Print Your Own Drill Guide Without A Linear Bearing

July 18, 2022 by Matthew Carlson 15 Comments

Typically we often don’t cover paid products here on Hackaday, but we couldn’t help but be impressed with this 3D printed drill guide from [USSA]. While you’ll need to pay the toll to access the STL files and plans, there’s an excellent video showing a bit of magic behind the curtain that you can check out free of charge. There are several interesting insights and some great techniques put into this design that anyone could take and apply to their own project.

First, what is a drill guide? Many of us don’t have the luxury of a full-sized drill press, so we have to make do with a hand drill. There are various jigs and tricks to get straighter holes, but it can be frustrating to mark out threaded screw inserts with great precision only to discover all the inserts are at an angle and the circuit board won’t fit. A drill guide ensures holes are plunged straight up and down and at a reliable depth.

[USSA] starts by showing the node-based CAD that makes up the design (a program called Grasshopper). As he assembled it, simple nuts and screws held it together. But rather than clamp two separate pieces together, the screws compress the single plastic with a clever slot in the side to allow the plastic to flex. Several 3D printed jigs were used for assembling the bearing shaft. Ultimately the results look quite impressive, and it’s an inspiration for our own printed projects.

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3D Printed Jig Makes Custom Springs A Snap

January 28, 2022 by Tom Nardi 13 Comments

We’ve often heard it said that springs come in in all shapes and sizes…except for the one you need. In light of this, the hardware hacker would do well to keep the tools and knowledge required to make a custom spring close at hand when building something that moves. Luckily, all it really take is some stiff metal wire, a rod, and patience.

Unless you’ve got a 3D printer, that is. In which case, we’d suggest you print out this very clever “Spring Factory” designed by [Vincent Baillet]. The simple tool, consisting of just two parts, makes it easier and faster to make consistent DIY springs when compared to traditional methods. Rather than trying to eyeball the spacing of the coil as you wind the wire around the mandrel, this design does it for you.

As seen in the video, springs made with this tool look very professional. Not only does the threaded mandrel keep the spacing between coils even, it also makes sure all the springs you produce are identical. This can be especially important with projects that need to use multiple matching springs. [Vincent] says his handy tool works with piano wire from 0.8 to 1.2 mm, and slightly thicker if plain steel.

Of course, the obvious flaw in a tool like this is that it can only be used to make springs of a specific diameter. Changing the length is easy enough, just use more or less wire. But to make a thinner or thicker spring, you’d need a different size of mandrel. It seems that [Vincent] has only released the gadget in this approximately 9 mm diameter so far, but here’s hoping a few more sizes get added to the mix before too long.

Looking for something a bit more advanced? This Arduino-powered wire bender is capable of making some very impressive custom springs, among other things.

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Copper tubes formed by 3D printed press dies

Can 3D Printed Press Tools Produce Repeatable Parts?

October 29, 2021 by Ryan Flowers 12 Comments

When we think of using a press to form metal we think of large stamps with custom made metal dies under unimaginable hydraulic pressure. It’s unlikely we’d e think of anything 3D printed. And in a commercial environment we’d be right. But your average garage hacker is far more likely to have access to a bench vise and a 3D printer. It’s in this context that [The Shipping Container Garage] has spent considerable time, effort, and money perfecting a process for pressing copper parts with 3D printed dies, which you can watch below the break.

In the quest to make a custom intake manifold for his project car, [The Shipping Container Garage] first made 3D printed jigs for cutting out a manifold flange that bolts to the cylinder head. It’s a process he calls Analog CNC, as all the cutting is done by hand.

Buoyed by his success, he proceeded with the next step: making manifold runners. His metal of choice was copper. While softer than many metals such as steel, he found it too hard. In the video, he describes his method for annealing the copper. Once cooled, two 3D printed dies are pressed into the copper tubes to progressively shape them. Watch the video to find out one of the neatest details of the die itself: how he gets it out!

Of course no matter how clever this all is, it’s useless if it produces poor results. And that’s where the most astounding part of the build is: The parts are all the same within 0.006 inches (0.15mm) of each other, and the parts fit the manifold flange they were made for. Additionally, the die can be used for the duration of the project at hand. For low volume production, this appears to be a viable method. It’ll be interesting to see what others do to iterate these processes to even more advanced stages.

You may also like to see 3D printing used in leather working and in jigs for beautiful circuit sculptures. A big thanks to [JapanFan] for the tip! If you have your own pressing hacks to share, let us know via the Tip Line!

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