Woody's Workshop – Page 13 – Keeping the Grey Matter active

June 25, 2023June 25, 2023

Water Softener goes AWOL

Lesson to be learned – protect your overflow pipes

We’ve had a few weeks in France and were worried to hear from our UK house sitters that our TapWorks water softener’s sump had filled with water and was leaking salty water from the kitchen cabinet onto the floor.

My immediate instructions were to isolate the softener using the bypass valves and turn the supply off.

On arrival home I drained the sump and tried a regeneration routine. This revealed water leaking from the pressure vessel. This clearly was the source of the excess water in the sump. What was not obvious was why the sump had filled when there was an overflow pipe to an external drain.

The overflow pipe would have been far more effective without the nest of insect life that had chosen the pipe as their new home.

Moral to the story is to make sure all external overflow pipes have a gauze mesh protecting them from new residents.

That aside the pressure vessel was acting like a mini volcano slowly weeping out the balls of the softener medium. Given it was installed in 2008 it has given a good run for its money.

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June 7, 2023June 7, 2023

Creating a worm drive in Fusion 360

The hard way and the easy way

A colleague asked if I could model a worm drive in Fusion 360 such that the result could be used to 3D print the worm and the associated wheel.

My first attempt was to create the assembly from first principles. This was painful and took a number of versions before I got a process that I could repeat and appeared to work. I was not happy that the result correctly reflected the dynamic shape needed on the wheel teeth.

Somewhat appropriately I then went down an internet worm hole and discovered there is a scripting plug in for Fusion 360 that allows the creation of these components. Not only that but the author Shwivel has also created a number of similar script routines for other gear related constructions.

The routines are chargeable (USD20 each) but given the time I spent try to do it the hard way, this seemed like a good price for what looked like a better result.

The script once downloaded appears as an icon in the Fusion top menu bar under the Shwivel tab.

Once opened it needs various parameters entering and allows entry of centre holes in each component. Once you’ve entered the parameter the script goes off and crutches the result. This can take a few minutes so patience is needed. The Dimensions section gives you all the values you have entered and the resulting parameters created.

I had a weird initial experience whereby the script entry window kept giving me red error messages no matter what measurements I entered. This was resolved by doing a RESET in the software FILE menu.

Here is my resulting design for a 60 tooth wheel.

While the routine allows the bore hole dimensions to be entered, I have found it easier to keep these to a small reference diameter hole and then revert to normal extrusion routines once the two main component shapes have been created.

Unlike a normal model, once you have created a model you cannot ‘right click’ in the timeline to edit it. Instead you have to click once again on the Shwivel top menu item and this gives you the entry screen for editing.

All in all I have been impressed by the results achieved but as yet I have not run any 3D printed models.

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May 31, 2023May 31, 2023

French Model Steam Engine Gathering

5″ Gauge Activity at Montcuq

We were very lucky to be invited to this event near Cahors. A significant number of the engines were Polly designs and the owner of the track has had a long standing relationship with Polly Model Engineering.

The track has two loops and a very significant incline which tested not just the engines but also the drivers. One very encouraging aspect of the weekend was the number of young people, both male and female who were enjoying driving the track.

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May 24, 2023May 24, 2023

Editing irregular PCB shapes in FlatCam

How to create irregular outline cut paths and board cut outs

Following a request from a subscriber I have edited my FlatCam tutorial document to include a section on how to profile irregular board layouts and boards with cut out areas. The attached ZIP file contains the new version of the write up and a short video clip showing the board outline editing process.

flatcam and milling pcbs inc profiling Download

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May 21, 2023February 26, 2024

eSUN filament reel silica drying pod

A variation on a theme

After seeing various ideas for a filament reel desiccant holder, I decided the concept seemed like a good idea.

As mentioned in previous posts, I am now using open source filament in my Sindoh printer and my Qidi. The filament is fed from a ‘hot box’ via a 4mm OD/2mmID PTFE tube into the Sindoh or the Qidi. The ‘hot box’ is not continuously powered but is just switched on occasionally to provide background drying. By adding a desiccant holder fitted into the reel centre hole, the background moisture level can be better controlled between powered heating sessions.

I have settled on using eSUN PLA filament and I modelled my desiccant holder specifically to fit the eSUN reel size. The Fusion 360 model for the silica holder is designed using Fusion Parameters. For those familiar with this Fusion facility, you can use the FX functions to customise the size of the holder to suit other reel sizes.

This finished holder is shown below.

The holder has two parts, the cavity and the end cap. The end cap is screwed and held in place with a print modelled 11tpi BSP thread. Both parts are printed with the large gripping flange face down on the bed. Slicer generated internal support will be needed for the overhanging threaded flange at the top of the cavity. After printing, inspect the two threads and where needed clean off any flash PLA. My prints meshed without any aftercare.

Note that while I have put ventilation slots in the barrel sides, these are probably not so effective once the holder is mounted into the reel centre. This leaves the end holes as the dominant air path. To help the air circulation in the latest download I have added additional holes on the end flanges (not shown in image above).

The desiccant can either be left in its supplied pouches or can be poured directly into the core cavity. Note that if the silica crystals are tipped lose into the cavity, the model will initially act as a sieve with any broken pieces of crystal falling out of the holes. If you are using lose crystals, don’t overfill the cavity. This will allow the natural printing revolution of the reel to cause the crystals to tumble in the cavity. This provides a more even exposure to the air.

You can buy bulk quantities of silica crystals that change colour with moisture absorption content. When dry they appear to be clear or orange and change to green when moist.

UPDATE – Linked below is a ZIP file containing the Fusion 360 file for the desiccant holder and the screw on lid. James at Clough42 gave me some pointers on this. The updated file uses the Fusion parametric functions (Fx) so that the depth of the gel holder can be changed to suit the width of the filament reel. Just change the Barrel_Length value to match the width of the reel in use.

Also in the ZIP are the STL files for a 68mm width holder and associated lid This will suite the width of most 1kg filament reels.

silica-gel-holder-programmable-height-v1

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