Comparing Ways To Add Threads To Your 3D Prints

January 11, 2025 by Maya Posch No comments

Adding threads to your 3D prints is a life-changing feature, but obviously there are a lot of trade-offs and considerations when deciding on how to go about this exactly. Between self-tapping screws, printed threads, heat inserts and a dozen other options it can be tough to decide what to go with. In a recent video [Thomas Sanladerer] runs through a few of these options, including some less common ones, and what he personally thinks of them.

Confounding factors are also whether you’re printing on an FDM or resin printer, what size thread you’re targeting and how often the screw or bolt will be removed. The metal heat inserts are generally a good option for durability, but when you have big bolts you get a few other metal-based options too, including thread repair inserts and prong nuts. Tapping threads into a print can also be an option, but takes a fair bit of patience.

Slotted nuts can be an idea if you don’t mind carving a space into your model, and the comments dove on embedding nuts in the print by pausing during printing. Ultimately [Thomas] really likes to use a type of self-forming threads with just three protruding sections into the hole that the bolt taps into, which reduces the stress on the part and works well enough for parts that only have to be screwed down once or twice.

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Embedding Lenticular Lenses Into 3D Prints

January 11, 2025 by Donald Papp No comments

A research project shows that it’s possible to create complex single-piece lenticular objects, or objects that have lenticular lenses built directly into them. The result is a thing whose appearance depends on the viewer’s viewpoint. The object in the image above, for example, is the same object from five different angles.

What’s really neat is that these colorful things have been 3D printed as single objects, no separate lenses or assembly required. Sure, it requires equipment that not just everyone has on their workbench, but we think a clever hacker could put the underlying principles to work all the same.

This lampshade (which was 3D printed as a single object) changes color and displays *Good Day* or *Good Night* depending on viewing angle.

The effect is essentially the same as what is sometimes seen in children’s toys and novelties — where a perceived image changes depending on the viewing angle. This principle has been used with a lenticular lens sheet to create a clever lenticular clock, but there’s no need to be limited by what lenses are available off the shelf. We’ve seen a custom 3D printed lenticular lens slapped onto a mobile device to create a 3D screen effect.

Coming back to the research, the objects researchers created go beyond what we’ve seen before in two important ways. First is in using software to aid in designing the object and it’s viewpoints (the plugin for Rhino 3D is available on GitHub), and the second is the scale of the effect. Each lens can be thought of as a pixel whose color depends on the viewing angle, and by 3D printing the lenses, one can fit quite a lot of them onto a surface with a high degree of accuracy.

To make these objects researchers used PolyJet 3D printing, which is essentially UV-cured resin combined with inkjet technology, and can create multi-color objects in a single pass. The lenses are printed clear with a gloss finish, the colors are embedded, and a final hit of sprayed varnish helps with light transmission. It sure beats placing hundreds of little lenses by hand.

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Tactility; The ESP32 Gets Another OS

January 11, 2025 by Jenny List 5 Comments

Doing the rounds this week is a new operating system for ESP32 microcontrollers, it’s called Tactility, and it comes from [Ken Van Hoeylandt]. It provides a basic operating system level with the ability to run apps from an SD card, and it has the choice of a headless version or an LVGL-based touch UI.

Supported devices so far are some Lillygo and M5Stack boards, with intriguingly, support in the works for the Cheap Yellow Display board that’s caught some attention recently. The term “ESP32” is now a wide one encompassing Tensilica and RISC-V cores and a range of capabilities, so time will tell how flexible it is for all branches of the family.

We find this OS to be interesting, both in its own right and because it joins at least two others trying to do the same thing. There’s [Sprite_TM]’s PocketSprite mini console, and the operating system used by the series of Netherlands hacker camp badges, We’ll be trying to get a device running it, in order to give you a look at whether it’s suitable for your projects. If it runs well on the cheaper hardware, it could be a winner!