Saturn cartridge case 3d model

Well, it wasn't that bright on my side, first test ended up being a total loss. First of all, i used a paper tape as adhesive, and it seems it does have problems with bigger objects, as multiple websites told me just now. Second, i was using a low temperatures, 95/235, they're 110/270 in native printer for this ABS sort.
These reasons lead to corners peeling.
And third, i left it printing overnight with a small supply of filament, an it was over when i checked it at morning, so the cart was only partially printed.
I will try to use hairspray and higher temperatures later.

 

Hitomi, use raft/skirt to make the locking of the part stronger to the heated table. Also, cover the printer with a box or something like that. I'm building a cover from isopor, so the inside gets warm and the part warps less.

 

Oh, my printer got WAY better. Now it is time to print another cart

With this mod (a wrap-up made of isopor) I get around 45 degrees celsius inside the "box", so all parts print properly, without warp.

Still needs some adjusts, but this is the way to go

 

Now it seems to have worked. It isnt perfect yet. The lock tabs doesn't work, and the cartridge surface isn't perfect. But is a definitive step on the right direction. This cartridge can already be used with a board!

 

Any progress ? I'm really interested about this thread !

Also, it it possible to use transparent material ? (Sorry if it is a noob question)
Transparent shell would be a prefect match with skeleton Saturn And it would avoid the need to make holes in order to see LEDs blinking too.

 

Couldn't we have it printed at an SLS printing place like Shapeways or Sculpteo then make a mold and you can use various resins to cast it? Seems a home printer isn't 100% up to the task.

 

Raft was useless on a big on-paper print, i checked it before. I just got a lomond self-adhesive paper, works good on small parts, i will try with bigger ones soon.
By the way, i updated OpenSCAD models on github, they now can be flattened to simplify printing, just edit configuration file and re-render them.
And one more thing, can you give me the permission to use the photos from this thread for github description? (only the ones with the prints of course).

There is a transparent ABS in webshops, but i've never used it myself, and i can't tell how actually transparent the prints will be. I have doubts in their transparency actually, because even small airgaps between layers (we have a 0.1=0.2 mm thickness, so it's a hundred layers or so per cm) will effectively reduce transparency. Maybe someone else have the experience with a transparent filament?

That's definitely a way to go, but the model needs be tested and debugged first, and debugging is much easier and faster with a homemade or easily available printer(s).

 

What is the difference (in term of quality and price) between homemade shells and the shells ordered on 3D hubs/sculpteo/other ?
Does making a mold requires a big initial cost ?
I suppose that typical end user won't pay more than USD15-20 for a cartridge shell, so manufacturing cost should be taken in scope.


About transparent materials : half transparent as skeleton is enough I think.
And if it is even less transparent than skeleton, I just need to change LEDs for brighter ones on the cartridge.


I wish I had a 3D printer in order to test your 3D model !
But I lack money/space/time, and what's more important, permission from my wife in order to use one

 

I don't know the exact prices, but i don't expect them to be lower than homebrew printing. And any order processing would be definitely slower than just pushing "print" button. Still, this only makes difference in early prototyping, when multiple iterations are needed. After prototyping is done, evolving to a better process seems like a obvious move.

Yeah, wife permission could be a hard achievment sometimes

 

Answering all the messages in one:
- There is a kind of transparent (more translucid than transparent) filament. But it won't even get near a skeleton-like appearance. You can think in terms of "it will pass some light, but you won't see anything inside". Surely, it won't work. Maybe a good option would be resin-SLS-ed printing. Unfortunately I still don't have access to this (rare and expensive in Brazil) resin.

- Hitomi, forget paper. Most users here in Brazil are using glass + hair fixing spray. I'm doing wonders with that. You can also use solid paper glue. Does "pritt" glue rings a bell on you?

- You (and everyone) can use any photo I publish anywhere. Thanks if you do the credit, but I don't care a lot. If I can help in anything else, please contact me. I've been a bit short on time these days but I'm always avaiable to help.

- The quality on these 3D hubs MUST be better than my homemade setup, but YMMV. I'd recommend a test.

- 3D printers are cheap, but NOT easy to use as most people think. Maybe the "professional" ones are. I have a rigged-up Prusa I made myself and a commercial one from 3dmachine.com.br which I got as a gift (because I helped to develop the printer)

- I had the solution for wife permission: No wife

 

Hi there,

bought a Saturn cart dev from cafe-alpha a couple of months ago.



Made some tests the other day



but today I printed the case hitomi2500 gently shared. I own a commercial 3D printer, so I gave it a go. I have a lot of filament colors, but orange fluo was already installed so...

Printed in ABS, with a heated bed at 100 degrees Celcius and 1.75mm filament. Layer resolution is 0.2mm (highest machine resolution is 0.1mm but would took twice the time). Front case took 2 hours to complete.






Almost same time (2 more hours) for the back part.







As you may see below, those 3mm stolen in this PCB design made the left side to be loose. Also, side walls are too long and made the cartridge to not entirely rest flat, so I cut them too. Removed the central hole thing.



USB mini connector doesn't fit in designed hole. I had to cut like 2mm from the back side to make place for the USB connector.



Testing the resulting hole with my Microchip Pickit 3 red cable (cafe-alpha the cable you sent me is a micro USB instead of a mini USB).



List of problems with current design:

- Some design places show errors (didn't fix none of them but could see and fix them using MeshMixer software for example (it's free and very very good));
- Back part needs a lot of support material. Design should be changed to be 3D printed optimized and reduce printing time;
- Closing system totally failed. top clips broke very easily. System should be changed for 3D printing;
- Lip and Groove failed (bad design / tolerance?). They overlapped. Removed;
- Central hole removed. PCB don't have one;

Besides all those details, it's a great case design. I really enjoy it.

Machine time: 4 hours
Power consumed: about 800W
Material cost: approx. 60 grams (near 2 USD)

Maybe I should try printing in PLA instead, but I don't like PLA due to it's very low temperature tolerance.

Final note: Plastic finish could be improved A LOT by using acetone treatment. I have acetone but I didn't currently use it in this. I may attemp to do it and upload some more images.

 

SaturnAR, thanks for the feedback!
I will see what can be done to fix these problems.

 

Thank YOU for sharing this! I was about to design one from scratch and that would took me a lot of hours. I would love to help fixing those problems, but I'm not sure if I'll know how to deal with that software. I always used SolidWorks for all my 3D designs.

A video talking and showing some details:


Thanks!

 

What printer do you have? quality is pretty good it seems.

 

It's a Up! Mini: http://www.pp3dp.com/index.php?page...n=com_virtuemart&Itemid=90&vmcchk=1&Itemid=90

Damn good printer for the money.

 

Thank you for testing cartridge case

Of course, it's not impossible to design a PCB larger than 100 mm width, but it would make PCB manufacturing costs significantly higher, for example, price is doubled on Seeed Studio's PCB fusion service.
BTW, PCB is not loose when put in official memory cart case.

This is a problem in my cartridge, not the case : I wasn't aware of central PCB support when I designed this PCB revision (end of 2012), and unfortunately I placed an IC in this "forbidden area".
Maybe future PCB revision may require this central PCB support to be moved, because it becomes really annoying when trying to route something with a lot of ICs.

Actually, putting USB port on PCB left/right edge wasn't a good idea, because of the PCB 100 mm width limitation, making USB port hard to reach.
It would had been smarter to put USB port on PCB top side, because PCB can be resized up to the top of the case without changing PCB manufacturing costs.

Arg, sorry !
I test cartridges before shipping them, so I'm confident about them, but cables are sent "new, as-is", without testing.
I will do a discount for you next time you will want to order something from me

It's not a hole, it's a PCB support. Latest USB dev cart PCB revision and Wasca should support it.

 

It has been fun to do and I need one.

Oh, yes. I knew that. I work with PCB design, programming and electronics the entire day

Yes, that central support help cartridge to stay centered and to distribute forces better.

It would be nice, yeah

Haha in fact, the other cable I bought and you sent me too, it's a A/B cable but isn't micro either. It's normal size so can't use none of both cables you sent me. But no problem. I have a lot of USB cables, so...

Yes, sorry. I meant that it is planned for a HOLE being in the PCB.

 

Great, that is much more helpful than static pics. Some things you're talking about are already fixed at github (USB hole increased, side support plates are shortened, central pillars are now removable in config, front and back surfaces can be flattened in config, 3mm longitudinal gap removed), some are yet to be fixed (locks etc).

Oops, i already shifted those holders 1.5mm each to decrease gap. Looks like we need further testing here.

Not a problem at all. I wanted to add a list of carts in config, so that user will only need to choose its cart, and all the changes will be done automatically. But for now i only added a single devcart from antime's github page, and it's not yet tested enough. Can you give me the list of the carts you're aware of? (with all the versions, they might have differencies) I will add them into config, things will be easier to debug & fix then.

Actually i copied my design from some chinese 1M RAM cart (which is itself copied from original i suppose, but is more bulky). These pillars were planned not only as PCB support there, but also as a sprue. They don't connect, and there is no hole in PCB. But nobody is stopping us from connecting them, and making a PCB hole in a new-generation cart to increase insertion rigidity.

 

http://ppcenter.webou.net/satcart/
At the bottom of the page, there are PCB source files.
Major revisions are 1c and 2e, and they should be compatible with original "rev 3" version from Antime.
Also, there is new revision with SD card socket, but it is not released yet, and I plan to make minor changes to it too.

It would be a good idea (this was done on genesis cartridges, I don't why Sega stopped to do this with Saturn), but putting hole(s) in a less "busy" area would be better, for example in PCB top left/right corners ?
I suppose theses pillars should be moved after making appropriate PCB however.