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3D printed adapters (1 Viewer)

mayoayo

Well-known member
Hello...I have been reading some posts about 3d printing different items related with optics and digiscoping and thought that it was a very interesting idea ..some members printed adapters for shoulder stocks ,and even the shoulder stock itself ,for a small scope, other members printed smartphone adapters for digiscoping..Myself I am interested in adapting different eyepieces in my scopes,and since is harder and harder to find machine shops to have these adapters crafted,i thought 3d printing would be interesting..The problem is that I have little idea about how to do this thing,so i thought i will open this thread and keep it open to see if anyone would pitch and maybe help create different files that could be used for other members to make these adapters for free..something like a database ..I dont know..I for instance know that a lot of people was interested in adapting astro eyepieces to Nikon scopes,and i know for fact that some member have made adapters in their shops,..maybe some members can share scans,or precise measurements,to help create the files needed and develop the adapters?
thanks for reading
 
That is an excellent idea.
Ideally, the measurements and scans could be added as a separate tab, organized appropriately.
Users could just download the needed specs to drive the 3D printer.
 
Hi Mayoayo,

Myself I am interested in adapting different eyepieces in my scopes,and since is harder and harder to find machine shops to have these adapters crafted,i thought 3d printing would be interesting.

Sounds like a great idea!

One thing to be aware of is that the tolerances of printed parts and the minimum size of structures are not really up to the standards of traditional metal working techniques.

I haven't had anyting printed in metal yet (and for your purpose, plastics might be fine), but apparently it's a standard technique (also applicable to plastics) to design the part with undersized holes, drill them to a precise size, and cut the threads with traditional metal working tools to ensure they are fit for their purpose.

While that's not quite as easy getting a ready-to-use part fresh off the 3D printer, I figure it still simplifies the metal working part quite a bit (and you might be able to use plastics, which is another simplification).

With regard to part design, I'm using Freecad 0.16, but I can't really recommend it whole-heartedly. It's a great program, but the low version number shows that it is not expected to work perfectly, and the issues it has have quite some impact. I've seen that OpenCAD is quite popular, and I've installed it, had a look at the demos, and really liked what I saw, but I haven't actually designed anything with it yet, and it's basically a command-driven interface, so you don't really draw anything in the traditional sense.

In the past, there used to be some cost-free software packages from Autodesk, but they seem to have dropped these recently for a fairly expensive subscription scheme that's probably more aimed at the full-time professional.

The 3D printing service Shapeways promotes some software packages aimed at the amateur which might be worth checking out, but I haven't really tried these. A lot of the Shapeways business seems to be with jewelry and accessories, and I'm not sure how well the software they are promoting is suited to technical applications (because I committed to Freecad, which didn't leave much time for anything else).

If you're interested in Freecad, these video tutorials might be of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HEvhclR4-o

I watched like the first 10 of them, which gave me a good start. The problem is, not everything that should work actually works, and it's quite easy to break a model in Freecad, and difficult to repair it - which is not covered by the tutorials.

Regards,

Henning
 
Hi again,

With regard to part design, I'm using Freecad 0.16, but I can't really recommend it whole-heartedly. It's a great program, but the low version number shows that it is not expected to work perfectly, and the issues it has have quite some impact. I've seen that OpenCAD is quite popular, and I've installed it, had a look at the demos, and really liked what I saw, but I haven't actually designed anything with it yet, and it's basically a command-driven interface, so you don't really draw anything in the traditional sense.

Just for the record: I've worked with OpenSCAD (sorry for the typo above!) a bit more now, and I really prefer it over FreeCAD. Both have their advantages, but for a relatively simple part like an adapter, that might need frequent re-scaling to create versions for different telescopes or eyepieces, I'd really recommend OpenSCAD.

FreeCAD wizards will probably disagree, but it requires a lot of work to reach wizard level in FreeCAD ;-)

Regards,

Henning
 
Tolerance is not perfect, I always add a bit of wiggle room so I don’t need to “fettle”’too much. You can get quite good fits with the FDM polymer printing, Nylon SLD can give better, but more costly. I haven’t tried SLA, but this might be better than both options. I have knocked up a range of custom filter holders, eye cups, lens shields, lens caps. You just need a set of vernier calipers and a napkin to note the dimensions down. I use OpenSCAD to knock up the designs and then print them off. You can use variables on OpenSCAD, which enables you to really easily scale and customise designs.. I use it at work a lot.
Happy to advise on specific geometries as some might be ill suited... eg things with threads.
Metal printing will give you a comparatively rough finish (compared tomamchining) and need post machining... don’t use it unless you need to.. if a lathe will work, then use that. You can use 3dhubs tonget things printed locally.
I am happy to advise anyone about specific designs.

Peter
 
Hi Peter,

I use OpenSCAD to knock up the designs and then print them off. You can use variables on OpenSCAD, which enables you to really easily scale and customise designs.. I use it at work a lot.

The capability to use variable parameters is really a great plus! Interesting to hear OpenSCAD is used in a professional environment, too - not that I know much about the program, but somehow I had thought it was an amateur tool. Not that there aren't some very good Open Source amateur tools! :)

You can use 3dhubs tonget things printed locally.
I am happy to advise anyone about specific designs.

Thanks for the recommendation, I hadn't been aware of 3dhubs before!

If you'd like to share some photographs of your adapters, I'd certainly be interested - mostly out of curiosity, but maybe some of your solutions would also work for Mayoayo, if they can be re-parametrized?

Regards,

Henning
 
We use TinkerCAD for design work and i.Materialise for the printing for our smartphone adaptors:

https://www.tinkercad.com/

https://i.materialise.com/

The material we chose is their polyamide which is SLS printed, dyed black and then tumble polished. The finish is acceptable but there is always variance from sample to sample, expecially when printing more than 10 units.

That material is not quite soft enough to "self tap" a thread into it but they have other materials that might. This would allow an adaptor requiring a male thread to be printed with a smooth surface where that thread should be and then use the female thread on the existing part to "cut" the male thread.

I've also printed parts using their alumide material and that has acceptable performance when tapped with a reasonably coarse thread but it doesn't have high enough resolution to print a thread.

The CAD designs in TinkerCAD can be saved at STL files for import into i.materialise or for upload to Thingiverse or wherever.

HTH

Cheers, Pete
 
Pete/Opticron... I see you offer what appears to be a very nice, simple unit for your scopes. Would they be available for other sizes/brand scopes?

Jim
 
Hi Jim - unfortunately we don't offer solutions for other scopes. We did make a couple of prototypes for Swarovski eyepieces but since our dealers never placed any orders, we didn't get to "mass production".

I'll respond to the email you sent us with more detail on your specific request.

Cheers, Pete
 
Hi Jim,

Would they be available for other sizes/brand scopes?

Looks like Pete already has this covered, and from what I gather, his adapters have gone through a professional development process with all the bugs ironed out already.

Here's my personal adapter solution:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2800241

The version I uploaded there is limited to a specfic phone/scope combination, but I'm working on a parametrized version which will be user-customizable so anyone can download the file, enter the specs of his combination, and print a fitting adapter.

The main parameters are:

- Length x Width x Height of the phone
- Distance from phone top to lens centre
- Eyepiece outer diameter
- Eyepiece eye relief distance

At the moment, I'm unsure whether it is worth it to add lateral offset of the lens to the design. Would that be required for your phone?

Regards,

Henning
 
Few examples, lens caps, eyecups, straylight shields, astrofilter holders, objective guard for the papilio. Nothing as complex as a camera adapter, though I have thought about it a few times. Getting the camera lens accurately centred, measuring it correctly isn’t easy.
Wonder what I’ll make next?

PEter
 

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Hi Peter,

Few examples, lens caps, eyecups, straylight shields, astrofilter holders, objective guard for the papilio. Nothing as complex as a camera adapter, though I have thought about it a few times. Getting the camera lens accurately centred, measuring it correctly isn’t easy.

I like your winged eyecups! I presume they're tailor-made to fit your anatomy?

"Biological" shapes with 3D curves in my opinion are more difficult to measure than square-ish technical things. The camera position for my digiscoping adapter was fairly easy actually, but admittedly it is laterally centered, so I only needed a single measurement.

To be certain it worked, I glued together a simple cardboard adapter first, but that was more of a confidence thing than an actual prototype ;-)

Regards,

Henning
 
The winged eyecup design is actually from the guy who designed the housings for the Nikon 2x54 binocular project. I just scaled their diameter and height to best fit my needs, I have a different scaled pair for other bins. I print them in a pretty stiff plastic, but slightly undersize, then cut a slot in the ring part so the plastic flex holds them on, but allows them to move if you try to poke yourself on them and allows easy adjustment.
I did some measurements to give an adapter for a microscope I have, light even make versions for other optics if it works. Got several other ideas that need designing and printing.

Peter

Hi Peter,



I like your winged eyecups! I presume they're tailor-made to fit your anatomy?

"Biological" shapes with 3D curves in my opinion are more difficult to measure than square-ish technical things. The camera position for my digiscoping adapter was fairly easy actually, but admittedly it is laterally centered, so I only needed a single measurement.

To be certain it worked, I glued together a simple cardboard adapter first, but that was more of a confidence thing than an actual prototype ;-)

Regards,

Henning
 
Henning,

I wonder what internal diameter your adapter has for your leica eyepiece? I use the same phone as you but a Kowa scope. I am just wondering if your adapter would fit? Finding adapters for this phone is not easy. Indeed, it is probably easier and less expensive to buy an adapter for the scope and then buy a phone that fits!

Best wishes,

DB
 
Hi DB,

I wonder what internal diameter your adapter has for your leica eyepiece? I use the same phone as you but a Kowa scope. I am just wondering if your adapter would fit?

It's 57 mm diameter at the top of the eyepiece, 57.5 mm at the bottom.

What diameter do you need? Normally the fit should be very accurate so the phone stays on the eyepiece on its own.

The Leica adapter doesn't do that with the Kowa TE-11WZ, which is about 2 mm smaller in diameter, though if you support the phone with the hand, it will probably be usable.

Of course it's technically possible to adjust the measurements of my design, but the FreeCAD file sort of falls apart whenever I do that.

I could however use a "quick and dirty" approach to reduce the diameter by the abovementioned 2 mm, if that's what you need. (The final result will not show the lack of elegance of that approach :)

Regards,

Henning
 
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CHAnge one variable with parametric design... OpenSCAD ;-)
I normally print a little oversize and then use a strip of gorilla/duct tape to get a snug slip on fit.... sure saves on sanding if you aim for printing an exact fit and miss.....

PEter
 
Peter,

If Henning is not able to print his adapter for me, could you do that and tweak the diameter as necessary? Would save posting the item from Germany?
 
Sure, send me what you have, plans on a napkin etc. Try to get accurate measurements and then we can discuss which should be over printed by a “wee bit”, to minimise the fettling. PM me.

Peter
 
Hi DB,

"Quick and dirty" - that is me all over. I think 2mm smaller is what I would need. Are you able to print me that?

You can download the adjusted adapter from here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2830461

To have it printed, just upload it to any commercial printing service and order it from there. I'm normally using shapeways.com, who ship from the Netherlands.

You might want to take accurate measurements of your Samsung phone before doing so, though: My first attempt was dimensioned to fit the dimensions given on their website, which turned out to be different from those of the actual phone.

As this might indicate they sell differently-sized phones under the same type designation, it's better to double check.

The dimensions accepted by the adapter are:

- Width = 64.5 mm
- Height = 5.8 mm (to 30 degree chamfer), 7.3 mm (total)
- Length = 133.5 mm

- Lens Center to Phone Upper Edge = 20 mm

- Eyepiece Ring Diameter = 56 mm (bottom), 55.5 mm (top)

Regards,

Henning
 
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