Hey Everyone,
I recently posted a cuvette mixer project I made for the Hanna checker cuvettes and a number of folks expressed interest in the organizer trays and drying rack i had in some of the pictures. I answered a few questions in that thread(i'll put a link below if your interested) but figured I'd make a separate thread for these and share some of the details that went into making them for anybody that may want to.
The trays were designed to be low'ish profile so i could fit them into a drawer i wanted to store them in. I made a single tray for each test so i could pull them out as needed. I added text to the top of each tray for better visibility and then set the slicer up to pause once it got to that height so i could swap filaments and print the text in a different color for contrast. I'm using the Prusa slicer, if anybody else is interested in doing that here is an article explaining how, i'll also share some screenshots for reference. https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/color-change_1687
Step 1 - After slicing the model drag the layer bar(to the left of my mouse in the image) so that the first layer of letters is visible. I set the model up for 3 layers(ie 0.6mm tall using 0.2mm layer height). After doing that click on the "+" icon to indicate it will be a different material. The way this works in practice is, when the printer gets to this layer it will pause the print and start beeping with prompts for changing the material. Once the material is changed and purged it will continue the print, in this case just the text. Now is also a good time to make sure the text is going to be printed how you intended (ie there are no gaps/holes not being filled in), this could be an issue if text was too small for the diameter nozzle your using. In this case i think it looks fine.
Step 2 - This is the easy one, just make sure the selection looks right, if you missed you'll see color 1 in the text or color 2 on the top layer of the tray. This is what it should look like.
As far as print settings go, i went with pretty standard settings, i used the default 0.2mm (i think i used the speed profile) and printed in PLA with a low infill to reduce print time and material usage since these things are so beefy.
Here are the STLs and native Fusion360 files for anybody that would like to print or modify. I've included PH, Phosphate, Calcium, and Alkalinity as well as the drying rack. I've got a Nitrate checker on order which should be here today or tomorrow, so plan on adapting the design to that once i can get my hands on all the parts. Depending on how much room i need for that stuff i may revist the project to re-size the trays to better fit in my drawer, i've also been thinking about changing up the design a little bit for fun, and CNC routing them out of wood blanks, maybe even glued up with a few different species, then either laser etch the text on top of do a recessed cut with paint fill or something along those lines. If i do end up doing it i'll be sure to share!
If anybody has any ideas on how to improve the design i'd love to hear that too!
For anyone interested here is a link to the thread i shared the mixer: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hanna-checker-cuvette-mixer.763431/
I recently posted a cuvette mixer project I made for the Hanna checker cuvettes and a number of folks expressed interest in the organizer trays and drying rack i had in some of the pictures. I answered a few questions in that thread(i'll put a link below if your interested) but figured I'd make a separate thread for these and share some of the details that went into making them for anybody that may want to.
The trays were designed to be low'ish profile so i could fit them into a drawer i wanted to store them in. I made a single tray for each test so i could pull them out as needed. I added text to the top of each tray for better visibility and then set the slicer up to pause once it got to that height so i could swap filaments and print the text in a different color for contrast. I'm using the Prusa slicer, if anybody else is interested in doing that here is an article explaining how, i'll also share some screenshots for reference. https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/color-change_1687
Step 1 - After slicing the model drag the layer bar(to the left of my mouse in the image) so that the first layer of letters is visible. I set the model up for 3 layers(ie 0.6mm tall using 0.2mm layer height). After doing that click on the "+" icon to indicate it will be a different material. The way this works in practice is, when the printer gets to this layer it will pause the print and start beeping with prompts for changing the material. Once the material is changed and purged it will continue the print, in this case just the text. Now is also a good time to make sure the text is going to be printed how you intended (ie there are no gaps/holes not being filled in), this could be an issue if text was too small for the diameter nozzle your using. In this case i think it looks fine.
Step 2 - This is the easy one, just make sure the selection looks right, if you missed you'll see color 1 in the text or color 2 on the top layer of the tray. This is what it should look like.
As far as print settings go, i went with pretty standard settings, i used the default 0.2mm (i think i used the speed profile) and printed in PLA with a low infill to reduce print time and material usage since these things are so beefy.
Here are the STLs and native Fusion360 files for anybody that would like to print or modify. I've included PH, Phosphate, Calcium, and Alkalinity as well as the drying rack. I've got a Nitrate checker on order which should be here today or tomorrow, so plan on adapting the design to that once i can get my hands on all the parts. Depending on how much room i need for that stuff i may revist the project to re-size the trays to better fit in my drawer, i've also been thinking about changing up the design a little bit for fun, and CNC routing them out of wood blanks, maybe even glued up with a few different species, then either laser etch the text on top of do a recessed cut with paint fill or something along those lines. If i do end up doing it i'll be sure to share!
If anybody has any ideas on how to improve the design i'd love to hear that too!
For anyone interested here is a link to the thread i shared the mixer: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hanna-checker-cuvette-mixer.763431/
