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Quick Release Housing

A project log for Multitool 3D Printer - Blackbox

Blackbox shifts 3D printing towards a multitool manufacturing robot.

marc-schmannMarc Schömann 08/19/2019 at 15:350 Comments

Why?

The housing may seem like a small insignificant detail, but I'm using this printer daily. And I don't want to struggle with inadequate housing or long-lasting disassemblies before I can reach essential areas.

How not to mount

The housing of a 3D Printer is an crucial factor to achive temperature stability, protection and is the fundament for a heated built chamber. But mounting thin sheets on a vibrating machine is not as easy as it seems. Fluctuating temperatures add another problem. Acryl, for example, expands quite a bit, causing stress and nasty sounds. I experienced how bad this problem is when I worked for a german 3D printer company which bolted the acryl sheets directly to the frame. 

Accessibility

This one might be more important to people like me who continuously change stuff, but it has paid off for me. I can detach all housing parts in seconds, which makes maintenance a bliss.

Looks

It may sound superficial and unnecessary for an open-source project, but "looks" matter. Open Source 3D Printer are in fierce competition with cheap and sleek but mostly closed source Chinese printer. If we want to keep the community committing to open source, we need to compete on every level with the commercial alternatives. It is no coincident that Ultimaker and Prusa are working so hard on making their machines look like they do. We judge objects just as we do with humans, superficial and very fast. A capable 3D Printer should radiate precision and reliability to built trust in the user. This can also be understood as a promise. It promises to look like it's capable so it should better deliver!


The Solution

Adding four sliding cylinders to each corner on the Acryl sheet. The idea is that the sheet slides into the shaft pressing the sealing against the frame by its weight. That way, each sheet can be detached by pushing it up and out, no tools required.

While this is an excellent solution for side and back walls, it´s no solution for the door or the cover. The door could be split and opened by a printed double hinge like this:

Finalizing the doors is high on the bucket list, if you want to speed things up and construct something like this please contact me!

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