Boats,,,,,,,,,, always something to work on,

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

Well-known member
As some of you may know, I hunt and do a lot of my fishing from my BBIII. It is a great boat for this and serves me well, except. Except my local rivers are shallow and strewn with boulders, hard gravel beds, sand and underwater snags. I'm just beating up my motors.
In an effort to reduce my draft as much as possible, I decided to install a static jack plate to raise the motor up a couple inches. This required that I remove the current "motor well backup guard". Without a waterline level shield, thrust from reversing the engine, will cause water to overflow into the cockpit. At any rate, the old splash guard had to go and a new one, cut and fitted in it's place.

1783804322409.jpeg

The jack plate was mounted and height set, after many sea trails to determine optimum height.
1783804521122.jpeg

Even tho the backwash guard is shown, it first required a template be developed, to fit the compound taper of the transom and the sidewalls.
1783804650237.jpeg

Then came the matter of dealing with the sonar cable. I needed a mouse hole in the plywood large enough to allow the cable end to pass thru.
1783804871273.jpeg

Then, I needed a grommet, dimensioned to fit against the 17 degree angle of the transom, while closing the mouse hole down to the size of the cable.
Perfect application to draw a custom grommet in my software, send the file to the printer and spit one out. Blind pilot holes in the upper half and thru holes in the lower half means no exposed screws on the top side.
1783805093091.jpeg


As installed;
1783805277189.jpeg
1783806315028.jpeg



You might also observe the shelf brackets temporarily holding the plywood. Yep those are NOT 90 degrees, so custom 78 degree for the sidewalls and 112 degree for the transom brackets. My 3D printer sure is getting a workout.
 
Last edited:
SJ Fairbank said:
I'll second that! My question is how strong the 3d printer material is? Is it rigid, or flexible? Is it cold (temperature) sensitive leading to brittle failure? I know nothing about it, but you and Eric have my attention.
Click to expand...
There is a very wide range of materials can be 3D printed. That said, a home hobby printer such as the one I have, is at the bottom end of the range. I can't give you a quantifiable answer of "strength". Everything I print is using PLA filament.
The "cord grommet", very little stress on it, I am fairly confident it will survive the elements, yet can not say with 100% certainty.
The "self brackets" are temporary as the plywood will eventually be encased in fiberglass/resin and fillet to the hull permantly.
The "light housings", I am hoping that the paint coating will provide enough UV protection that the PLA will withstand the exposure. I believe the PLA is of sufficient strength for the job at hand.
In all cases, if the PLA fails, I still have a good computer model (file) that can be used to print an identical item, in a higher quality material, using a higher class of 3D printer. To my benefit I have a son-in-law with a higher class printer. All I would need to do is email the file and possibly pay for some filament.
Entry level $200 to $500 plus consumables. Slow print speed, limited bed size, usually only good for PLA
Next step $500 to $1200 plus consumables. Faster print speeds, larger bed size, often enclosed to provide more controlled and higher print temperatures, thus allowing a greater choice of filaments (some stronger, some more flexible, different available properties)
 
Huntindave McCann said:
There is a very wide range of materials can be 3D printed. That said, a home hobby printer such as the one I have, is at the bottom end of the range. I can't give you a quantifiable answer of "strength". Everything I print is using PLA filament.
The "cord grommet", very little stress on it, I am fairly confident it will survive the elements, yet can not say with 100% certainty.
The "self brackets" are temporary as the plywood will eventually be encased in fiberglass/resin and fillet to the hull permantly.
The "light housings", I am hoping that the paint coating will provide enough UV protection that the PLA will withstand the exposure. I believe the PLA is of sufficient strength for the job at hand.
In all cases, if the PLA fails, I still have a good computer model (file) that can be used to print an identical item, in a higher quality material, using a higher class of 3D printer. To my benefit I have a son-in-law with a higher class printer. All I would need to do is email the file and possibly pay for some filament.
Entry level $200 to $500 plus consumables. Slow print speed, limited bed size, usually only good for PLA
Next step $500 to $1200 plus consumables. Faster print speeds, larger bed size, often enclosed to provide more controlled and higher print temperatures, thus allowing a greater choice of filaments (some stronger, some more flexible, different available properties)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. It's all very attractive to me. My brain is conjuring a bunch of parts and pieces I could use in many applications. More trouble to get into. ;)
 
SJ Fairbank said:
I'll second that! My question is how strong the 3d printer material is? Is it rigid, or flexible? Is it cold (temperature) sensitive leading to brittle failure? I know nothing about it, but you and Eric have my attention.
Click to expand...
In my experience, there are a lot of factors into how strong the print can be. It matters at what temperature the print bed is and the nozzle, it matters on how thick each layer is, if it's thick parts it matters on how hollow the infill is and how thick the walls are. I have found typically the weakness is in shear load applied along print layers. I combat this by printing higher percentage infill with alternating print path.

I had to do a repair at work and where my piece of metal was attaching to there was an odd angle on both sides of the part that would not allow any clamp to attach to without sliding off. There was a tiny lip on the corner of the angle so I 3d printed pieces that would lock into that lip and go over the repair to create a square space for the clamps to hold onto. I applied a lot of force but I did 100% infill so that it would be the strongest possible while making sure the print orientation wouldn't allow the layers to separate under pressure.

Not trying to hi-jack the thread just like the cool technology and application this tool allows us to do.

Like the use of the printer Dave, the mind of the limit on what can be created.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top