3D Printed Parts
The communicator is split into 12 different pieces. The two case parts snap fit together without any screws. The top case is printed in two colors by switching filament colors during the print. We paused the print at a height of 7.25mm, and then swapped colors to achive the dual color case.
The speaker grill and buttons snap fit into the slot holes. The mic grill is attached to the button cover with a piece of a tape.
The case cover is held in place using a piece of filament to create the hinge.
Buttons are mounted underneath the top case with the button mounting plate.
The button cover was milled out of aluminium using a CNC, but you can easy print it in gray PLA material.
Slicer Settings
To slice the parts, we used Simplify3D. We recommend using the settings below or use them as reference. We 3D printed these parts on a Ultimaker 2+, Flashforge Creator Pro and the Othermill CNC. If you have Simplify3D, you can download our profiles below.
Customize The Design
The parts where designed in Autodesk Fusion 360. The design is public and available to download in different formats. If you'd like to use a different CAD software package, you are free to import the files and remix them.
Filament Materials
We recommend using PLA material to reduce wraping while 3D printing. The parts can be printed in different types of filament, such as ABS, PET or Nylon.
The push buttons are printed in Translucent PLA to allow the LEDs to show through.
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ST-top-body.stl ST-btm-body.stl ST-cover.stl ST-speaker.stl ST-mic.stl ST-btn-answer.stl (black buttons) ST-btn-LED.stl (green and blue buttons) ST-btn-call.stl (red button) ST-btn-holder.stl ST-btn-panel.stl |
230c extruder
The top body requires supports underneath.
Lay the button holder on it's side and add supports underneath the standoffs.
The Button panel can be milled out of aluminuim or printed in gray filament. |
The top body takes about 3 hours to print.
The bottom body takes around 4 hours to print.
All of the other parts take less then 30 mins to print. |
Tolerances
The slots for the speaker, motor, buttons and slide switch may have tight tolerances. Test the tolerances by inserting all of components into each slot. If parts don't fit into the slots, you may need to use a craft knife or filing tool to loosen the area.
Generating Supports
The top body case will need supports underneath the entire part of the case. We can optimze the print by changing the default support pillar resolution to 8.00mm. Generate the supports and then create additional pillars beneath all of the standoffs untill it looks like the picture above.
Cover Supports
Lay the cover flat like shown and then generate supports to hold up the hinges like in the picture above.
Minimize warping
The buttons are small and can easily warp if the hot end prints in the same area for too long. We recommend printing two buttons at the same time with the fan speed set to 100% to eliminate any deformation.
Setting up dual colors
Print in two colors by pausing the print at a height of 7.25mm and swap the colors from gray to black.
You can also do this inside of Simplify 3D by setting up two processes.
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