plus. Seems like it has good features for its price point, like a 300C max temperature (good enough for materials like ABS and nylon) and a relatively large print bed. It’s worked well so far.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Latest innovation - a way to hold the head door open. After a few years of weighted doorstops that only really work at the dock I decided there should be a better way to keep the door from swinging around if it’s left open when sailing, so I -

It’s printed with a plastic / wood particle mix that can be sanded and stained a bit like real wood.

 

[dLj]

My son wanted a 3D printer for his birthday a few weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking of getting one, so that made a good excuse. We quickly started looking around the boat for things we could use it for.

So let me understand, did you, or did you not, get a 3D printer for your son? Did you buy two 3D printers? One for your son and one for you? Or????

Sure looks like you and your son are having a great father/son experience building things for... hmmm your boat or his boat???? ....

You are definitely having way too much fun!

That last one, with the wood/polymer mix is really interesting. Can you make your own wood particles such that you can come a lot closer to matching an existing wood part?

dj

 

[Davidasailor26]

So let me understand, did you, or did you not, get a 3D printer for your son? Did you buy two 3D printers? One for your son and one for you? Or????

Sure looks like you and your son are having a great father/son experience building things for... hmmm your boat or his boat???? ....

Conveniently his allowance is only enough to cover the filament needed to print for part of the week. Someone needs to keep the printer utilized the rest of the time that it's not printing Star Wars light sabres, school projects, and whatnot.

That last one, with the wood/polymer mix is really interesting. Can you make your own wood particles such that you can come a lot closer to matching an existing wood part?

There aren't any ways to make your own filament. Different brands have different color options from lighter wood to darker, but there definitely aren't offerings to cover all the possible species. It's also possible to modulate the color a little by increasing the print temperature to singe the wood and darken it a hint. From there it's just a matter of finding the right stain to get as close as possible. This was just a first cut at that. I've also read about more sophisticated users overlaying a grain texture to the print instructions for more realism, but I haven't tried that yet.

 

[dLj]

Conveniently his allowance is only enough to cover the filament needed to print for part of the week. Someone needs to keep the printer utilized the rest of the time that it's not printing Star Wars light sabres, school projects, and whatnot.


There aren't any ways to make your own filament. Different brands have different color options from lighter wood to darker, but there definitely aren't offerings to cover all the possible species. It's also possible to modulate the color a little by increasing the print temperature to singe the wood and darken it a hint. From there it's just a matter of finding the right stain to get as close as possible. This was just a first cut at that. I've also read about more sophisticated users overlaying a grain texture to the print instructions for more realism, but I haven't tried that yet.

I see a two printer family in the not distant future...

What program do you use to interface with the printer? What program do you use to build your models?

True story - on our aircraft carriers, there was a particular plane used that had this little plastic part that held something in the landing gear. It was breaking often and the techs couldn't get that part, they had to get like the whole assembly. One of the guys had his own home bought 3D printer and decided to just build the parts himself on his aircraft carrier for the jets he was servicing..... It finally came to light and the military carries them now. But it was a pretty funny beginning...

dj

 

[Davidasailor26]

I see a two printer family in the not distant future...

What program do you use to interface with the printer? What program do you use to build your models?

True story - on our aircraft carriers, there was a particular plane used that had this little plastic part that held something in the landing gear. It was breaking often and the techs couldn't get that part, they had to get like the whole assembly. One of the guys had his own home bought 3D printer and decided to just build the parts himself on his aircraft carrier for the jets he was servicing..... It finally came to light and the military carries them now. But it was a pretty funny beginning...

dj

So far I’m just using Tinkercad for the modeling. That’s a free web based app that lets you drop in shapes, move them around, and overlay hollow regions for cutouts. I find it pretty easy to manipulate the shapes that way, and I have no particular aptitude for 3D spatial orientation. I’ve played around with Fusion360 which is more powerful desktop 3D design software and clearly it has more functionality but with much more complexity. I want to learn more of it but for these quick designs I just go to Tinkercad for the ease of use. It also has community designs and scripts for things like the custom font inlay that I put on the cup holder.

Tinkercad exports the designs as STL files, which is a standard file type for 3D parts. Then I open those in Cura3D which is an open source “slicer”. That takes the 3D design and slices it into the individual layers that the printer will lay from the bottom up, and it generates all of the machine instructions for the printer to execute. Cura also has tons of more sophisticated options to tweak the quality of the final product that I’m just starting to learn.

 

[dLj]

So far I’m just using Tinkercad for the modeling. That’s a free web based app that lets you drop in shapes, move them around, and overlay hollow regions for cutouts. I find it pretty easy to manipulate the shapes that way, and I have no particular aptitude for 3D spatial orientation. I’ve played around with Fusion360 which is more powerful desktop 3D design software and clearly it has more functionality but with much more complexity. I want to learn more of it but for these quick designs I just go to Tinkercad for the ease of use. It also has community designs and scripts for things like the custom font inlay that I put on the cup holder.

Tinkercad exports the designs as STL files, which is a standard file type for 3D parts. Then I open those in Cura3D which is an open source “slicer”. That takes the 3D design and slices it into the individual layers that the printer will lay from the bottom up, and it generates all of the machine instructions for the printer to execute. Cura also has tons of more sophisticated options to tweak the quality of the final product that I’m just starting to learn.

Great fun isn't it? Especially when you get to see the parts themselves that you designed and created. It's an amazing field that is growing really fast. I wonder how long it will take to get 3D metal printing into the home workshop...

I have 3D printed Ti6Al4V parts on my boat we made at my last job... High "cool" factor....

Have fun!

dj

 

[LloydB]

Replicator

 

[dLj]

Replicator

As replicator of old parts no longer available, I have always felt could be a decent business model. But the real advantage of 3D printing lies in R&D where you can make multiple designs in very little time (compared to conventional manufacturing) and test those designs. 3D printing also allows for designs that are not possible to be made in traditional methods, this area is still very much in it's infancy as it requires design engineers to understand those new frontiers. Another area is where you can build in one build a part that through traditional techniques requires multiple parts to be made and then assembled.

It will become a complimentary production technique to traditional manufacturing, primarily in small part number runs - in general - exceptions of course will exist...

dj

 

[jviss]

So let me understand, did you, or did you not, get a 3D printer for your son?

It reminds me of when Homer Simpson bought a bowling ball for Marge, with his initials on it!

 

[Richard19068]

Conveniently his allowance is only enough to cover the filament needed to print for part of the week. Someone needs to keep the printer utilized the rest of the time that it's not printing Star Wars light sabres, school projects, and whatnot.

His allowance isn't enough to buy supplies so you buy him a $400 printer. I like that.

 

[jssailem]

@Richard19068
You got to remember, the boy needs this as a learning tool. He may become a 3D printing wizard. Develop a unique part and make a billion $'s.
Dad gets to believe, I helped him get started.

 

[nightowle]

A few years ago a bought a 3D replacement part for our Raymarine wheel autopilot. It's the black nylon 2-piece flange that attaches to the wheel spokes. It worked perfectly, and had been a difficult to find OEM Raymarine part. Glad to have found someone stepping up to make them. Since then, I've engaged 3D printing firms to produce prototype units for the stereo sound products I'm working on. The newer resin printers (costly) produce amazing results. I need to put my mind to more boat ideas, though.

 

[thinwater]

A few years ago a bought a 3D replacement part for our Raymarine wheel autopilot. It's the black nylon 2-piece flange that attaches to the wheel spokes. It worked perfectly, and had been a difficult to find OEM Raymarine part. Glad to have found someone stepping up to make them. Since then, I've engaged 3D printing firms to produce prototype units for the stereo sound products I'm working on. The newer resin printers (costly) produce amazing results. I need to put my mind to more boat ideas, though.

Old school vs. new school.

I had the same problem.

• PVC conduit brackets fit quite well. Not perfect and industrial-looking, but with a few tiny tweaks, functional. I have known a number of sailors to go this route.
• I had a scrap of 1" thick Delrin in the bin. A few cuts with a table saw, a few holes using a drill press and various hole saws, bits, and countersinks, and some trimming with a disk sander and finish sander, and I had a perfect fit replacement in about 20 minutes. A drill press vice was also used for accurate positioning. Old school. But the the shop cost FAR more than a printer and the skills took MUCH longer to develop than printing skills (I do know computer drafting). The machined version is probably more durable because it is from solid material, not sintered from string. It also did not look like the original, in part because I used more material to make it stronger.

Just sayin'. I really do believe 3D printing has a bright future.

 

[Tedd]

A few months ago a friend asked if I had room to store his Ender 3D printer. (He's making room in his shop for a boat project.) I jumped at the chance. I've since made several parts for my boat, including a replacement body for the motor e-stop switch, which I had broken. At only around 300 bucks, a 3D printer can pay for itself pretty quickly. (A replacement e-stop switch was forty bucks on its own.)

 

[Tedd]

I made this today. My outboard motor has power tilt, which is nice but it means I should have a way to return it consistently to the same trim angle.

As you can see, this is a low resolution printer but it's adequate for jobs like this.

 

[Davidasailor26]

I made this today. My outboard motor has power tilt, which is nice but it means I should have a way to return it consistently to the same trim angle.

View attachment 216967

As you can see, this is a low resolution printer but it's adequate for jobs like this.

Very clever.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Over the winter I got some anchor rode labels to more easily tell how much line is out. Unfortunately the 30 foot increments out to 240 feet doesn’t do much good when we typically anchor in 10 feet or less. So I put all the tags at half their marked length, starting after my 40’ of chain. But then that’s lots of math to go from depth sounder reading to true depth to depth plus freeboard to ideal scope to the actual marker label.

The solution: this handy placard printed for the anchor locker.