Raaco Insert 3D printed

Philippe D.

Elder Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
2,132
Reaction score
1,393
Location
Bordeaux
Country
llFrance
Looks cheap enough - if you've got the printer and can use it for long periods of time for this.
 

fenyan

Elder Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2004
Messages
703
Reaction score
1,193
Location
California
Country
llUnited States
Costs about $30 at Shapeways for one, so yes your own printer would be the way to go.
 

Jacksons

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
95
Reaction score
104
Location
cincinnati
Country
llUnited States
Costs about $30 at Shapeways for one, so yes your own printer would be the way to go.
Yes the price for contract printing has gone up considerably since the last time I had Steve's design printed. That design only cost $ 6 each at 3D Hubs.com 2 -3 years ago. The cost at 3D Hubs yesterday was $12-13 each.

For those with their own 3D printer the design can be printed if you have the time. I still wish that some one could make a mold for plastic injection molding but that would only work economically if a large number of units could be sold.

Stan
 

rreinesch

Elder Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
1,669
Reaction score
1,435
Location
Austin, TX
Country
llUnited States
Yes the price for contract printing has gone up considerably since the last time I had Steve's design printed. That design only cost $ 6 each at 3D Hubs.com 2 -3 years ago. The cost at 3D Hubs yesterday was $12-13 each.

For those with their own 3D printer the design can be printed if you have the time. I still wish that some one could make a mold for plastic injection molding but that would only work economically if a large number of units could be sold.

Stan
I've got the file uploaded to the download section of Texas ASL. Look for it in the counter organization section.
 

Jacksons

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
95
Reaction score
104
Location
cincinnati
Country
llUnited States
I have contacted raaco and they are willing to analyze the business case for producing the mold.
It would be helpful for them to know how many units might be purchased and at what price for the 7x5 array and the 6x4 array(steve's design).

What is the sense from the ASL community on how many units might be purchased and at what price is acceptable?

Also to simplify the mold cost would the design still be acceptable if it was just a square grid and did not have the cut outs for tweezer access?

Thanks,


Stan
 

sdennis

Elder Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
963
Location
Wixom, Michigan
Country
llUnited States
I have contacted raaco and they are willing to analyze the business case for producing the mold.
It would be helpful for them to know how many units might be purchased and at what price for the 7x5 array and the 6x4 array(steve's design).

What is the sense from the ASL community on how many units might be purchased and at what price is acceptable?

Also to simplify the mold cost would the design still be acceptable if it was just a square grid and did not have the cut outs for tweezer access?

Thanks,


Stan
Personally Stan I think without the cutouts the inserts with individual cells is worthless. It's too damn hard to get things out because the tweezers don't fit in the cell.. we have maximized the storage but at the cost of access. The cutouts were the v2 of mine because the first ones I printed without them were not useful.
 

olli

Elder Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
8,270
Reaction score
1,829
Location
Scotland
Country
llGermany
Personally Stan I think without the cutouts the inserts with individual cells is worthless. It's too damn hard to get things out because the tweezers don't fit in the cell.. we have maximized the storage but at the cost of access. The cutouts were the v2 of mine because the first ones I printed without them were not useful.
That’s what suction tools are for
 

Sully

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2003
Messages
1,156
Reaction score
244
Location
Mpls, MN
Country
llUnited States
I have contacted raaco and they are willing to analyze the business case for producing the mold.
Did they say what type of arrangement they are willing to offer? I.e. does it include CAD design refinement, 3D prototype printing, etc?
 

Jacksons

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
95
Reaction score
104
Location
cincinnati
Country
llUnited States
Personally Stan I think without the cutouts the inserts with individual cells is worthless. It's too damn hard to get things out because the tweezers don't fit in the cell.. we have maximized the storage but at the cost of access. The cutouts were the v2 of mine because the first ones I printed without them were not useful.
Steve
Thanks for the valuable input.
Stan
 

von Marwitz

Forum Guru
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Messages
14,357
Reaction score
10,204
Location
Kraut Corner
Country
llUkraine
I have contacted raaco and they are willing to analyze the business case for producing the mold.
It would be helpful for them to know how many units might be purchased and at what price for the 7x5 array and the 6x4 array(steve's design).

What is the sense from the ASL community on how many units might be purchased and at what price is acceptable?

Also to simplify the mold cost would the design still be acceptable if it was just a square grid and did not have the cut outs for tweezer access?

Thanks,


Stan
I think your initiative to contact RAACO is an exceptionally good idea!
Whatever the outcome, I would be extremely interested to hear about it.

In case RAACO should really be considering creating a mold and the price being acceptable (whatever that might be...), then I believe we should here bring our collective hivemind together to "optimize" the arrays prior to RAACO taking action. As mentioned before, my suggestion would be to make the four corner slots accessible for retrieval of the counters per tweezers (and not only suction tools).

Cheers,
von Marwitz
 

Jacksons

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
95
Reaction score
104
Location
cincinnati
Country
llUnited States
Did they say what type of arrangement they are willing to offer? I.e. does it include CAD design refinement, 3D prototype printing, etc?
They are considering making it a standard offering in there catalog.

This means they would have to make the mold and you would just have to order their part .

We have not talked about the process of how to verify the functionality, but I have offered to test the functionality for them.
I think it still has maybe a 10% chance of making it past their accountants but wait and see.

I am investigating another option as well.
 

Philippe D.

Elder Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
2,132
Reaction score
1,393
Location
Bordeaux
Country
llFrance
I have not looked at how many inserts I would end up using, but it's likely I would go for "enough for my complete OBs", if they were sold for similar prices to what I paid for the standard Raaco inserts - or even a bit more; I can understand that such non-standard models would not have the same general-purpose appeal and generate less sales.

I also believe the cut out grid is a useful feature, even though I have a suction tool available. That, and the corners below the insert to make stacking more stable (missing from the easy-to-print models because it's much easier to print a flat bottom, but with a mold I suppose there is no reason to leave them out).
 

Sparafucil3

Forum Guru
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
11,335
Reaction score
5,070
Location
USA
First name
Jim
Country
llUnited States
I have contacted raaco and they are willing to analyze the business case for producing the mold.
It would be helpful for them to know how many units might be purchased and at what price for the 7x5 array and the 6x4 array(steve's design).

What is the sense from the ASL community on how many units might be purchased and at what price is acceptable?

Also to simplify the mold cost would the design still be acceptable if it was just a square grid and did not have the cut outs for tweezer access?

Thanks,


Stan
I would buy 25 - 50 if the cost was comparable to the other common inserts. I would seriously consider replacing all of my 5/8th countet trays at the same price point. That is another 25+ trays. -- jim
 

Jacksons

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
95
Reaction score
104
Location
cincinnati
Country
llUnited States
I have not looked at how many inserts I would end up using, but it's likely I would go for "enough for my complete OBs", if they were sold for similar prices to what I paid for the standard Raaco inserts - or even a bit more; I can understand that such non-standard models would not have the same general-purpose appeal and generate less sales.

I also believe the cut out grid is a useful feature, even though I have a suction tool available. That, and the corners below the insert to make stacking more stable (missing from the easy-to-print models because it's much easier to print a flat bottom, but with a mold I suppose there is no reason to leave them out).
Philippe,

The 4 Bosses on the bottom could be added for a plastic injection molded part.
They are just hard to do with 3D printed parts.
 

sdennis

Elder Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
963
Location
Wixom, Michigan
Country
llUnited States
Philippe,

The 4 Bosses on the bottom could be added for a plastic injection molded part.
They are just hard to do with 3D printed parts.
The are NOT hard if you have the right 3D printer! :) I now have access to a Ultimaker 3D printer that prints with 2 filaments and one of them can be a water soluble material. So I print the feet ON my inserts now rather than glue them on. I can than easily pop the water soluble support layer off or melt it off with water if it doesn't want to pop off cleanly.
 

Philippe D.

Elder Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
2,132
Reaction score
1,393
Location
Bordeaux
Country
llFrance
Yeah, I've heard of such printers. Doesn't it make the printing much slower though?

(Some day I'll probably end up buying one of these to play with - only my wife will make extra fun of me for that. Expensive toys and all that.)
 

sdennis

Elder Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
963
Location
Wixom, Michigan
Country
llUnited States
Yeah, I've heard of such printers. Doesn't it make the printing much slower though?

(Some day I'll probably end up buying one of these to play with - only my wife will make extra fun of me for that. Expensive toys and all that.)
Nope not slower at all. Just some minor traversal of the head to "switch" filaments.
 
Top