WB4SON

Way back in January 2018, I had a goal to “3D print an electronics project case”.  I had enrolled in a SolidWorks class at my local community college to learn 3D modeling.  Sadly I didn’t complete it, and it remained a goal of mine for several years until I decided to move on to something I might actually finish.

There were a couple of reasons for not completing the goal.  The first was a life-threatening illness that left me pretty weak and unable to complete the class I was taking.  The second was that the 3D printer I had was more of a toy than a tool, and it was rarely able to print anything successfully.

Even though I didn’t list it as a goal for 2024, I had a growing itch, and decided to replace my original toy printer with a FLASHFORGE Adventurer 5M Pro.  The big steps up were a heated platform and full enclosure that allows for better thermal management.  In addition, it is blazingly fast, by about a factor of 16, compared to what consumer printers were capable of back in 2018.  No longer a toy, this is a tool for a maker.

I’m happy to report that after six years, I have finally completed the goal, 3D printing two parts to make an enclosure  for a 3.5″ LCD display and an ESP32 processor. I guess I will count this as a “wildcard” replacing any project I don’t complete in 2024.

The two parts of the enclosure: The bottom is on the left, and the top on the right.

The enclosure with the LCD visible on the top (4″L x 3″W x 1.5″T)

Winter always brings a desire to do projects of some sort.  In fact, throughout the rest of the year, I tend to acquire parts for small projects with the hopes of finishing them during the cold, dark, snowy New England nights.  (Perhaps I haven’t been successful for a few years due to climate change – winter in New England is no longer horrible and coma inducing).

I found myself soldering a few 0.1″ connectors onto an Adafruit Feather board a couple of days ago.  It was likely the first time I’ve used a soldering iron in a couple of years.  While my age has brought on hand tremors, I did manage to get things properly soldered by using sandbags to support my wrist and hands.  It took about 15 times longer than it would have a decade ago, but I got it done.

One thing leads to another, and with the Feather board working, it now required something to put it in.  I had purchased a low-end 3D printer about six years ago, a da Vinci mini W.  It was enough to wet my interest in 3D modeling, and enabled me to take a class in SolidWorks at my local community college (hint – college students get a free license to SolidWorks that is good for 4 years, and the class fee is MUCH lower than what a one year license costs).  Anyway, I fired up the printer to attempt to print a case.  It was a disaster from start to end, but sort of a fun way to spend a cold afternoon.

The printer hadn’t been used in 5 years, and the same PLA filament sat in the machine all that time, becoming brittle with age and full of moisture.  With cleaning and some fiddling, it did spit out some string, and were it not for the cold conditions of the basement where it resides, it might have worked.

What did happen, when I tried printing the cover, was badly warped, as the material pulled off the Kapton tape, and even managed to pull the tape off the platform.