3D printing for prototyping: part 3

Success!

The trick to having this part not get stuck to the bottom of the resin bath on the AnyCubic was to print it sideways! Not sure I really needed the island on it but it made me feel better.

Lychee Slicer doing the job

The printed part is functional - kind of. It fits the plastic injected moulded parts, a long way from perfect but certainly good enough to get changes to the CAD roughed out before handing it off to somebody who knows what they are doing. For this part, I ended up washing and drying it a lot more carefully before placing it in UV light to harden the resin up.

On the left is the injected moulded part, in the centre is the last failed print, on the right is the working print

What needs to change

There are 2 o-rings in the current design, one which was placed there originally but doesn't always work, and the other one suggested by a local engineering firm which does work, but the housing isn't really designed to take it. The o-ring needs to be rebated slightly into the housing to make it work correctly and the other part flexes too much which means I could simply make it thicker (I think). The changes will require new injection moulds to be made so I will have to pass it on to a professional to get it finalised, but most of it can be done in-house. It finally feels something like progress.

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