Disclaimer
OK, first things first…This project deals with electricity, specifically the cover of a North American receptacle. I am not an electrician. I am not even that bright. Anything I explain here is my own stupidity and if you repeat it and cause a problem, that’s your dumb…not mine. Read but execute at your own risk. I have no idea if this is a bad idea or not.
Goal
Design a outlet cover that has pockets for phones. We have outlets with USB jacks in them. I want to replace the cover with this, so I can drop my phone in a slot and it charges, maybe room for 2. Later, I’d like to create a base/basic implementation with covers that snap on, so maybe my pocket is J shaped, and my wife’s is W shaped.
Running Design process
As I began designing this project, I wanted to continue to work on improving my workflow when it comes to 3D printing. I decided this time, to record notes, step by step of what I am doing so I can eventually look back at the corrections I needed to make and learn from them. I also hope…this can help someone else.
#CollectiveWisdom
Getting Started
OK, most important rule of 3D printing, you an ask Hands on Kate. Do not create your own design. Just don’t. There is so much open source content out there, there is no reason to start from scratch. That is the beauty and the intention of this community and of this ecosystem…design…and…share.
There is no reason to reinvent the wheel if someone has already reinvented it already. This person did a great job of this, so I plan to use their design as my base. That reminds me, I want to write a post about Attributing Original Authors When Creating Derivatives.
Plates
I am keeping a running total of the plates in this project to try and document the thought process.
For the context of this post…I use Bambu Studio for my design, and for my slicing. When I refer to a Plate, I refer to the logical representation of your build plate as it is represented in Studio. There is some nuance to setting up Plates, so I think it’s worth mentioning. Maybe more on that in an another article.
Plate 01 – 01 – Standard Outlet Cover (Original Work)
I started with this original work from another designer. They put out a beautiful set of STL’s for all sorts of box covers. Reading through the comments, they also appear to take requests and have generated new STL’s for folks. Very cool.
I am using their GFI Wall Plate v5.stl for a reference point for this project. I put this on its own plate, so I have a static copy available if/when needed.
Plate 02 – Pocket Blank for iPhone 12 Pro Max in Case
On my next plate, I started designing the phone “pocket”. I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max…yeah, I know…that’s hotter than your mom in the 90’s…my phone is in an Incipio rubberish case. I built this pocket around my phone. This is the beauty of 3D printing. You can build exactly what you want.
This plate contains a blank “ingot” that includes all of the measurements that I need to accommodate my phone, in its case. I don’t know how the pro’s do it, but the way I work on design is to create a large object that is roughly the size I need, and just cut away at it like I am a manual CNC.
Is that good?
Is there a better way?
03 – iP12PMax Pocket Voids
On this plate, we have the blank created on plate 02, but we have added negative parts for us to cut the top opening for you to drop the phone into, and another void to create the pocket itself.
I am trying something new here from a workflow perspective. This plate has a change, and the change committed on a single plate. I am wondering if this will make it easier to manage? This way I can always fall back to this step, tweak the unmeshed version, and then recreate the next “ingot” or slug for the next step.
Well…I must be on point tonight…I just realized I missed a 3mm wall on the pocket so everything was wrong…but…because I could fall back to a previous step on another plate, I was able to correct the error quickly. OK, this is my new workflow step.
- Every ingot/slug/blank that is modified should be represented with the modifications unmeshed and meshed, on a single plate. The meshed copy would then be copied to another plate to start the process all over again, with the next modification.
04 – iP12PMax Cable Runs
On this plate, I have a copy of the finalized/meshed blank from the last plate. I then made a copy and removed the top so I could see inside while I work on cable management.
The cable runs are the most complex thing I have designed so far. To Do this, I ended up creating a disposable copy of the blank (on the right) where I cut the top off so I could see inside. I then started mocking up a rudimentary cable run that I could add to the proper blank on the left.
I plan to keep this plate like this, and transfer a meshed version of the blank on the left, start a new plate. I think I am also going to switch these so they left to right, instead of right to left. Why do I keep doing that?
Its 1:05am. I need to sleep. I am ready to print Prototype 1.
Update
The print is almost complete. The first prototype is taking about 4 hours to print, and I already see problems.
- I printed this vertically because I thought it would be stronger, and that I would need less supports or bridging. This was an error. The wobble in this enormous thing as the bed moves…is crazy, and is causing all sorts of layer shifts. I can periodically here the print head and the print hitting each other. I need to find a way to print this laying down without having to muck around with too many supports inside the pocket.
- I designed the pocked to be way too big. Its the size of the entire phone, it doesn’t need to be. In Prototype 2 this pocket will be smaller. I am hoping that a smaller pocket will not only look nicer, but it will use less filament, and in theory would make removing a internal supports easier, so I can print this laying down instead of vertical.