Foam filament for shadowboards?
Hi
Does anyone know a filament which would be suitable to be used for printing shadow boards for tools? The material usually used for that is hard foam which is then milled. For personal use costs would be way to high. Milling by hand with a router would be possible but very time consuming and you would be restricted to one layer (depth).
In terms o geomtry 3D printing would fit perfectly, but probably the right material does not exist yet?
Thanks for your help.
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
I assume ,usually wrongly, that foam is used because it's easy to machine, hot wire etc. I would imagine that a low percentage of infill would achieve the same end result. Your problem will be limited bed size, althought of course you could clip, glue, screw several part together.
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
I don't think foam is used because you can easily mill it. That's true for most materials. Foam is durable, the form is preserved and it is enough flexible that you can fit the tool in the cutout even though it's not 100% accurate. What you want is that the tool is held in place and you can easily put it in the cutout and remove it. You can't do that with stiff materials such as PLA.
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
Plus the foam will keep the tools from vibrating around as much if the toolbox is moved or if it is mobile on a vehicle, etc. I don't think you are going to find an equivalent filament material at this time. I have done a little bit of designing of printable tool holders for my shop and getting the dimensions right to where the tool is secure, yet still easily removable can take a lot of trial and error. It's really only somewhat worth doing if you have several instances of the same tool that need to be held. If you want to shadow a drawer full of tools and the configuration isn't going to be repeated, it will be way easier to use shadow foam and exacto knives/razor blades.
I have heard of people using those big interlocking foam floor mats you can buy as a cost saving option but I have not tried it myself yet.
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@t_guttata
I,m aware of Colorfabb Light weight PLA (LW-PLA).
https://colorfabb.com/lw-pla-natural
and
eSUN PLA-LW 1.75mm
I don't know if they'll meet your need, but they are the closest thing I'm aware of in the retail market. You could also try using TPU it's very durable.
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
To be honest, I don't think anything with "PLA" in it's name will be the right material. I will try TPU, but I don't think it's the right one either. The material really should be a "foam".
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
While accepting everything above, I have one last suggestion, to try to deal with achieving a snug fit, protecting the tools from movement while still able to remove them. There is a technique called "crush ribs" where a controlled fit is required while allowing for manufacturing tolerances. If you expanded that concept a pattern of vertical fins (at right angles to the insertion of the tool being protected) the could distort by virtue of thickness and material selection. I know, it sounds like a lot of hassle, I suppose all you can do is cross you fingers for a filament breakthro and/or continue with CNC.
RE: Foam filament for shadowboards?
The materials that Snuffleupagus posted look interesting for your app, I wonder if you can "crunch" the tool being protected into it's matching void.