3d printing applied to cruisers

[Spot]

My last printing job was yesterday making an aux headlight switch for the old motorbike until I figure out the issue with the current wiring harness (several connectors and switches and wires to diagnose). It took 3 prints to get it right: 1st print failed due to a loose belt on one axis, nothing was printing round or to size. Second print was 100% accurate except that I measured the switch incorrectly and the case was too small. 3rd one is zip-tied to the bike. CAD was done with Fusion360. The history function in Fusion360 allowed me to correct the switch size (2 of 3 dimensions) without losing the whole design. Filament is PLA+, eventually I would also like to try PETG.

[nepal]

The french "cruisersforum" H&O started to create an online databas with printable files of marine parts.
https://www.hisse-et-oh.com/sailing/annuaire-de-pieces-imprimees-3d

[Allied39]

Originally Posted by nepal

The french "cruisersforum" H&O started to create an online databas with printable files of marine parts.
https://www.hisse-et-oh.com/sailing/...s-imprimees-3d

That would be helpfull......but it's in french. What were they thinking?

In the youtube video he made bases for his granny bars, must be a fairly easy design compared to the solar panel mounts.

[goboatingnow]

I’m currently designing two parts

A 1” rail mount system to secure my boot hook and a 1” contoured mount to allow me to mount led lights to the underside of my solar arch.

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by Allied39

That would be helpfull......but it's in french. What were they thinking?



In the youtube video he made bases for his granny bars, must be a fairly easy design compared to the solar panel mounts.

They are just listing out items that can be gathered from thingiverse.

Go there and search cam cleat or vhs radio mount.

[Allied39]

Ok, so there seem to be some folks interested in this. I will throw some stuff on this thread which may be of interest. If the trolls kick in I'm out, no patience for some twit explaining my boat will tip over because of blerk blerk blerk.

So I recently installed a new autopilot, a CPT. The head being adversely effected by magnetism I knocked up a stainless bracket to offset it to where I thought might be where I want it.

Eron from CPT (awsome) pointed out that the tacked rod on the bolt on my bracket may be of concern.

See pic.

So I went for a sail this morning and whilst sailing decided to knock up a different setup for that bolt.

I am printing now a fitting to capture a bolt head and be tension able by hand.

Will show in nest post.

[Allied39]

Step one was design what I want. That I did on Shaper 3D program. Took 5 minutes.Thats the pic with one surface blue. That creates whats called a STL which is then emailed from my tablet to the computer and into the Ultimaker program.

There some adjustments are made, wall thickness, material type and extrusion head size. This program then "slices" it so that the printer understands whats what.

Then the stl is put onto usb ( can be wi fi) so that the printer has said info.

Load the printer with correct head and material. In this case I am doing a test print in white PLA . PLA being super basic lowest grade plastic great for test prints.

Hit print. 39 minutes later we have prototype one. Will show in 5 mins when done.

[Allied39]

So thats it. So prototype one is tight on the head. No good. Reprint slightly larger and when thats right I will knock one up in PETG.

I have kept this pretty basic. No, I am no expert and still learning. obviously.

Hope this is interesting to some folks, perhaps a nice change from the many non related to sailing pontificating threads.

[Spot]

Very nice Allied39!

Of all of the CAD-CAM-CNC stuff I have done at work and at home, the 3D filament printer has been the best 'bang for buck' in terms of ease of setup and use. Once you start fixing things with homemade parts it will whet your appetite for more.

[PNWSalmon]

Originally Posted by Dogscout

There are lots of Lewmar plastic bits on my boat that are falling apart thanks to the sun. Having someone with. 3D printer to make new ones would be wonderful. Sadly I am beyond trying it myself

Interesting Lewmar provides CAD drawings of some of their parts right on their site! I’ve been able to download that, open it in Fusion 360, turn the model into a Mesh, and then slice it and print it. The end stops on my Genoa track are ABS printed lewmar designs. Absolutely amazing.

[Allied39]

OK, all done bar the shouting.
The white is my final prototype with the bolt fitted. The black is the final product printed in PETG.

Likely this fitting will be aboard in place tomorrow, thinking a sunday morning sail may be in order.

Hope this process was informative to folks who may not have seen it done.

[alaskanviking]

For a boat there is an insane amount of work a 3d printer can do. Several plastic types are useful. PLA for prototyping, ABS and Nylon are standard boat plastics already. PetG is useful for thousands of uses, carbon or glass fiber reinforced plastics are good for high strength stuff, you can even get metal filiments that have to be sintered in an oven or kiln later. The soft rubbery filiment is good for custom gaskets.

Anything plastic on the boat or on the engine can be recreated if you get good at the software. Think of all those plastic clips you have laying around somewhere because you buy a pack but only need a few. Custom parts to fit your boat, spacers to match a curve like on the mast, hard to find engine parts.

Combined with fiberglass and epoxy you have even more. Make a shaped plug that fits a curve or complicated space and fiberglass over. Coat a part in fiberglass to help strengthen it. I believe you can use the Lost PLA technique as an interior plug. PETG apparently makes an excellent mold for epoxy and fiberglass.

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by Allied39

Ok, so there seem to be some folks interested in this. I will throw some stuff on this thread which may be of interest. If the trolls kick in I'm out, no patience for some twit explaining my boat will tip over because of blerk blerk blerk.

There will be some people who push back on this but it’s the furniture of self reliance.

[SeaStory]

I had a friend who was working on printing an adjustable wrench. I thought a plastic one would be great for propane fittings, as the SS beats up the bronze over the years. DH has since pointed out that there is no need for that to be adjustable, just needs to be the size we need for switching out the tanks.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by dfelsent

Looks great!

How does the strength of that printed part compare to an injection molded part?

You can significantly improve the strength and heat resistance of 3D printed parts by adjusting printing parameters. Specifically wall thickness and fill density.