3D print boat bits
Stephen Gerry creates his own bespoke plastic boat bits
As an avid DIYer I regularly spend many happy hours in my garage and always have numerous projects in mind. But when a university colleague told me that his team had invested in a £160 3D printer that was accurate to 20 microns, it only took a few days to convince myself I could really produce things of use from such a unit.
Two days later I’d bought one, a package arrived and I set about constructing my new Ender 3D printer and creating the test print – a plastic dog. My grandson was very happy with the result!
So I made a start on my first project – a cup holder, which is an item driven by a real need as we’ve had several spilled drink incidents in the boat cockpit. I’ve searched ebay and other internet outlets and simply cannot find a solution which would work for us which did not involve drilling holes in the boat. There are numerous cup holder products out there but very few which are as simple as the one which I eventually produced.
If you’re going to print something in 3D then you need a file with a design to print from. I know that probably sounds obvious but the printer only comes loaded with one file and that’s the test print of the dog. Therefore a recommendation is that you register with Thingiverse
(thingiverse.com) as it contains literally thousands of designs – many of which are amendable – that you can use on your 3D printer.
For my first actual 3D print I decided to download a cup holder file (STL format) which mostly fitted my requirements and then modified it to include a sucker attachment. That way I could place the cup holder anywhere within the cockpit of my boat. I have some different size mugs and have created specific size holders for each of these.
I did the modifications using Fusion 360, which is a very professional product that has a freeware version.
I then imported my modified STL file into a free software product called Cura, which is required to slice and configure your design.
At this stage you have to consider whether there are any overhangs in the design for which you may need to ensure the printer builds some support structures as part of the construction process so that your designed does not collapse.
I saved the file to micro SD card, which inserts into the printer. I selected the file from the menu, clicked ‘print’ from the printer control panel and off it went.
I got the suckers, which included a 4mm thread attachment, from ebay for approximately £3 including delivery which was enough to complete four holders.
Following my early success and absolutely stunned by the high quality of the output produced I have now started to produce my own designs, including split patterns (plugs) which I can then use in a sand box mould to make aluminium parts using a homemade metal forge.
The benefit of a 3D printer is that is turns out really accurate plugs which require little or no finishing to go into the mould.