Archive for October 11th, 2011
LILUG Meeting Presentation
Posted by Ed in Administrivia, Machine Shop, Oddities on 11-October-2011
In the admittedly unlikely event you happen to be near the left-center part of Long Island this evening, drop in on my DIY 3D Printing & the Makerbot Thing-O-Matic presentation for the Long Island Linux Users Group meeting and pick up a tchotchke!
Many thanks to LILUG for ruthlessly eliminating all my objections to leaving the Basement Laboratory…
KG-UV3D GPS+Voice: Plug Mounting Plate
Posted by Ed in Amateur Radio, Machine Shop on 11-October-2011
Unlike my old ICOM IC-Z1A, the Wouxun KG-UV3D radio has mic and speaker jacks recessed into the case, so that a custom plug plate can absorb all the stress from forces applied to the cables without wiggling the plugs. Even better, there’s a removable cover with a mounting screw that can hold the new plate in place!
The first pass at the mount required a bit of filing, as the deepest part of the recess turns out to be not exactly rectangular. That’s (probably) fixed in the source code:
The solid model looks about like you’d expect, with terribly thin side walls between the plugs and the not-quite-rectangular section. The whole affair is asymmetrical around the long axis; the not-quite-rectangular block and hole really are offset:
When printed, the thin sections come out one 0.66 mm plastic thread wide:
I spent quite some time iterating through OpenSCAD, RepG, and SkeinLayer to make sure that came out right. This is from a later version with larger recesses around the plugs:
Some epoxy eased down along the plugs will lock them into the plastic, with an epoxy putty turd over the top to stabilize the cables and terminal connections. That’s a T6 Torx bit to mate with the 2 mm screw (with a captive washer!) pulled from the Small Drawer o’ Salvaged Metric Screws:
The OpenSCAD source code is part of the huge block of code at the bottom of that post, but here’s the relevant section:
module PlugPlate() {
BaseX = PlugBaseWidth/2 - PlugBaseRadius;
BaseY = PlugBaseLength/2 - PlugBaseRadius;
difference() {
union() {
linear_extrude(height=PlugBaseThick,center=false,convexity=3)
hull() {
translate([-BaseX,-BaseY,0])
circle(r=PlugBaseRadius,$fn=8);
translate([-BaseX, BaseY,0])
circle(r=PlugBaseRadius,$fn=8);
translate([ BaseX, BaseY,0])
circle(r=PlugBaseRadius,$fn=8);
translate([ BaseX,-BaseY,0])
circle(r=PlugBaseRadius,$fn=8);
}
translate([PlugFillOffsetX,
(PlugFillLength/2 - PlugBaseLength/2 + PlugFillOffsetY),
PlugBaseThick])
linear_extrude(height=PlugFillThick,center=false,convexity=5)
hull() {
translate([0,-(PlugFillLength/2 - PlugFillRadius2),0])
circle(r=PlugFillRadius2,$fn=10);
translate([-(PlugFillWidth/2 - PlugFillRadius1),-PlugBaseLength/2,0])
circle(r=PlugFillRadius1,$fn=8);
translate([-(PlugFillWidth/2 - PlugFillRadius1),
(PlugFillLength/2 - PlugFillRadius1),0])
circle(r=PlugFillRadius1,$fn=8);
translate([(PlugFillWidth/2 - PlugFillRadius1),
(PlugFillLength/2 - PlugFillRadius1),0])
circle(r=PlugFillRadius1,$fn=8);
translate([(PlugFillWidth/2 - PlugFillRadius1),-PlugBaseLength/2,0])
circle(r=PlugFillRadius1,$fn=8);
}
}
translate([0,-JackOC/2,-Protrusion])
rotate(360/16) {
PolyCyl(Plug3BezelDia,(Plug3BezelThick + Protrusion),8);
PolyCyl(Plug3ScrewDia,(PlugBaseThick + PlugFillThick + 2*Protrusion),8);
}
translate([0,+JackOC/2,-Protrusion])
rotate(360/16) {
PolyCyl(Plug2BezelDia,(Plug2BezelThick + Protrusion),8);
PolyCyl(Plug2ScrewDia,(PlugBaseThick + PlugFillThick + 2*Protrusion),8);
}
translate([JackScrewOffsetX,-(PlugBaseLength/2 + JackScrewOffsetY),0])
PolyCyl(JackScrewDia,(PlugBaseThick + PlugFillThick + Protrusion));
}
}








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