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3D printing CB preamp and volume knobs

G

grahamdocman

pfm Member
Hi,

I've just been given a basic second hand 3D printer and fancy experimenting with printing some CB knobs. My current ones are falling apart - usual problem with the grub screw fixing etc.

3D printing is completely new to me and I've not done any before, so any CB knob *stl files to start me off and give me an inital template would be massively appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation,
Graham
 
Unless you have a resin printer (SLA) I don’t think the results will look presentable. There will be layer lines throughout the parts, the top surface will show the infill pattern, etc.

Before you get rid of the old knobs I would strongly consider trying to find a way to repair/strengthen the broken part (the piece that holds the square nut?) with epoxy. As a last ditch attempt you could try to glue the knob to the shaft.

There’s a local Naim dealer who sells a lot of second hand olive stuff and they have been replacing broken knobs occasionally with 3D printed versions. Even with sanding and painting they look terrible.
 
I've 3D printed the CB knobs before. The best way to do it is to make your file and test it out on an FDM printer, then if it all fits and looks good send it to a professional printer for making in resin. We used a charcoal colour and had it polished afterwards. The results are very pleasing.
 
Thanks guys, all helpful advice and much appreciated.

I'll do some experitmenting first - I have never done anything like this before - its quite a learning curve 'drawing' things and so far my progress is pressy slow.
 
the link does't seem to be working - I've tried ssearching the '/things' subdirectory and also for 'Naim' and 'knobs' on the search enging, but without any success.
 
I would suggest making a two part mould in silicone and pouring it in resin, you'd just need to drill and tap for the grubscrew.
 
Based on opinions in the retro computer community PCBWay.com are really good at 3d printing. A whole different league to the typically blocky stringy DIY-grade machines. The results look more like they are injection moulded.
 
Tony L said:
Based on opinions in the retro computer community PCBWay.com are really good at 3d printing. A whole different league to the typically blocky stringy DIY-grade machines. The results look more like they are injection moulded.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with consumer grade machines. If you want beautiful prints you can use something like an Elegoo Mars 3 ($300 SLA). Stunning quality results. But it’s a PITA workflow with messy resin, alcohol washing, UV curing. FDM is fast and reliable for structural parts, but doesn’t look as pretty.

It’s more about picking the right printing technology than it is about high end machines or consumer vs. commercial.
 
I also made some CB knobs a while ago. Also made with Tinkercad, and I printed them on an Elegoo Mars 2 SLA printer. I'm pretty happy with the results, the photos make them look slightly translucent but this isn't obvious in real life. All the units below are using my prints apart from the NAP 140, which is the original.

6974.jpg


6975.jpg


6976.jpg
 
Thanks, it took me a lot of time to get it right. Tinkercad is quite limited so I had to invent ways to overcome the constraints. For instance, a cylinder can only have 64 'sides' in Tinkercad which would be quite noticeable with something of this size, but I found a way to increase it to 360 sides to get a smoother result. The 'grips' were also difficult, they were created with an extruded SVG shape that I made, then I added 3 more separate shapes on top to round them off. Close up below:

tractor_wheel_close_up_1.jpg


Sean
 
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