Not So Crazy After All

I finished the OpenSCAD design for the push rods last week, and ended up adding "rocket fins" to provide stability during the printing process.

I sent the models over to my buddy Blitzjon, and he printed them in transparent eSUN PETG over the long Thanksgiving weekend.  They came out beautiful. The ends are printed at high temp and extremely low speed, so they came out very glassy and transparent.

He used random start points so there wouldn't be a line up one side from the printing process.  This left a cool sparkly star pattern on the final prints.

The center of the model is solid, so that it could be printed in spiral mode. (a single shell around the outside.)  It was printed at a little higher speed but still looks really good.  He used a larger nozzle, 0.6mm I think, to print them in a reasonable amount of time.  

These were printed one at a time in the center of the build platform, because they take up the maximum build height of the RostockMaxV2, which tapers off toward the edges. 

These are incredibly light weight and rigid.  The 'responsiveness' when you hold one end each each hand is almost scary.  You move one end slightly, and the other end moves with it instantaneously.  

They weigh in at 42 grams each, hardware included.  Couldn't ask for a more perfect number.  I can't wait to see how they perform. 

I spent several hours installing the hardware.  I could have made a bigger opening to insert the screws and that would have made it easier, but i didn't want to compromise strength any more than I had too.

Since the design is OpenSCAD, it can easily be customized to different lengths.  I was originally going to go with 390mm (according to the 80% rule), but the RostockMaxV2 only goes up to 376mm, so I made them 370mm long.  Once the printer is finished I intend to eventually print more of them and try out some different sizes and shapes. 

I'll be publishing all the models and OpenSCAD source files for the printer once its complete.