Working on a custom electronics tray for the 3" Tube for Robotics

Build DIY ROVs
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I am currently making it possible to be all 3d printed, except for the stand-offs and screws needed, so if you have a 4" capsule and are downsizing to a 3" as we did, you can still use your parts. All the parts will be printed in Tough PLA, and the design is honeycomb-like since our ROV is Bee Themed. It’s supposed to be more aggressive since the frame itself is more passive. For tolerance, the main circlet that will be supporting the tray is using a .4mm tolerance. I haven’t yet tested it, but for something so large scale, I’m hoping that it will be semi press fit. Besides that, I’m just following the preset clearances on the 4" parts. Let me know what you think! Ill put out more updates, parts, and images soon!

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@capslck cool! Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

You might be interested in this post, for someone else’s approach :slight_smile:

A few things to consider:

  • PLA often has quite a low melting temperature, and a tendency to creep under strain, so be careful of bending/warping, particularly if you’re using it in a structure with thin walls, close to potentially quite warm electronics
  • it’s not clear from your picture if the ‘honeycomb-like’ structure is thin walls with hexagonal holes between them, or just a pattern applied to the surface. Either way, there will presumably need to be some tradeoff made between extra/bigger holes (which can reduce material use, improve ventilation, and simplify wiring passthroughs) and smaller, more precise holes (for screwing components to, although larger holes may facilitate using zip-ties)
  • It’s likely worth making use of the mounting holes on one of the flanges, to prevent the tray from sliding back and forth (you have included matching holes in your ‘main circlet’, so I’m assuming that’s already the plan)
  • a single mounting circlet may have issues with the plate bending/rocking and/or twisting, depending on its rigidity and fatigue-strength

Is that a tolerance between the circlet and the tray, or the circlet and the enclosure walls? Note that the diameters of the cast acrylic enclosure walls have quite a bit of variation (on the order of a few mm between enclosures), so you may need to measure for the specific enclosure you’re using, and if you’re planning to share the design it may be worth making it parametric, or avoiding tight diameter tolerance requirements :slight_smile: