You may or my not know, but I am designing a security box for use at the beach, which would be secured to parasols that are already in the location.
This meant I had to design a way that the security box could fit round various sizes of parasol pole, whilst also providing a smooth sliding action up and down the pole.
After a few days designing and a few conversation with others I decided on a way to solve both solutions with a single part.
I designed a retractable bearing system which will take pole sizes from 22mm up to 33mm.
Now that may be fairly boring to read about, but I will now get to the interesting part! Yey! :)
Due to the parts being so small I had to make a decision on how to make the bearings using the facilities available to me.
As the parts were so small I was given the go ahead to use the 3D printer that the university has! Joy! I think I am the first person to use it in at least four years (all the time I've been at uni)!
So here are some pictures I took to document the process. :)
Enjoy!
It springs to life! The glow makes it feel even more 'Sci-fi' than it already is!
Straight off the printer! The plastic covered is support material, which has a smell reminiscent of marzipan.
Cleaning the support material off with specialist tools.
With all the support material removed and a light sanding :)
The spring allows the bearing housing to retract and expand, accommodating different sizes of poles.
The two retractable bearings finished! Ready to be sprayed and combined with the final model (when its made)!
p.s. I like exclamation marks, incase you couldn't tell.
