Embedded objects in Printed 'things'

Brent Dowell

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So, I've been experimenting with making a little pick holder for guitar picks.

I liked the design, but it was a little light, and the picks came out kind of easy. So I added some little flexible friction tabs inside each pick holder, and I also created a hidden pocket to hold a rare earth magnet.

I inserted some gcode into the print to pause the print at the start of a particular layer and pull the extruder away.

At that point I stuck the magnet in the pocket, then told it to resume printing. Worked like a charm.

In the pictures, I've hidden the outside skin in the sketchup picture so you can see the insides of the pickholder. You can see the friction tab and the magnet pocket
pickholdersketchup.jpg

In the Simplify 3d preview, you can see the pocket. I scrolled through the layers till I could see what the last open layer for the pocket was, so I could enter that into the post processing script area in S3d.
pickholderpreview.png

Once I found out what that last layer was, I was able to have the post processing terminal command do a search and replace in the gcode to add a pause command and to move the extruder head out of the way. At the next layer, the extruder will pickup exactly where it should.

pickholders3dpostprocessinggcodescript.png

Here's the final object hanging upside down with the picks securely held by the friction tabs.
pickholder_hidden magnet.jpg
 
Looks very cool. I like the addition of the friction tabs. :thumb: For the next one, I'd suggest using two magnets. That'll reduce the likelihood of the box part rotating as you pull a pick out. (Particularly if it's mounted to a mic stand or something other than a flat tabletop.)
 
Wow man thats so cool. Thanks for showing how u inserted the magnet. That means one could do similar for machined inserts.
Mind just boggles at what this little printer can do.

No more duct tape and cardboard lol.
 
Looks very cool. I like the addition of the friction tabs. :thumb: For the next one, I'd suggest using two magnets. That'll reduce the likelihood of the box part rotating as you pull a pick out. (Particularly if it's mounted to a mic stand or something other than a flat tabletop.)

Great idea Vaughn I've got a bunch of slightly smaller magnets that would work perfect in that configuration.

So, The way that S3D works is that it adds a comment line to the gcode file at every layer change.

Something like:
; layer 20, z = 3.9

So, you can specify a command like this:
{REPLACE "\n; layer 20, Z = " "\n; layer 20\nG1 X190.000000 Y5.000000\nM25\nG1 X190.000000 Y5.000000\n; layer 20, Z = "}

Which basically does a search and replace on that and adds some code to move the extruder head, pause the printing. I'm not sure why it repeats the move command, but hey, that's what I found on the internet. I might experiment with it some more to see if that's needed. But it's simple enough.

I could see doing this to also do some filament changes, but there might be better ways to do that. I haven't really researched the filament change process yet.
 
Based on Vaughns suggestion, I've updated the pick holder to have 2 slightly smaller rare earth magnets.

The first one of these I printed, I printed in this orientation, which did not allow the friction tabs to render quite correctly. basically, it was trying to print the tabs starting in mid air, since the tabs angle down.

The next one I printed, I printed upside down, but there was not quite enough coverage over the magnet when the printer printed the last layer. That was only .2mm thick. Both of those were the single magnet variety.

This one I'm printing right now with 2 layers covering the magnets, upside down.

I think this should be just the ticket.
pickholdersketchup2mags.jpg
 

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Excuse me being the village idiot but since i am not musically inclined i have no idea what is and is not available in the guitar business.

So are pick holders out there that one can buy?

Because the one thing about this 3D printing ideas is my entrepreneurial nature is seeing new products left right and center and i am wondering are there guitar pickholders with magnets in them around in the market.
Adding the magnet makes it a new product.

I realize that was not your intention but hey sometimes simple things make big coin.
 
I've not seen anything like this, exactly, but there are pick holders that mount to mic stands, not like this. This has the advantage of being easily customized though.

vmcpickholder.PNG
 
I've not seen anything like this, exactly, but there are pick holders that mount to mic stands, not like this. This has the advantage of being easily customized though.

View attachment 98182

:thumb:

There are several styles of pick holders on the market. Some are intended to mount with double-sided tape to the guitar itself, and others mount onto a microphone stand. But like Brent, I've not seen anything quite like the ones he's making. Not sure it'd be a real income generator, since the plastic ones I've seen are mass produced (injection molded) and sell for just a few bucks. The packaging probably cost as much as the plastic parts. All the ones I've seen are made by established guitar accessory companies (like Jim Dunlop), who already have well-established distribution chains to sell a multitude of accessories. It'd be hard to compete with the big guys unless you had something with a truly unique function. Although Brent's design is indeed original, the function really isn't anything new. (The personalization aspect is very cool though, and might generate a few sales.)
 
Oh mon ami Vaughn, i have never let established players dampen my entrepreneurial spirit to date thats what a free market is all about no?

For sure one can only consider these items to be viable after proper tooling and yeah one needs distribution to access a market.

But i will NEVER be put off by an encumbent player in the market. That is surrender before a fight or deal.
Many encumbents have become complacent and besides that they always need new ideas and products to reinvigorate existing sales.
I have also observed how often they take a product to a point but do not complete the cycle properly.

And lets not forget we now have free access to a global market via web sales and web promotion if one makes use of all the web promotional tools to reach niche markets.
In my opinion what it simply takes is desire, drive and determination add will.

Yes for every success there may be 100 failures but that is not something new to entrepreneurs.

I think these 3D printers can allow one to evolve an idea into greater completion and incorporate feedback prior to taking on tooling etc or approaching an encumbent with a proposition of making ones new design.

Many years ago before 3D printers i made use of stereo lithography to have some newly designed enclosures for an access control system grown to be able to launch a new product at an international exhibition and gauge industry response to a new twist on an old dog and it proved to be most worthwhile and saved a ton of time and cost in final tooling. And i was up against some of the biggest encumbents in the world.

I just think anyone with these devices and design/creative ideas should consider their options before publicity such that they don't try closing the door to the barn after the horse has bolted.

None of that has changed except that we can do the work on our desks at home for few hundred dollars where i paid many thousands of dollars and two weeks to have these items i had done grown in USA and shipped to me in SA back in the day.

Magnets could also be glued into a cavity or ultrasonically inserted after molding if something of this kind was to be produced given injection molding tools being metal would not facilitate in mold molding like is done with some non magnetic inserts.
 
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