Aug 3, 2015 | By Simon
When it comes to the many thousands of 3D printing projects out there, it can be difficult to determine which ones provide thorough instructions that are reliable throughout the entirety of a project. Ultimately, it’s not fun to invest a lot of time and energy - not to mention money into supplies - on projects that may be missing a step or two. Unfortunately, due to the ability for anybody to self-publish whatever they want on the internet, this reality is more common than you would think.
Fortunately for us, the Ruiz Brothers over at Adafruit have continued to not only create a wide variety of 3D printing projects, but they have also ensured that the material itself is of high quality and all of the necessary steps and high quality 3D printing files are provided. In essence, when you build with the Ruiz Brothers, you’re in good hands.
Previously, the talented 3D printing duo have provided detailed instructions for creating everything from a 3D printed HDMI monitor to various Raspberry Pi enclosures for different computer and gaming devices and even a small collection of cosplay projects.
For their latest build, the Ruiz Brothers chose to create an object that even the most unskilled beginner can easily create with a 3D printer: a simple coin cell battery tester using conductive filament.
“In this project we’re going to 3D print a battery tester using dual extrusion and conductive filament,” explain the brothers. “With an LED you can use this to test coin cell batteries. The outter shell is PLA while the traces and pads are printed in conductive filament. It’s embed within the part and prints all in one piece!”
Considering that the tester itself conducts electricity when a battery is held between the pads, the project also makes for a great first project for learning how electrical circuits work with conductive filament, too.
Thankfully, only a few supplies are needed to do this fun project - which doesn’t take too long to build, either. In total, these include the Conductive Filament from ProtoPasta regular PLA filament, two diffused LEDs, bare conductive paint, copper foil tape and of course, a coin cell battery for testing. In this case, the brothers went with an LR2450 rechargeable coin cell.
Once the parts have been sourced, the three provided STL files can be easily downloaded and printed. Although the brothers conveniently provided 3D printing details including the decision to print with a 20% infill on a dual extruder 3D printer, these factors can easily be further experimented with to find a solution that works best for your own 3D printer capabilities.
Finally, once all of the parts have been sourced and printed, the assembly process is relatively straightforward and includes little more than assembling a basic LED circuit.
Whether or not you plan to use the battery tester to test batteries or to use as a convenient way of demonstrating what’s possible with today’s wide selection of functional 3D printing filaments, you can read the instructions in-full by heading over to Adafruit.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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