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I can see how it could be great for some prints.... I just tried it on one and it added 40 mins, but then again I am printing it at 0.3mm


0.2mm layers on this here adapter. 7h15m in at 94% done. The recessed lettering looks good! Done by Modify Text in Express Tools. Make each letter a polyline, extruded to the required height etc.

20200627_234957.jpg

 
nice...... looks like you have that dialled in pretty well


It's not bad. In the cold light of day this morning, 

20200628_004005.jpg

We printed a 4 piece Makita battery to Ferrex tool, downloaded off of I think Tinkercad previously. It was OK but had a push button mechanism and needed a spring to release it from the Ferrex tool. It was also in two main pieces that needed gluing/screwing together. This then is my redesign from scratch all measured up with the Vernier. 1 main piece, slimline and the catch to hold it on the Ferrex tool is just a drop in piece that gets held in by a combination of friction and the Makita battery being fitted. Always a chance of course it could drop out and get lost. Tbh a loose fit catch with a bit of duct tape over it would serve fine. I have no Ferrex batteries so it never really needs to come off.



The bug with this one is still the ragged ends where it fits to the Ferrex tool. These were supported ends and after removing the supports:



Yes this will be hidden but it's an annoying pita that lets down an otherwise fairly good print.

As I say it gets hidden. Shown here on a 20V Ferrex grinder bought from Aldi's bargain bin. Pity the bloody thing was duff!



Onto the 10mm2 copper batter tabs today. To get + & - swapped over I've put in channels for the busbars. Might make them a bit wider/deeper so I can put some red/black heat shrink over them. (None of this new fangled blue/brown thank you! 😂 )



The busbar will poke thru the other side, turn through 90o, then get formed to make "sprung" battery connectors to engage with the blades in the base of the Ferrex tool. Where it turns through 90o I might make a soldered (rivetted?) joint to save cutting a complicated and potentially awkward L shape from the sheet. I even considered 10mm2  cable instead of a busbar arrangement. I wonder if I could just solder the joint in the picture below? 



Got a couple of sheets of 1mm thick copper here. I could do with some proper (expensive) jewellers scissors as my aviation snips are a bit too aggressive. Tempted to try this picture frame "cropper". Mega expensive cast blades on it. I was using it to cut perfect mitres on pvc tile trim. Can't remember if my chippy mate gave or lent it to me! 😂 I rang him last night to ask but forgot why I'd rung him and got sidetracked...



 
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I am starting to envy you now OnOff, not because you have a 3D printer but because you seem to have so much time on your hands to play!!

my days are always filled by others needs (interpret as you like I’m not going to incriminate myself)!

 
I am starting to envy you now OnOff, not because you have a 3D printer but because you seem to have so much time on your hands to play!!

my days are always filled by others needs (interpret as you like I’m not going to incriminate myself)!


@ProDave will tell you I have many things I should be finishing rather than doing this! Easily bored me. 

 
Well...

The Makita to Ferrex adapter works...'ish.

First mistake was not tinning the copper blades prior to inserting them into the plastic. I put too much heat on one of the blades and it "sunk" into the print 🙁 Tbh that's just aesthetics. 

20200628_161108.jpg

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In use...the hedge trimmer works fine...for about 2 seconds then stops. Release & pull the front handle again and you get another 2 seconds. Makita (clone) battery is fine and charged. I tried 2 batteries, same issue. Its actually useable as in you cut on one pass, stop, then go again. I wonder why.....some intelligence in the tool or battery?

Oh, he’s restoring them I thought they were already a completed project!! doh!


Being the collector of all things tat that I am I'd have to unbury them first. Well, strictly just one is buried. The other is just surrounded by stuff. 

 
I spent 9 months driving a 2D CAD station doing mechanical stuff every day for a living!

The issue is the cost of the software, but I don’t think I am going to be able to hold off much longer before I have to look at a professional package.

There are a few open source 3D modelling packages out there which seem to be quite reliable and well thought out.

 
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i really need to learn how to use CAD... think im one step behind Deke (well, maybe not that bad, but im still fairly useless at it)


Did "technical drawing" at school. Well, had it beaten into me. 1st, 3rd angle, 30 & 45 deg oblique...vanishing point, orthographic blah, blah. Big one for *** packet sketches on site in 3D. It's fairly second nature. Then did 2 years C&G at night school on AutoCAD. 

3D AutoCAD is what I use. My lad uses Fusion 360. Both made by Autodesk but chalk and cheese afaic. Lad is also fluent in Solidworks, Blender etc.

 
Success! Needed to connect the "3rd wire" from the Makita battery to the Ferrex tool and it runs fine.

Need of course to remodel the adapter and reprint now!

Not all tools need the 3rd wire to run. 

Moral is test odd battery / tool combos with fly leads before designing & printing.

 
WELL WHO KNEW!!! 😀

A little something I was wondering about.....I got my lad to open two downloaded files for adapters, one to fit a Worx tool & the other an Einhell/Ozito battery. Plan is to design/print a one piece adapter for a lad on another forum. My boy opened them as .stl files in Fusion 360 just as they came down from the site. Now .stl files are just meshes and I think a pita to edit and change in Fusion 360. 

He then saved them in Fusion as .dwg files and sent them to me.

I opened them in TrueView 2018 and saved them in place as 2010 format .dwg files.

They open in AutoCAD 2010 and are fully EDITABLE! Faces extrude a treat etc.

Rare I find to get such a seamless conversion. I guess it helps all products are from Autodesk. The fact though I can get a solid from the mesh is pretty cool imo. The solid might work for editing in say Free CAD. 

 
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