What 3D-printing projects did you do for your truck and shop?

[UT08LX570]

My current project for the red-headed-stepchild of toyota trucks, the T100 haha. Hidden 6.5" sub enclosure to mount below the rear driver bench seat. Printing the 3 pieces, will make adjustments and add more internal structure once test fit is done. Then I'll need to measure internal volume before finalizing whether it'll end up ported or sealed. Printing in PETG for test fit, end product will be ASA.

IG @YotaForge3D

 

[e9999]

on the much simpler side of things, a spray / paint can mixer. I'll use it with a geared down motor (yes, I thought about my lathe too, but ... ), or can be used with a drill :
(yes, yes, I could have made it much more elaborate with clamps and what not but I'm practicing (some) restraint...)

 

[e9999]

even more minimalistic, but unexpectedly much enjoyed (I have several around the house and shop now): a phone stand. Very handy to have.

 

[george_tlc]

I use small 12V (8 to 10AH) lifepo4 batteries to power camping stuff not near the vehicle. Things like 12V pumps to get water out of a spring/well etc.

Anyhow, finding a charger in the 2 to 4A range for lifepo4 batteries with nice features etc is challenging.

Being an EE and having a little solidworks experience (very little), I knocked up a custom charger, wrote software for it, found a nice OLED display and of course needed a box. Has a powerpole for the input (vehicle 12V) and a powerpole for the output, the lifepo4 I want to charge. The charger chip is smart, has built in buck/boost and a bunch of nice features and can be configured for 4 cell lifepo4.

Anyhow, enough blabbering, here's some pics. Built 2, this one I finished today.

Finished product hooked to a 3S li-ion pack just to get the display up for a pic.

The guts, running, I have a red/yellow/green LED for status - but given it has a display that shows all that and more, the LEDs are essentially useless

I have 3D modeled powerpole 'building blocks' (with all the grooves etc) that I can reuse as needed. Roll pins to lock them in place. I have a nice 'clip/latch' design that I reuse that makes a nice lid to box closure.

The bright orange colour is to make the box easier to find in my camping electronics tote.

cheers,
george.

 

[george_tlc]

Wanted an inline switch for powerpole powered stuff. I use powerpoles on a LOT of my camping gear.

So, printed up a box with the powerpole slots at each end and then installed a decent 15A DC rated switch. Either end can be the input or the output. Just plug in cables/extensions and flip on or off.

Another hard to not see colour choice

cheers,
george.

 

[e9999]

^ Nice!
I have also printed a number of boxes and containers with lids and have -finally- been able to dial in clearances -reasonably- satisfactorily for various configurations. Only for PLA, though. I hope it won't be too different for other materials...

On another front, I have recently started to work on printed-in-place hinges. With mixed success so far. So now also exploring associated (and in general) bridging considerations. Advice?

 

[PAToyota]

So, anybody knows much about this gridfinity stuff? Worth digging into?

I agree with the others about some setups being entirely too intensive - each tool in its own tray. However, the guy I know with a CNC mill and lathe has made up a bunch of trays for his metrology items, collets, and tooling that works very well for him and isn't the sort of stuff you just want banging around loose in a drawer. I'll have to take some pictures of his setups.

That's defined some thoughts on what I want to do - specific tools and drawers that I want to organize with gridfinity.

 

[e9999]

I was thinking of gridfinity more for racking a bunch of tools in a space-effective manner rather than for individual ones, but even that would probably not improve the situation for a drawer full of screwdrivers or wrenches, say, piled up one on top of others. It's a pain to reach the bottom ones but at least I can store dozens and dozens in one drawer. And with containers with sides there is additional space lost for short tools in a long box. I might still try to make racks to store some tools semi upright. But yes it seems like gridfinity is more a luxury if you have extra space than an effective way to store stuff. Unrelated to gridfinity, I have printed a bunch of boxes with custom sizes for specific instruments or material storage, though, and always the smallest possible size.

 

[PAToyota]

Here are a few photos of some of the drawers that he has organized. The first two have specific storage for his tool holders and collets while the third one is just bins for end mills. The end mill bins have a place for a label, but he hasn't gotten to that yet and didn't do the label as part of the print.

I think this is a reasonable setup. Items that need some level of protection or order have custom holders while the more generic stuff can have different sizes of containers, but doesn't need each individual item to have a separate space.

I will say that I'd have made better use of color coding. He sort of just started printing things with what filament he had on hand and colors were an afterthought. Labels are good, but I'm a visual person and I'd want to be able to home in on a "quadrant" by color and then find the specific item I needed from there.

I've seen setups where people have "shadowed" every single tool and it really ends up taking up more space than makes sense. I think if you're going to go that route you should use the Kaizen foam sheets as then you can pack things more closely than the gridfinity (and printer size) allows.

 

[KLF]

I occasionally need a hand plane on our Fix It jobs, usually to fix a sticky door or window. I didn't want to take my good Record plans out into the field, so I found this old Stanley #4 on craigslist, it was rusty and kinda beat up, but it was only $20.

Put all the parts in the ultrasonic cleaner, then spent way too long with some 150, 400, 1000, and 1500 wet sanding on a piece of float glass I have. Got the sole and sides nice and flat. Sanded off all the chipped black paint from the wood tote and knob, walnut stain, then 6 coats of lacquer. New edge on the blade, nicely stropped. There's just something so satisfying about running a good plane across a piece of wood, feeling the shavings swish off the wood.

Then I figured I needed to protect the nice flat cast sole from damage and rust in the field. Enter the 3D printer. Spent waay too much time working in AutoCAD, test prints, etc. Finally got something that fit snug, then added some 18mm magnets from my stash.

 

[PNWGERMAN]

I just got a Bambu Labs P2S with part of my Christmas bonus. Been designing things for the LC, my Jeep project, and for work. I love it so much. Its an entire new world to explore and learn about.
So fare most of the fun parts I've made are for my Jeep DJ5 USPS delivery vehicle. All dash/switch/gauge related stuff. Most of the stuff wont be useful to anyone else, but I did make a Holley 7" dash mount that uses the RAM Mount track system. Also a AUX Beam 8 gang switch panel mount that also uses the RAM Mount system.
The file for the Holley mount is available at this link. Ill be adding the AUX Beam mount later, ones I have it perfected. I don't see many people using the Holley mount, but the AUX Beam mount will be useful for more people.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/2428756-holley-7-pro-digi-dash-mount-for-ram-mount-system#profileId-2664229

 

[PNWGERMAN]

Here is the AUX Beam 8 gang switch mount. Its free to print for anyone that wants to.
I had some lifting issues with the ABS because I did a bad job putting glue on the print bed. ABS likes to move around and distort while printing if you don't do things right.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/2460308-aux-beam-8-gang-switch-mount-for-ram-mount-system#profileId-2701196

 

[e9999]

sometimes, the most mundane things....
Bought so many of those in various sizes. Now I can customize them any way I want. It's odd how I can look around the shop and suddenly think "eh, I can print that!" followed by "eh, how come it took me so long to realize that?".

If ya know, ya know, don't ask...

 

[e9999]

Been wondering if I could use some super simple rollers to put under items to be moved, without having to deal with axles etc. Just a roller in a recess. Think it'll roll?

I'm thinking maybe if the ground surface is rough but perhaps not if it's slick...


added: well, the answer is unfortunately, no, it does not work. The surfaces of the roller and recesses are rough enough as printed that the roller does not rotate in the recess when dragged over a surface, even after I filed the roller's surface smoother, it just skates over the surface instead and would wear down. Maybe if I were to smooth them out with acetone or something but I don't care enough to try that.

 

[KLF]

Been wondering if I could use some super simple rollers to put under items to be moved, without having to deal with axles etc. Just a roller in a recess. Think it'll roll?

View attachment 4100129
I'm thinking maybe if the ground surface is rough but perhaps not if it's slick...

I think it will just crush, unless you print it with 100% fill.

A dolly from Harbor Freight rated for 1000 lbs is only $13. You'll spend way more than that on filament.

 

[e9999]

yes, 100% fill of course.
I do have plenty of dollies and jacks. (Although FWIW, I once moved a multi-tons safe on just 4 or 5 steel rods.) This is more a thought exercise than a serious plan, TBH, although having small rollers under the clothes dryer to move it around is what made me originally think of it. I am just curious about whether this would work at all. I think it would have to have very close contact between roller and recess to reduce friction there but even then, not obvious.

 

[KLF]

Trying to get all the various hoses and vacuums I have setup for dust collection in my shop. I needed a 2-to-1 adapter with blast gates for the connections to my band saw and drill press. Found one on Makerworld for 50mm hose, but I'm using 2-1/2" clear hose. Scaled up 126%, worked perfect. Main body took almost 17 hours to print in PETG. It was a little fussy getting the gates to slide smooth but with minimum leakage. But it works well.

 

[e9999]

nice! I like the transparent hoses, must be fun to see the sawdust blast through!

 

[e9999]

well, as to the answer to the roller test in post 94, the answer is unfortunately, no, it does not work. The surfaces of the roller and recesses are rough enough as printed that the roller does not rotate in the recess when dragged over a surface, even after I filed the roller's surface smoother, it just skates over the surface instead and would wear down. Maybe if I were to smooth them out with acetone or something but I don't care enough to try that.



added: but to end on a more positive note, I printed some white sliders to put under the dryer black rubber feet so I can slide the thing around without marring the floor as much...

added 2: just realized that I can also use this thing as a fixed standoff with the roller on the upper side and it rolls fine under fairly light objects if I need to move them horizontally.

 

[e9999]

here is one if the concept reminds somebody of something similar they could do

I broke (helps not to rotate it the wrong direction) the mystery pot metal handle on the half-nut of my lathe and the stub left behind is not long enough to actuate the thing consistently.
I would have to remove the apron to replace it and try to locate a handle which is not obvious at all for this vintage model.

Sooo, here is a quick fix, a printed sleeve I just slide over the remains of the handle and it works just great. Won't have to change anything after all. And -bonus- with only 10% fill, that thing is solid as a rock. Amazingly, in battleship gray PLA it even looks OK on there. Well, maybe maybe not but at least it beats using Visegrip pliers :