Scanned or 3D printed mirror covers

Mellow · Wednesday at 8:48 AM

Eagle59 said:
I have great news on the cover project. I got my printer and have been playing around with printing the Rocinante as a means of getting to know how the printer works. Bit of a learning curve with that. I used a PLA Carbon Fiber filament and the 9 hour job finished this morning. I printed the right side cover and it came out better that I could have hoped. It fits directly onto the fairing, as is, with no mods or changes. The scan was detailed enough to accurately dimension the three mounting studs. Even the studs for the light subassembly screws are there. The mounting studs work for now but will probably need to be replaced with metal studs for permanent use. I'll try to post the .STL and .3MF files but they are pretty big. The carbon fiber finish is kind of cool by itself. I'm not sure how well the naked finish would handle long term sun and weather. I suppose a clear polyurethane topcoat may help. Fairing, sanding and proper automotive painting processes would be needed for color-matching but the base part came out very well.

wow, that looks great!

Eagle59 · Wednesday at 9:21 AM

Joe. What's the process to upload the .STL and 3MF files? As expected, they are too big to post here.

Mellow · Wednesday at 9:25 AM

Eagle59 said:
Joe. What's the process to upload the .STL and 3MF files? As expected, they are too big to post here.

Let me update the file types.

Mellow · Wednesday at 9:26 AM

Try again.

Eagle59 · Wednesday at 9:34 AM

No Joy. Getting "...file too large for server..." error. The .3mf file is 14KB, .STL is 53KB. Maybe a DropBox thing?

Eagle59 · Wednesday at 9:40 AM

Here is a DropBox link but it's only valid till the 22nd. Can we get these into a more accessible place for all to share?

https://www.dropbox.com/t/pH5vmouEbAIltYYU

jdmccright · Wednesday at 9:43 AM

Very nice work! And posting the files for all is very kind of you. Now to see how they print in more weather-hardy materials. I usually use ABS with good success. Only 9 hours to print? That's fast too! I've been working the model to reduce the supports and strengthen the attachment points bc printed pieces are never as strong as molded ones. But to simply have a part in hand is great. Ooh, wonder if the whole housing could be made into a turn signal...cheesy? Lol

Again, awesome work!

Eagle59 · Wednesday at 2:31 PM

Glad to contribute. This is only the right side cover but using the mirror function gets you the left side. I'm fiddling around with the infill settings in Slicer to see about changing just the three mounting studs that interface to the fairing clips to 50%. The rest of the cover is the default 15%. The cover is very light but changing the infill on the studs may make that section stronger. I'm just a newbie with this 3D stuff and I know I'm just scratching the surface on what can be done. Lots of good YouTube How-To videos from Bambu Labs on how to modify the print files.

Joeywhat · Wednesday at 4:48 PM

I've had good luck with glass filled PET, very strong and reasonably UV resistant. It'll definitely be after being painted...

Plus it's not too difficult to print with.

Joeywhat · Wednesday at 4:49 PM

Eagle59 said:
Glad to contribute. This is only the right side cover but using the mirror function gets you the left side. I'm fiddling around with the infill settings in Slicer to see about changing just the three mounting studs that interface to the fairing clips to 50%. The rest of the cover is the default 15%. The cover is very light but changing the infill on the studs may make that section stronger. I'm just a newbie with this 3D stuff and I know I'm just scratching the surface on what can be done. Lots of good YouTube How-To videos from Bambu Labs on how to modify the print files.

Just make that area solid or increase the wall number to add strength. Sparse infill doesn't offer a ton of strength no matter the settings.