19" Card racks and a 3D Printer

20/4/2018

I like 19" card racks. I've made use of 19" racks in several projects including a custom computer and an extendable bench power supply unit. The only real problem with them is cost.
The basic 19" frame is reasonable enough, but the card front panels and some of the other bits are really expensive.

So, several months ago I purchased a 3D printer kit. Historically I've been really unlucky with CNC machines and they have always been more trouble than they are worth. However, I've been wanting a 3D printer for ages and I've been really looking forward to being able to print some custom parts including these PCB mounts for my 19" racks.

These plastic parts are used to mount the PCB to the card front panel, and I'm amazed at how much they cost; talk about daylight robbery. So, after a lot of fiddling and experimentation, I managed to print a reasonably accurate version of the above. It even worked and this then got me thinking if it would be possible to print the front card panels as well.

A couple of cards in my extendable bench Power Supply

So, after some hacking around in Microsoft 3D builder (which is a really primitive 3D building tool but does the job) I created a model that prints a front plate with integrated PCB card mount bracket.

The next step is to print the front with all the holes pre-made for the switches and LEDs etc. It will save a small fortune in buying metal front plates, and a lot of time in prototyping and building as there should be no more drilling and endless hours at the bench with a file trying to make pretty square cut-outs for displays.

2 Comments

Jacob

17/6/2020 03:18:20 pm

Ah, I'd hoped someone was out there doing this :)
I need the same Vero card brackets and was thinking of buying a 3D printer just to make them.

I was considering adapting the same machine to drill the aluminium front plates to get the LED holes in a precise location.

I was wondering if you were planning on selling these one day? Might save me some hassle in reinventing the wheel, although I'm probably a few years away from building anything

The only other application I had was to make some of the old Vero wiring combs, they are also ridiculously expensive O_o

Joe

17/6/2020 05:55:49 pm

Jacob, the printer I have was built from a cheap kit and you get what you pay for as they say. The calibration on my printer is all over the place and I've found that if I give other people my design files, their printer prints are often slightly outside parameters. I am going to get a "proper" printer quite soon and will be adjusting my design files so they are correct. When you're ready, drop me a line and I'll send you the design files and then you can print your own.
Not sure you will be able to print those Vero wiring combs. There is something called a resin printer that may be able to do the job, but I doubt you could do it with a standard PLA printing printer.
What I did do was modify the printer hardware so that you can remove the hot end and replace it with a motor with a small chuck attached. The ide was to turn into a multi-purpose 3D printer, CNC machine, but I never got the CNC software running properly. A project for another day.

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19" Card racks and a 3D Printer

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