PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

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HartmutG
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Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:13 am

PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by HartmutG »

Hello,
just wanted to share my success of a 3D printed piece, designed with FreeCAD (0.16). It is a support intended to hold a PCB, in order to solder perfectly aligned LEDs and photo diodes, according to individuell angles in space that are very hard to express with traditional 2D construction.
The material is PA2200 in SLS process.
regards, HG
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easyw-fc
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Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by easyw-fc »

very nice!

which EDA tool have you used to make the pcb? have you converted your pcb in 3d model to make the model of the support?
Maurice
HartmutG
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Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:13 am

Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by HartmutG »

I used Eagle Ver.4.16 (which does not have native 3D support). The later versions have 3D support but I dont see much sense in 3D, since it takes alot of work to define the parts in the libraries, whereas with regular 2D, you only need to grap the standard 2D landing pattern of the components. IMHO: 3D for regular PCBs is just huge work for little eyecandy and almost no benefit.

For the support I just took the dimensions manually from the sketch. I could have taken an DXF of the shape exported by Eagle and imported that, still too much work and additionally you also have to take the tolerances you have to add into consideration anyway.

The complete housing made out of Alumide for the PCB with LEDs & photo diodes comes next week, so stay tuned ;)
triplus
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Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by triplus »

I have a feeling the final product will look really good.
HartmutG
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Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:13 am

Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by HartmutG »

thanks, I hope it will work as well. It is a high speed light barrier array, in order to detect speed, shape and position of by passing articles. I designed it from scratch. Maybe somebody will like it.
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r-frank
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Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by r-frank »

Hello Hartmut.

Which 3D printing services did you use to place your order ?

Roland
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Native german speaker - so apologies for my english, no offense intended :)
HartmutG
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:13 am

Re: PCB soldering support (my first FreeCAD 3D print)

Post by HartmutG »

Hello Roland,
I used PCB-Pool/BetaLayout Service. They are not the ultimate cheapest you can find on the market, but I had good experiences with them (over 20yrs of PCB orders). And as you can see, I wanted the part to be done without experiments.
As an example, above support has a nominal width of 37mm, result 37,06mm. Each pocket has an inner width of nominal 5,3mm, result: most are exaktly that size, worst 5,23mm. So we are getting to the limits of my calipers ;)
regards, HG
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