Can I / how to best print a camera housing

[SteveCB]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to read this. I’d really like to DIY a 3D camera and need a housing. I’ll be putting 2 action cameras in there - these do become relatively warm if not outright hot. It’s important to note here that I will not be printing myself but ordering a print via 3dhubs (as much as I’d love to ‘pick up’ 3D printing, I have too many hobbies already…and not enough time) so I’m as green as it gets.

My question: assuming I use ABS because of its better heat resistance (vs. PLA), will a 0.5 centimeter thick wall (in a box shape) be rigid enough to (gently) use as a camera housing, or do I need to go thicker when designing my case?

Secondly, how ‘tightly’ can I design the housing - is there any warping when printing 5mm thick walls?

Thanks!!!

[24H3D]

Hello Steve,

Two things :

- most plastic parts on my BCN3D printer are in PLA (including the one near the head printer)

- the size of the wall depends on the size of thé extruder. My advice is to use a minimum size of 1.2 mm (3x0.4mm ).

Christophe.

[chunkysteveo]

You can also look into other materials such as PETG - this has a better “resistance” to temperature than PLA and is more flexible so won’t be inclined to fracture or break. But if your cameras are getting up to and above 70°C you need to get them fixed!! That’s hot for external parts of consumer cameras to get too!

Ditto the wall thickness - i’d advise higher than 0.8mm thickness.

Steve

[chunkysteveo]

Have you also checked out Thingiverse for this - there are a lot of action camera mounts available to download already. May save you time in designing one? Or you can use an existing one and amend it to work with two cameras?

Steve

[Jason_Bolden]

-If you end up designing a new case, vent holes go a long way in cooling devices. Fusion 360 (or any other cad like tool) will allow you to sketch up a model of your camera after taking a few measurements with some digital calipers. With that you can start designing your case around 2 of those models. Be sure to add some “wiggle” room (typically by adding .2mm - .6mm of spacing between the wall and your cameras) as the printer will always operate withing certain tolerances. -As for shell wall thickness, you must use multiples of the printer’s nozzle width. (0.4mm being the most common) Regardless .5mm is very thin. You should consider ,8mm or more. -Lastly PLA should be fine for housing digital electronics. Warping/melting of PLA is only a concern when you’re exposing it to temperatures like the inside of a car on a sunny day or the heat near a high current drawing device such as a printer’s hotend or a motor. Hope this helps.

[SteveCB]

Thanks, especially for the header regarding the wiggle room!

I’ll have to check the body temperature of these small 4K action cameras. They do go very, very warm, simply through there not being that much material to act as a heatsink relative to the amount of data being thrown around.

To be sure, not half a millimeter of wall thickness - half a centimeter, all of 5 mm!! It doesn’t have to be the smallest it can be. I want it to be sturdy and effective and am hoping 5 millimeter will be sturdy enough.

I’ve done exactly what you’ve described - measured my action cam with a caliper, “copied” it into Tinkercad, and am now designing a case around two of those. Halfway there! (I’m aware Tinkercad is more than likely child’s play for people “in the know” but it seems to be serving my needs well - for now.)

[SteveCB]

I’ve checked - couldn’t find any for this specific action cam! I’ve started designing my own via Tinkercad.

[SteveCB]

Not going for 0.5mm, but 0.5 centimeter for the walls. I’m hoping that’s enough. Thanks for the PETG tip - I’ll read it up on its properties. Too much flex isn’t too good, though! I do want to make something similar to buttons a part of the housing.

[SteveCB]

I should probably make my question a little more specific; I ought to add details.

The camera housing as a whole will, I suppose, not come under undue stress. I only need it to not flex (because the cameras need to remain aligned) and not, after half a year, fall apart. For this, I hope 5 millimeters of ABS (or heat-resistant PLA? PC perhaps) would serve me well.

What WILL come under some stress are “press bars” I intend to add that’ll enable the various/both camera’s buttons to be depressed at the same time. These’ll be bars about 6 centimeters long that will be pressed in the center. I need those bars to not crack, but also resist flexing to such a degree that the buttons will register depression before the bar flexes. I’m hoping ~5 millimeters will be enough here, too.

I fully realize this is somewhat abstract and I should just try different thicknesses and materials. I can only refer to the OP: I do not have (free) access to a 3D printer at this time and cannot justify picking it up as a hobby. I’d like to ‘get it right’ before I pay someone to print this for me.

[chunkysteveo]

I love Tinkercad - it is quick, simple and easy. I am STILL learning Fusion 360, but it’s so complex - I just want to spend 5 mins knocking shaped together to make e.g. bracket, tool, poking device!! Eventually I will have enough time to make F360 work for me and be quick - but at the moment Tinkercad wins every time!

The design sounds fine. 5mm thickness will be fine, and a 6cm bar printed in most materials won’t bend and should stay rigid. For them to be used as action cams - I would recommend ABS over PLA. PLA would be good to get a cheap prototype printed up. PETG would work too and it doesn’t flex much it if is printed with sufficient structure (think less brittle than more flexible).

Keep us posted with the designs! We may be able to give you pointers on 3D print specific design suggestions…

Steve

[Jason_Bolden]

Adafruit has a channel on YouTube. If you watch their “Layer by Layer” series it will quickly get you up to speed on how to use Fusion 360. Once you get a hang of it it’s very convenient when making 3D designs.

[chunkysteveo]

Thanks Jason - Finally decided to jump back in to F360 - it’s changed a little since I last looked! I would highly recommend Lars Christensen on YouTube - just gone through a couple of his tutorial series and they have sparked my interest back up! Looking forward to getting some fillets back in my life!

Cheers,

Steve