1 Topic by cmetzel

  • cmetzel
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Topic: License plate holder (6 pcs)

My wife's twin brothers graduated boot camp and are going through basic training to be US Marines.  I wanted to make her personalized license plate holder with their names on it, but with the size limit I had to split it into 6 pieces, printed 3 at a time on the bed.  The raised letters will be painted white, and the USMC will be white outline with red inside.  I'll post some pictures when it's done. 

My question is about joining.  I modeled in small hidden dovetails on the underside for alignment, but I will need to glue them together and I'm wondering about the method for acetone gluing so I can get this right on the first shot.  Does anyone have a written method or better yet video demonstration about ABS glue.  Does it absorb some of the material away so that my fit would be affected?


http://s9.postimage.org/60gub5pyn/plates_sm.jpg

2 Reply by jooshs

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

I usually use a very fine coat of abs glue on one side of the joint and then pour a very small amount of acetone on the other side of the joint. If there is any gap, the glue helps to fill in the gap and acetone lets it flow around on the joint. Careful not to let it spill out of the joint cause it can deform the plastic where it does. Taping the external parts off helps avoid this. Really the best method for glueing is in the vapor bath, but I'm assuming you don't have a mega sized cooker that will fit an entire license plate.

The plate looks awesome by the way!

3 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

I don't have a mega cooker, and I was hoping it was a simpler stepped process than that.  Plus I think I'd have a hard time getting everything together in one shot.  Really makes me wish I had the SD3 and this would only be 2 pieces. 

I think I'm going to cut up the model and print out some of the joints to practice with.  This was 5 hours of printing that I don't want to go through again.  Lots of skeinforge supports so I could keep the top surface smooth. 

Hopefully it turns out as good as I pictured it in my head.

4 Reply by jooshs (edited by jooshs 2013-01-21 18:29:21)

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

How good are your joints?  If they are very well fitting, you could probably get away with only acetone inside the joints. The reason I say tape it off, is you'd hate to ruin the big long print. The problem with a license plate holder is that it is going to see such extremes in temperatures and vibrations, that ideally it would be fused into one part which takes a large amount of acetone. If the joint wants to break at all, it will.  If it were me, I'd do it piece by piece instead of altogether, but curious how other people do it.

5 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

They're decent but they're not tight by any means.  They will hold the parts from pulling apart but not from shearing apart.  I was considering adding something to the outsides once it's together to reinforce like a thin strip that I could acetone on there so it can't be seen as obviously.

6 Reply by ronsii

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

cmetzel wrote:

They're decent but they're not tight by any means.  They will hold the parts from pulling apart but not from shearing apart.  I was considering adding something to the outsides once it's together to reinforce like a thin strip that I could acetone on there so it can't be seen as obviously.

On that thought... how about a two layer design(12 pcs.) that goes like a running course of brickwork??? maybe with locating pins/holes to keep everything aligned

7 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

ronsii wrote:

On that thought... how about a two layer design(12 pcs.) that goes like a running course of brickwork??? maybe with locating pins/holes to keep everything aligned

I think that would cross the threshhold into just finding somewhere to buy one on the internet for $30. 

This was a bright idea on Saturday night and after stinking up the house on Sunday for 5 hours it is sounding less and less like a good idea. 

I should be able to make it work, I just have to test out some acetone joining methods before I go to town on the final pieces.  If nothing else I could put some small button head screws in it and you wouldn't see them unless you knew they were there.

8 Reply by ronsii

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

Yeah, I know what you mean.. sometimes I get a project going and just to make it work I will sink a couple of days and countless hours into it, but it would be a one-of-a-kind so I usually justify it that way wink Usually when I glue ABS things together as long as I clamp them good they bond very well I have also experimented with mixing in other chemicals for bonding abs to pvc and other plastics about 10 percent MEK worked pretty well for mixing different plastics.

9 Reply by jooshs (edited by jooshs 2013-01-21 21:53:27)

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

If the dovetail joints are underneath the face and won't be visible, just slap some abs glue in there, put it on a piece of paper, put a book on it and wait overnight.  Then scrape off the excess, sand the back, and wipe it with a little acetone.  The outer perimeter should be what you wanna keep nice looking.  It is good practice getting these joints to work right anyways for when your'e doing something that requires a good joint.  Did you do this in SW?  Or can you share the .stls to show the joints? 

My Xmas reconstructme busts and candle holder was supposed to take one day and it ended up taking 12 hours of scanning, 40 hours of printing, 3 printer rebuilds, and now my bedroom is filled with creepy looking miniature family members from all of the test pieces.  My girlfriend loves seeing all of us staring at us while we try to go to sleep.

10 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: License plate holder (6 pcs)

I did do it in Solidworks and I can share the files and some pictures.  I designed it so I could change the name in one of the sketches to Mother / Father / etc but after what I've been through this is going to likely be a one off.

I don't have the files with me so I'll post something tonight or tomorrow night.