DIY dust caps for 16mm pots

[culturejam]

Fired up the old 3D printer last night and made some dust caps. They aren't super-pretty, but they are functional... and besides, nobody will really see them once the pots are soldered to the board anyway.

Unit cost is about ~3 cents of filament (I have no intention of trying to calculate the electricity cost). Build time for a single cap is a little under 2 minutes. I ran a couple batches of 6 once I got the 3D model dialed in (using Google Sketchup).

I may make the side walls slightly thicker, as some of them are coming out with little gaps where the print head "levels up" to the next layer. Doesn't effect the functionality, but it should be simple to fix, so why not.

The 3D model has perfectly straight sides, but the first layer or two always flatten out a little wider on this printer, so these have a tiny lip.

[pickdropper]

Maybe we could trim the lip with a laser.  ;-)

Cool stuff, Forrest.

[culturejam]

The lip actually makes it a little easier to remove the cap, if needed. So a bug turned into a feature.

[Justus]

The lip actually makes it a little easier to remove the cap, if needed. So a bug turned into a feature.

That's what I thought when I saw it.   

[cooder]

That is pretty cool and nifty!

[gtr2]

Cool stuff!

Josh

[Leevibe]

That is so cool and I'm pretty jealous.

[culturejam]

Thanks, guys!

I'm really not good with 3D design software, so that's been a challenge for me. But I'm slowly getting better.

[G.G.]

I wonder if you could print them the other way around and do a logo on the top? 

[culturejam]

I wonder if you could print them the other way around and do a logo on the top? 

I was actually thinking of doing a "cut out" logo on the bottom. Might defeat the purpose of preventing the back from grounding on the PCB, but it would look cool. And for boards where the pots aren't directly underneath, you'd be able to see it.

As for printing them with the back facing up, it would only work with "supports" enabled in the printing. Without that, there is nothing for the center bits to sit on, and it would just collapse in the middle. The downside to using supports is that it eats up a lot more filament and takes a lot longer. The only way these thing make sense to me for DIY is if they are fast and cheap.

Glad you weighed in on this, Gray. I was going to reach out to you about some freelance 3D work anyway. I figure you're pretty handy with that stuff, and I suck balls at it. 

[G.G.]

I wonder if you could print them the other way around and do a logo on the top? 

I was actually thinking of doing a "cut out" logo on the bottom. Might defeat the purpose of preventing the back from grounding on the PCB, but it would look cool. And for boards where the pots aren't directly underneath, you'd be able to see it.

As for printing them with the back facing up, it would only work with "supports" enabled in the printing. Without that, there is nothing for the center bits to sit on, and it would just collapse in the middle. The downside to using supports is that it eats up a lot more filament and takes a lot longer. The only way these thing make sense to me for DIY is if they are fast and cheap.

Glad you weighed in on this, Gray. I was going to reach out to you about some freelance 3D work anyway. I figure you're pretty handy with that stuff, and I suck balls at it. 

haha! No problem, let me know if there's something I can take a shot at. I haven't done any 3D printing myself but I have a couple friends who have done some and couple probably tap them for info.

[selfdestroyer]

That's rad. I think that would be cool to put a cut out logo.

Cody

[culturejam]

haha! No problem, let me know if there's something I can take a shot at. I haven't done any 3D printing myself but I have a couple friends who have done some and couple probably tap them for info.

Well, if you can do the design, I can find out really quickly if it will work, haha. I'll send you a PM later. Thanks

[wgc]

I wonder if you could print them the other way around and do a logo on the top? 

You could do this.  We've got a cubify first gen at the office, great for what it is.  Interesting that I often take the caps off my pots. 

If you need something like this in CAD, or some friendly help,  I can probably help you out, though I don't use sketchup.