Been trying to build a Switch, using the thinking that I can get a PLA that Conducts well-ish. And that this conductive PLA can be printed at the same time with Non conductive PLA.

Been working in Second LIfe to build it up and can export it as a OBJ file, just used a convert site to change it to STL and its made Tubes in to Hexigons (sorry for my spelling Dyslexic) also seems building in Second Life sizes of 2.25 turned out to be 0.3cm so a bit Too MICRO size.

So would like any Help to put this thing together

Oh another point … how to put WIRES coming from it, i did think maybe put them down in the Printer and get the Printer to print one layer and then place the wire in and then another layer making incase the wire and a better conduct.

Ive never worked with any this stuff before but can do the Design for the 3D modleing, sadly cant put it on computer unless this dam Second Life OBJ file turns out ok, it did show up in AutoDesk123

3 Likes

Hey Angel,

Send me the OBJ and let’s have a look. I know nothing about Second Life - Thought it was a God Game but I should be able to view it and see what can be done.

BTW, just a word of caution: Conductive PLA conducts well-ish because it’s resistive-ish and resistors heat up when current flows through 'em. Enough current and enough heat and your lovely switch is now a fire hazard. Voltage won’t make any difference. This could happen at 1.5Volts if the power supply can supply enough current.

I think your idea for connecting wires seems like a good one. Perhaps print a zig-zag slot to retain the wire while it’s being printed over??

Cheers!

AndyL

Pot8oSh3D

The only current in this switch will be Made by a Pickup what is basicaly a Core being moved up and down in a Coil from the Strings. So dam small … how do i get the OBJ files to you

Ive split it down to Conductive, Non Conductive, Top and Moving Part.

In a Switch to connect between segments they have a metal Folk to drag along… What means adding a new item or the other thing i was thinking is Little Balls that roll along, 4 holes each with balls that drag along the track

Think ive managed to attached the OBJ files, the ARM is spose to be two bits, one bit being a Conductive Slice
SHELL.obj (353 KB)
TOP.obj (34 KB)
CONDUCTOR.obj (204 KB)
ARM.obj (32.4 KB)

This Switch is for a Guitar, It 3bits, so it has 3 inputs that all link up to one output, this means there is 8 Possible out comes. This is Designed to go around the Volume Control on a Guitar, and this is the first stage before putting the Volume control under this switch, it will be a Dual Control, Switch and Volume Pot.
Meaning the 5 way switch Statacastes have will be dead, and i can tune that in to a Serial Switch.

This Switch would also mean that you can have a Multi Tone Control as well, give your a Range of 10nF-50nF.

If this works it means i could design coil flipping switches better for the 2nd Tone Control.

depending on Space maybe a 2P2T-4P2T switch under all of that for ever more controls, without any change to the Guitars body/Pick Guard

Angel, I think that’s a totally brilliant idea! I’m always inadvertently flipping the 4-way on my Tele while I’m playing. TBH, it’s such an innovative idea I’m surprised you’re making it more complicated for yourself by using printed conductors but, hey. In for a penny! :smiley:

I imported the obj’s into Netfabb - Screenshots attached. First off, I think your problem may simply be scale. In the bottom left hand of each screenshot, you’ll see that the size is a tad smaller than you’d like. Unless you’re intending to operate it with tweezers! :slight_smile: I suspect that, somewhere along the line, the positions of the points in the design are being shifted over to the nearest available place in a matrix - You’ve run out of resolution for some software somewhere. Probably a matter of twiddling with preferences in the software. I’d try to design it in millimetres but at least 10X the intended size. Won’t do you any harm to print it out super-big, at least for your proof-of-concept. It’ll also allow you to figure out just how small you can reasonably expect a printer to print out your switch. Once you’ve done that and worked out the wrinkles, you can scale it down. Secondly, the designs themselves are a tad screwy. By which I mean that they seem to be constructed from several solid shapes that have been placed together and overlapping. This doesn’t mean that they’re actually parts of one and the same shape. They need to be added together. I believe, among 3D artists and designers, it’s known as a “Boolean” and in this case a Boolean AND or “+”. You’ll see that, in each shot, there’s a red exclamation mark. That means Netfabb doesn’t like it. I could attempt to repair the designs in Netfabb but I’m not sure quite what these designs look like in your head. Or on your screen, for that matter.

Hope this helps. Give me a shout if you need something printed.

Cheers!

AndyL

Pot8oSh3D

https://www.3dhubs.com/london/hubs/andy

Oh! About the sizing again:

2.25mm is 0.225cm. It’ll always round UP, so that things below 1mm won’t disappear altogether, so it’s rounded it up to 0.3cm. Your design in is mm and you’ve imported it in cm. As I say, I suggest you stick to mm and start with something around 100mm diameter to make things manageable for yourself.

Cheers!

A

Telecaster, (im not 100% on them) but most ive seen have 2 Pickups, Ive got a 5Way Switch that will let you pick
Neck, Neck Bridge, Bridge, Neck (Bridge Phased) and Neck to Bridge (Linked together to make a Humbuckle effect)
<sadly this switch can only be made by Printing, am working on a way to get a normal S-Type 5Way Switch to convert it in to a 2 Pickup Switch as above>
---------------------
the SHELL is spose to be 2.8cm (28mm) in Second life <3D Chat room were you can build HOMES and Objects, also with every thing online has a X-Rated part to it> this thing is the size of myself (Being a Human Rabbit)
+++++++
The Design is spose to be Round,bit upset about that, think thats Second life. Scale is very hard for me as Second Life, the size in Second Life of the Shell is 2.8!! (whatever their units are)
+++++++
They shouldnt over lap, so ill have to work in each bit, they should be touching. I think its done by 5-6 Discs each level moves the connection to were they need to be, till you get to the 5th/6th level that needs the wires to be attached to it.
The Shell is just to inclose it, but also dose the Stages of the switch (its 8 positions) switches tend to have a ball with a small spring inside the ARM (The ARM, put a hole in the side just big enough for a ball, and put a spring behind it to push it outwards, as it clicks around the stages the spring makes sure the ball dosnt stop it but just enought to stop at stages)
++++++
Boolean, invented in Lincoln by a Irish Man i think. Neck=N Middle=M Bridge=B
000 = 0 (1. (NOT) N . (NOT) M . (NOT) B
001 = 1 (2. N . (NOT) M . (NOT) B
010 = 2 (3.(NOT) N . M . (NOT) B
011 = 3 (4. N . M . (NOT) B
100 = 4 (5. (NOT) N . (NOT) M . B
101 = 5 (6. N . (NOT) M . B
110 = 6 (7. (NOT) N . M . B
111 = 7 (8. N . M . B
i was top of my class for Digitial Electronics. ill try and get screen shot of each of the cores Left to Right. Black=Conductive White=NON

:frowning: can see the Rings are not RINGS in this … i wounder if i up my graphics they might come out better, i normally can see objects smootehr

It is possible to do the Conductive parts all by Maths i think (more me saying what needs to be done)
RINGHI.obj (318 KB)
RingLO.obj (186 KB)

so im tryin to figure out ways to gettting this object out
The selected file Object.dae cannot be uploaded. Only files with the following extensions are allowed: stl, obj, jpg, jpeg, png, gif, vrml, wrl, pdf, dwg, dxf.

ive got a Test of a DISC Object someone sent to me if it will work,if so its just few $$ bit of software but i cant save upload here … ones a DAE fileand the other is STL… whooo got the Stl one…
Object.stl (3.21 KB)
Disc3OBJ.obj (155 KB)

Tried so many things, im just going to have to try and find a WINDOWS PC and get some Software for that…

D=62mm H=22mm+10mm=32mm

Ring1
D=60.0, Ring is 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (045-090, 135-180, 225-270, 315-360 Conductive) (000-045, 090-135, 180-225, 270-315 Non Conductive)

D=46.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (090-180, 270-360 Conductive) (000-090, 180-270 Non Conductive)
D=33.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (180-360 Conductive) (000-180 Non Conductive)

D=19.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Conductive)

D=48.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=35.0, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=21.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
---------------
Ring2
D=60.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Conductive)
D=46.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Conductive)
D=33.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Conductive)
D=19.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Conductive)
D=48.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=35.0, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=21.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
-----------

Ring3
D=60.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (045-090 Conductive)
D=46.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (135-180 Conductive)
D=33.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (225-270 Conductive)
D=19.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (315-360 Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (090-045 Non Conductive)
D=46.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (180-135 Non Conductive)
D=33.0, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (270-225 Non Conductive)
D=19.5, Ring 5.75 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-315 Non Conductive)
D=48.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=35.0, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
D=21.5, Ring 1 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-360 Non Conductive)
-------
Ring4
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (045-090 Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (135-180 Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (225-270 Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (315-360 Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (090-045 Non Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (180-135 Non Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (270-225 Non Conductive)
D=60.0, Ring 26 Thick and 2mm tall, (000-315 Non Conductive)

Well thats the 4 rings that is the main body. Just the Case and the Connector