Tag: Fusion360
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Mini Mailbox
I receive (and send) lots of packages from my front door. I love creating scaled versions of things, particularly undersized. I decided to recreate a small version of the classic USPS mailbox for my front door as a place for packages to be held.
Additionally, my idea is to add LEDs, a camera, and make it WiFi enabled so I can monitor at all times, assuming the delivery carriers understand what it’s for. Hopefully I can make it intuitive enough but still retain the classic unmistakable design.
The Materials
- 1/4 inch MDF
- wood glue
- painters tape
- blue paint
- inkjet adhesive paper
- LEDs
- WiFi camera
- adhesive spray
- colored card stock
- flexible TPU filament
The Tools
- laser cutter
- fusion360
- lightburn
- Cricut Maker
- paper trimmer
- Canon Pro-100 inkjet
- 3d printer
The Build
Mini Mailbox Fusion 3D File
1 file(s) 1.08 MB
I envisioned this to be about 2 feet tall. The parametric design would let me adjust the dimensions. The hardest part of the design (and newest challenge for me) is the curved top. So far, everything I’ve created is pretty square. For this, I’ll have to use some tricks to make the curved top.
Cutting this took forever! It’s basically an alternating pattern of cuts. In Fusion360, I measured the inner curve length, and built a new piece based on that. The outer curve length is irrelevant for this because the cuts would provide the longer length that I need.
It came out super bendy! So excited. After test fitting the top curve, in the future, I’m going to make the piece slightly shorter than the inner curve surface. Even the the top is doing most of the stretching, the bottom also stretches as well so leaving some room would do just fine. I didn’t leave any tolerance to i had to really tape down the piece well during the gluing process.
Always remember to use the correct height when setting your laser/bed distance. The laser beam is hourglass shaped, and the middle of it should be the middle of your material. I didn’t quite adjust it right so the edges were slightly angled and required a little sanding.
Emma wanted to be the first one to deliver a message in the new mailbox. She is the best!
I had a difficult time deciding on the right amount of storage. I think the majority of packages will fit in here. it’s roughly 13x13x17.
Glued all the pieces together. I used tape to hold down the top curved wood while using wood glue. Everything came together as expected!
After painting, I added the logos and also lined the inside with colorful rainbow card stock. I also added a little disclaimer label in case somebody actually believes it’s a real mailbox.
Here is the mailbox with all the logos and actually being used outside!
Updates
MDF legs on concrete are not great. I’m going to design flexible TPU feet for it to protect it from bumps and scrapes, but also leave it off the ground to prevent moisture.
Mailbox Rubber Feet
1 file(s) 30.26 KB
My original designs were built for 6.4mm MDF. I adjusted the material thickness to 8mm, then generated this STL for flexible TPU. The reason is that I’ve found that TPU needs quite a bit of tolerance. Even if there is extra room, I can fill it with glue.
20% flexible TPU infill + 2mm tolerance fit perfectly! The flexible material really helps to protect the piece and also prevent it from sliding.
Using double sided padded tape, I mounted a camera to the top and now get motion alerts. Going to finally put this project to rest for awhile. Thanks for reading!
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Creality CR-10 Riser Kit
The CR-10 is an amazing printer. However, it does take up quite a bit of precious area in my small workshop so I decided to build a thin case under it. The computer is in the rear part of of the case, and the front will have drawers for storage.
The Materials
- 1/4 MDF
- M4 screws
- CR-10 3d Printer
- Wood glue
The Tools
- CO2 laser cutter
The Build
CR-10 Base Enclosure with Storage Drawer
1 file(s) 1.72 MB
Here is the original CR-10. There’s that big ugly box on the side of it. It’s so tall that another couple inches isn’t going to matter.
I took apart my CR-10 to examine all the wires, components, etc so I could get a good idea of where to place everything.
Here are the internals of the printer. Pretty basic stuff actually. The power supply is the biggest thing. The board for controlling stuff, the mosfet for handling high current to the heating bed, a couple fans. I also added a raspberry Pi to run OctoPrint.
Based on previous projects, I am not going to leave any tolerance for the drawer. I put 1-2mm before and there was a huge gap, so going to gamble with a perfect fit here.
I glued the drawer together to prevent any screws sticking out messing with the clearance. The main case however is bolted together with M3 hardware. Getting ready to mount the components in! I decided to add a 1mm clearance to the drawers, I think that’s the right amount for all projects going forward. I did a quick test with 0 and it was just too tight.
I used double sided tape to mount the power supply, Raspberry, and other stuff. Surprisingly all the hole cutouts I measured pretty accurately! Maybe I’m finally getting better at this.
Put everything back together, removed the printer rubber legs and let the printer sit flush on the enclosure. Everything fits perfectly, the drawer works great. I left the top screws off just in case I need to get back into the internals. Gravity does a good enough job of keeping it in place.
Back on line printing again. Steady helping to make masks/equipment for donation for this CoVid-19 thing.
Updates
I added a nice coat of matte black paint to match the printer. Normally I like to leave MDF unpainted, but wanted a more unified look for the printer.
I thought I did a pretty good job with the fan grill.
I left the inside of the drawer unpainted to make it easier to see the stuff inside.
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Raspberry Pi Rubik’s Cube Case
I have a 3TB RAID1 ext4 NAS and set up a Raspberry Pi 2 to serve as a streaming media center. I wanted to come up with a cool case. Since the dual drives + Pi is roughly square-ish, I came up with the idea to make a rubik’s cube case. Initially it was just going to be a solid block, but then I decided to make it actually rotate horizontally.
The Materials
- 1/4 MDF panels
- color card stock
- Raspberry Pi / NAS hard drives, power cables
- black matte spray paint
- wood glue
- spray adhesive
The Tools
- CO2 laser cutter
- wood glue
- Fusion360
- Lightburn
The Build
Rubiks Cube Pi Case Fusion 360
1 file(s) 2.95 MB
All the panels will be made of 1/4 MDF. If you look closely, you can see the perforations between the color panels that is meant to allow air flow.
This is the most cutting I’ve ever done for a project. I used a full 2×4 and them some.
I noticed that new/dry MDF cuts much better than old or boards with some condensation. Usually I would have to pop the pieces out, but this project, everything fell out perfectly.
I used adhesive spray to add the colored card-stock to the panel pieces. I designed the panels to stick up to give the the colors texture.
The design uses a thin cut ring to allow the 3 levels to spin around. I just used wood glue to stick the thin ring to the 1st and 3rd levels, and the middle level circle is slightly larger. I didn’t leave any tolerance, but it was a tight fit and so far works perfectly.
The inside of a rubiks cube is black, so did a light spray of matte paint. Also works to hide the laser cut edges.
All that’s left is to install the hard drive and Pi. In retrospect, I made the cube a little too big. I could have spent the time to disassemble the SATA base/connectors. I might redo this to make it more compact.
Here is its final resting place, next to my router, serving media. If i didn’t make it able to turn, I could have definitely made the case smaller.
Mistakes
- built the inside too large, however, might make the most of it by adding motorized movement
- used card stock instead of adhesive vinyl, which would look more like a rubik’s cube
- the blue color i’m not a fan of, need a darker blue but we’re in a quarantine because of coronavirus
Updates
- I got new cardstock and updated the blue color to match the classic cube, so much better!
- Replaced the Pi 2 1GB with Pi 4 4GB… runs so much faster
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Espresso Station
This is a little cubby drawer station I made to go with my Breville Barista Express machine. It is meant to store drink mixes, tea, espresso supplies, sugar, cups.
The Tools
- 60 watt CO2 laser
- rubber bands
- Fusion360
- Lightburn
The Materials
- 5mm birch plywood
- wood glue
- sandpaper
The Build
Espresso Drawer and Cubby Fusion360
1 file(s) 522.52 KB
The empty space will have a drawer that slides in and out for main storage of tea bags, supplies, etc.
I designed the drawer with a 2mm tolerance on all sides and found out that was way too much. I should have done 1mm or less. I put the hole handes on both sides to allow for air to escape because I assumed it would be a tight fit.
This is my first project with birch plywood. I did NOT know that the middle layers of the plywood were not 100% filled. Surprisingly, this 5mm birch cut much easier than 6.3mm MDF.
Putting together the pieces was messy. I used steel wool to brush off the ash from the laser cuts, but it still got everywhere.
I tried to sand off the dirty ash, but found out that a damp cloth worked even better to clean up all the dirty ash from the surface.
I engraved a little coffee logo on the front just for fun. In retrospect, the design is much too long, I could have made it a little more compact.
Mistakes
- top-front piece was designed with no interlocking joint and relies entirely on glue
- the 2mm gap tolerance for the drawer is way too much
- tried to sand off ash instead of wiping it down
- design too long, need to shorten it
- found out i added tolerance to BOTH pieces, doubling up on the gap
- need to engrage the logo a bit darker next time
- need to round off the fillet on the handles more to match the drawer handle
Updates
Redid the design to make it shorter, also fixed the front top piece so that it interlocks properly. I also burned the espresso logo in the front darker and rounded off the fillets.
Shortened Coffee Cubby
1 file(s) 588.65 KB
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LEGO Minifig Display Case
I previously built a minifig display case but it was big, heavy, and awkward. It also did not have a glass cover in the front and seemed to collect lots of dust, so I decided to redo it.
The Tools
- Fusion 360 / Lightburn
- 60 watt CO2 laser
- staple gun
- drill (only for pilot holes)
The Materials
- 1/4 inch MDF
- 5x3mm circular neodymium magnets
- plexiglass
- support board
- sawtooth picture frame mounts
- epoxy
- hot glue gun
The Build
LEGO Minifig 4x5 Display Case
1 file(s) 403.37 KB
I decided to make it 5 columns 4 rows of minifigs so 20 per display case. The Fusion360 design is totally parametric (I think) so I can easily adjust these to customize it.
There are 3 types of material used. 1/4 MDF for the frame and shelves, the white support board (like you get from cheap bookshelves), and plexiglass for the front cover.
I used bolts for the 4 corners of the frame. I did not want to use glue. Here you can see the notch that holds the M3 bolts.
I used neodymium magnets, 5x3mm circles, to hold the front glass together. The 1st and 3rd shelves have notches where I used epoxy to glue 4 magnets to the shelf. There are also 3mm holes cut in the plexiglass. It’s kind of weird, but works and I didn’t have to use any hinges.
I used a hot glue gun to mount the minifigs using the engraged indicators for perfect spacing!
After the first one was a success, I made 2 more. Still need another one!
I used 2 sawtooth picture frame mounts per display case to mount everything to the wall. All done!
Mistakes
- probably could have designed the frame mounts in the other direction so the frame can sit flush on a flat surface
Updates
I created another size for my 4 larger minifigs. It really tested my parametric design, which didn’t do so well so I had to make updates.
Lego Display Case 2x2 for Larger Characters
1 file(s) 358.74 KB
I noticed that my MDF was pretty fresh, so it was dry and also not as thick as I spec’d it out for. Also, I put the magnets in the middle, but since there is only 1 shelf, it’s a little wobbly. Going to add stoppers the top and bottom to make sure the glass sits straight.
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CO2 Laser Control Panel
I absolutely LOVE my Class 4 CO2 Laser cutter/engraver. But it definitely needs some improvements. I’ve added custom lighting, camera, and analog milliamp reader to it and needed a control panel to manage everything. I designed this as an inset panel that controls the AC lines (which are connected to a new UPS).
My 3d printer always prints a little larger. My designs need about 0.5-1mm tolerance for fittings so I printed out this flat plate to test the panel mounted switches and hole placements.
Categories
Picture Frame
Emma made me this beautiful ceramic heart for Valentines Day! I decided to make a lightbox style frame to hang it on the wall using slots and glue to keep everything secure.
I designed the frame in Fusion360. It was built with 3 different materials and thicknesses: plexiglass, MDF, and supportboard for the back. This is my first multi-part laser piece.
These settings work for me for 1/4 dry MDF. 60watts, 10mm/s, 40-50% power, 2 passes (roughly 13 milliamps). It’s just enough to see the burn through the bottom and pop the pieces out of MDF.
Pieces fit together perfectly. My laser hasn’t been calibrated yet so the cuts were slightly at an angle but for such small connections, it wasn’t an issue.
I added the piece to the frame. The light blue/white heart didn’t show to well with the white background.
And here is the final product! Might engrave something on the bottom right later just for fun, but for now it looks amazing.