Jump to content

3D Printed Cases


Recommended Posts

This may be old news but for me its new. As some of you may know I have been working on a few projects lately. One included a from scratch build. Ive benn tinkering with 3D Printed Cases and heres what ive got so far. The gold filament has produced a better than expected product. Sizing is a bit tough for fitment as the printer doesnt always print to scale but once dialed in repeatability is acheivable. I have a 170 and a 7750 planned for these case. I will post in those build threads but wanted to get this result out as Im pretty excited about the product. c0d6c6d9004c89e8d8d08afb791e015d.jpg0a5ba2bfe938d8c45a4c47f239a6995d.jpg

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a trick you might like to try if you have the necessary capability. I have no idea how good the results are likely to be, but it is on my to do list.

Polish the case to a smooth finish (1000 grit or so). Next coat the plastic with graphite to make it mildly conductive, then copper plate it.

This would then allow nickel plating on top of the copper.

Strictly speaking this is probably better described perhaps as electrotyping or as electroforming rather than electroplating, as the substrate is plastic rather than metal, but lets not split hairs.

This is one of the methods used to produce bright shiny "metal" plastic parts, and is probably much easier to attempt at home than vacuum sputtering or sintering.

Simply fine polishing the metal filament model may produce a pleasing result, without going as far as to electroplate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caswell makes a spray. But even better there are conductive filiaments. Its def crossed my mind. What I really want to do before that is get my hands on an SLA printer. They have an much higher resolution and there are plastics that they use that can be electroplated from the start.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, bjd1020 said:

Caswell makes a spray.

I'm not familiar with that brands products but I have used one conductive spray and the result depends lots of the preparation work.
Grinding with a fine sandpaper and spaying a couple of times with a grind with 2000 grit sandpaper after every layer gave a smooth surface. It's little like spraying a car.
I use the silverspray to make a gold plating.
 

IMG_20190305_064144.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not familiar with that brands products but I have used one conductive spray and the result depends lots of the preparation work.
Grinding with a fine sandpaper and spaying a couple of times with a grind with 2000 grit sandpaper after every layer gave a smooth surface. It's little like spraying a car.
I use the silverspray to make a gold plating.
 
IMG_20190305_064144.thumb.jpg.8c8d0c45a72924153151bca7b0ec0bce.jpg
Ive ordered some of the conductive filament. I have so many projects going on right now. Lol.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The filament should do the trick too. It was a while ago i tried out these products not just on watchprojects but also on mobile phone cases, for the kids.
The only disappointment was the thickness of the plating which seemed to wear of quite fast.So it seems the product I used isn't very partyproof ;) .

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also use it as a mould to do resin cast / cold cast from. What resolution are you printing it at ? I'm not sure my 3D printer would be accurate enough
Not a bad idea. I have my eye on an SLA model. This one has a layer resolution of about 250 microns.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a bad idea. I have my eye on an SLA model. This one has a layer resolution of about 250 microns.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

That is the one I currently have has a 250 micron resolution. The SLA is a resin base and the resolution is far better.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • in general this shouldn't be any change. but in general questions like this it be nice to know the specifics of the watch in other words how was it performing before it was cased up and what is it doing now.
    • just as a reminder this watch is a Swatch group product. This will bring up a problem like spare parts and technical information. that I found some links to some information on when I talk about your watch and some of the technical and basically your watch is equivalent to 2834-2 for which I'm attaching the technical sheets. But equivalent does not mean exactly the same you want to do a search on the group for C07 as we discussed this watch before including the technical differences how it's supposed to be regulated and basically because it's watch group there is no parts availability. https://calibercorner.com/eta-caliber-c07-xxx/   https://www.chrono24.com/magazine/eta-movements-from-the-2824-2-to-the-powermatic-80-p_80840/ https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/h-10-movement-details.4636991/ eta CT_2834-2_FDE_481857_15.pdf
    • people be honest.... Swatch is evil for the watchmakers and repairers, BUT not everything in watches from Switzerland is from the Swatch-Group. As far as i know, Selitta got sacked by Swatch as a Movement-Assembler for them and they started to produce Movements in their own Name with slight Modifications. As far as i know, they sell Parts to the Market for their Movements. In most cases, if a ETA-Movement fails, it is a valid Option to replace it with a Selitta Movement, which i consider the Solution for this Mess with the Swatch-Group...... I have no Connection to anybody at Selitta, but being a Swiss-Guy, i still like to have Swiss-Made Watches, but not from the Swatch-Group.   ok ? regards, Ernst
    • Just one more greedy act by Swatch. They started a number of years ago here in the US..cutting off supplies to watchmakers that could build complications that many Swatch houses couldn't even touch. Old school masters who had gone through some of the most prestigious houses in the world. Otto Frei has some statements on their page about it. I tell all my customers to avoid new Swiss watches like the plague,..unless they just want an older one in their collection that still has some parts out on the market, or they have really deep pockets and don't mind waiting months and paying through the nose to get it back. Plenty of others to choose from..IE Seiko,..or other non-swiss brands Even a number of Chinese brands are catching up with the Swiss,..and I think that in time, their actions will be their downfall
    • Yes. If that's not what you are experiencing...start looking for something rubbing. A 1st guess is that one of the hands is rubbing against the hole in the center of the dial. Especially if you now have lower amplitude in face up/ face down positions.
×
×
  • Create New...