
Who needs a case? The 3D Printed Mil-Plastic is here - lvturner
https://back7.co/home/back7co-mil-plastic
======
tedd-the-tiger
I absolutely hate it when a blog doesn't have a date or has incomplete dates.
When was this posted?

Someone else here posted a link to a related post
([https://back7.co/home/raspberry-pi-recovery-
kit](https://back7.co/home/raspberry-pi-recovery-kit)). A "related article"
has the title "Project Retrospective: Raspberry Pi Field Unit from 2015". No
idea which year this was posted either.

Too much whitespace and too much scrolling.

~~~
leoedin
I agree with you in general.

In this case, though, the article talks about "a few months over the
quarantine" and "including a 3 month break due to life and COVID impacts".
That makes it pretty easy to date!

~~~
mrunkel
But it won't in four years.

~~~
dubcanada
Are we going to get another COVID?

~~~
0xdeadb00f
Another outbreak is possible, possibly meaning more quarantine.

------
rsync
Does the author of this blog, anywhere, detail which 3d printer was used for
these parts ?

Unrelated:

Very happy and satisfied to see Macmaster-Carr store links for several of the
parts in the materials list. MC is _the best_.

EDIT:

In this post[1] the author mentions the Pruse MK3S[2] but I am not sure if
that is what is used for all of the projects on the site ...

[1] [https://back7.co/home/learning-to-scale-small-
manufacturing-...](https://back7.co/home/learning-to-scale-small-
manufacturing-with-enclosures-amp-big-blue-saw)

[2] [https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/51-original-
prusa-i3-mk3s](https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/51-original-prusa-i3-mk3s)

~~~
jbay808
McMaster Carr is pretty great if you're American.

For the rest of us, there's Misumi!

~~~
johnwalkr
They're both great! Mcmaster is the greatest website of all time. Sometimes
the premium is 200% above other sources, but nobody cares because they can
save so much time using Mcmaster. Misumi's configurable products that are
machined to order are also a gamechanger, particularly on the Japanese site
which has a lot wider variety. And they are hiring robotics engineers which
should give interesting results.

~~~
tonyarkles
To add to the “greatest website of all time” aspect, they provide STEP files
of a ton of those parts (maybe all of them?). When you’re drawing up a project
like the OP’s in CAD, you can import the STEP file of the parts from McMaster
and verify fit right there. If you’re using Fusion 360, there’s a button right
in the app to browse McMaster and download the model!

And... if you need a part with a particular shape but not necessarily the
strength of metal... shhhh... you can just 3D print it yourself from the STEP
file.

------
gorgoiler
_”This is part sculpture”_

Hear hear. Ten out of ten for functional and appealing aesthetics. Industrial
design is the best kind of design.

 _Exit, to go hug a Mellor traffic light_

------
ehnto
This is really excellent. I was recently introduced to ApolloX filament and
I'm looking forward to doing some parts for my engine bay.

Tangential, but I have a really hard time finding projects like this to print,
Thingiverse is really difficult to filter through the misc bits and bobs to
find cool projects.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to discover truly interesting
projects to 3D print?

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
As a tradesperson working in metal fabrication and driving a 4kW laser cutter
as my primary role at work where I have the ability to cut up to 20mm carbon
steels, 20mm stainless, and 8mm aluminium, and 10mm copper & copper alloys.
Our other workshop can cut much thicker carbon steels with CNC oxy and up to
about 50mm stainless with a CNC plasma cutter.

All these tools are pretty much just glorified files and coping saws.

Kinda need something you actually want to build in order for them to be of any
use. They tie in nicely to creativity in general.

My advice would be to pick up some other hobbies, wouldn't really matter what
it is you'll soon start seeing things you could replicate or do better with
customer design.

~~~
calebkaiser
This is really good advice for basically any creative endeavor. If you want to
learn, then by all means do tutorials and popular projects, but when you want
to get inspiration for new projects, there's nothing better in my experience
than having other hobbies and joining other communities.

------
lxe
What am I looking at? A 3D-Printed Raspberry Pi case?

~~~
sydd
I had the same problem with the article. The article gives me vibes like a
shady Indiegogo campaign:

\- Very professional looking photos, full with filters. Still hard to figure
out how it exactly looks. For example how big is it? 10cm? 20cm? The studio
setting with nothing else in the background makes it hard to guess.

\- strange-non existing buzzwords like "Mil-Plastic"

------
jonah
Fantastic aesthetic for all their projects. Mil-industrial-retro-future.

------
jay-anderson
Nice. It'd be fun to have a military connector:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Military_connector_specif...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Military_connector_specifications)

~~~
Rebelgecko
In case you didn't see the previous version of this:
[https://back7.co/home/raspberry-pi-recovery-
kit](https://back7.co/home/raspberry-pi-recovery-kit)

~~~
metaphor
The devil always lurks in the _details_.

1\. Choosing 5015 spec: as if this deprecated standard's threaded mating
interface isn't super annoying to handle, you'll likely only encounter select
insertion patterns of this circular interconnect spec on well-designed modern
systems for high power interfacing, whereas this toy uses it for...low voltage
GPIO.

2\. Choosing AlCd olive drab finish: likely for no other reason than it looks
"mil spec". Cd is a heavy metal useful as a sacrificial corrosion inhibitor
that allows the interconnect to satisfy a 500 hr salt spray performance
requirement...but Cd is toxic and can be absorbed through the skin via
contact. You won't be seeing much of this once preferred finish on new designs
these days.

3\. Choosing front side receptacle mount: makes disassembly and servicing more
difficult than it needs to be, especially given solder cup termination...made
even more difficult to access by a seemingly nonfunctional spacer plate.

4\. Interconnect spacing: clearly unfamiliar with 1472 human engineering
requirements...I'm liable to suspect the designer has never actually attempted
to mate both plugs simultaneously...may be in for a surprise, and if they
happen to clear, it'd be by a gnat's ass and a significant encumberance to do
so.

~~~
back7co
All good points. Reach out to me on social media and I’ll send you a few
stickers!

------
CapricornNoble
This is awesome! I prototyped a similar device for my (now-zombie) startup
targeted at the military market, but I only used regular ABS plastic to print
the case. This makes me want to revisit that project....

------
mtnGoat
I wonder if the PETG case is as strong as a pelican. They are well proven
pieces of equipment with good market, bring able to 3d print something of
equal strength is a game changer.

~~~
chewxy
PETG is slightly less strong than PLA - PETG has a bit of flex. I use PETG for
raspberry pi cases because they get quite hot. Though having said that, PETG
is fast becoming my favourite thing to print with.

~~~
bradly
Isn't PETG much more durable than than PLA? PETG is less strong in the sense
that is can flex, but it is much more impact resistant and less brittle than
PLA I thoguht. Also, in something like a case with screw holes, even slightly
too big screw will crack the case, while PETG will usually be okay. I could be
wrong–I'm pretty new to 3D printing.

~~~
chewxy
Ya. Strength usually refers to static tensile strength, of which PLA scores
pretty damn high.

There's a YouTube channel called CNC Kitchen which does regular testing of
filaments. He measures various kinds of strengths (tensile, compressive,
impact, young's modulus etc). I highly recommend it.

But when people say strength they usually mean static tensile strength.

------
TheSpiceIsLife
Forgive my ignorance, what is _mil-plastic_?

~~~
hoseja
In this case, olive color and ribs.

------
thinkloop
Sidebar: If you scroll down on Android the address bar disappears as expected
(which can cause lots of problems for height measurement and other effects but
that's another sidebar), however if you click on the hamburger menu and scroll
it doesn't, anyone know why?

------
numpad0
This is dope. Might make one for myself...

Wonder why separate each fins? Outer frame looks like it can be printed in one
go. To allow sanding after print?

~~~
maxden
They mentioned they didn't want any supports, so presumably it means single
fins?

------
sh1mmer
My understanding (not having used a new one) is that current RaspberryPis get
pretty hot.

I’m sure it’s not as hot as a printer head (~200c) but I’d worry it might be
enough on the inside of an enclosure made of lower-temp thermoplastic to cause
warping.

------
Animats
_" Yes, this is closer to a desk toy than a field computer."_

That's disappointing. The boating crowd can't use this.

It's not that hard to get watertight USB connectors.

~~~
krisoft
A person in the world makes a thing, shows you the thing, and even nice enough
to give you enough info so you can also make the thing if you want.

Turns out the thing is not useful for something you picked out of thin air and
that makes you feel disappointed? Where is this entitlement coming from? Why
would it need to be useful for the boating crowd? I know a person who builds
grandfather clocks. Absolutely useless on a boat. The cabinetry would warp in
no time. Does that too disappoint you?

Furthermore, the nice person who shared this design now, also shared
previously a real watertight design. Your boating crowd can still use that. It
wasn't removed or invalidated by this newer thing at all.

> "It's not that hard to get watertight USB connectors."

I really don't understand what you are saying. Are you saying that the author
should have used watertight USB connections because someone might read their
post later and that someone might have a boat?

Please tell me that I'm misunderstanding what you wrote.

