Stick to Rotary Shift Knob Conversion w/ 3D Printed Rotary Shifter Holder

[boggle]

Thank you for your efforts and thorough explanation. That makes sense. I'm pretty adamant in wanting to retain the Work Surface as I use that often and see this shifter knob potentially allowing me to have the work surface down while driving (occasionally my passenger likes to have a laptop on it, facing them).

Understandable. I spent quite a bit of time ensuring the design is pretty dynamic anticipating such a request, I'll see what I can do. In theory I should be able to just shift the whole thing down the requisite distance to be flush and the insert should rebuild itself. Will just need to see how much interference the shifter has with the tub and see if it even makes sense to do so.

I did also think about a multibody version of @ENDianDigital design for those of us with smaller build volumes. Figured you could just split the thing in half and weld it together with some MEK and hot staples. Tub shell in his design seemed plenty thick enough, could also increase the # of shells/infill at the point the two bodies make contact. Also surprised nobody has tried to vapor smooth one of these yet.

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[BennyTheBeaver]

Understandable. I spent quite a bit of time ensuring the design is pretty dynamic anticipating such a request, I'll see what I can do. In theory I should be able to just shift the whole thing down the requisite distance to be flush and the insert should rebuild itself. Will just need to see how much interference the shifter has with the tub and see if it even makes sense to do so.

Thank you!

I did also think about a multibody version of @ENDianDigital design for those of us with smaller build volumes. Figured you could just split the thing in half and weld it together with some MEK and hot staples. Tub shell in his design seemed plenty thick enough, could also increase the # of shells/infill at the point the two bodies make contact. Also surprised nobody has tried to vapor smooth one of these yet.

Could some square attachments fit on the outside of the tub with holes for standard screws (like M3) to cinch the 2 halves back together, or would those square tabs not allow the tub to fit down into its compartment?

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

I ended up hitting mine with a few coats of filler primer, doing a little sanding, and a final coat of trim black just to help it "blend in" a little. But I'm OCD like that. It totally looks good enough to run as-is.

Could you share the products you used to achieve this finish?

 

[digitaldad]

@BennyTheBeaver, not OP here but I used the following, for same, if not similar results.

1. UPOL expert sandable primer
2. Rust-oleum Acrylic Enamel Ultra Matte Black
After using the matte, I believe the cup-holder bin is satin and would match more.

Here's a video I watched on the primer being a very decent spray line concealer for 3d prints.



EDIT: If I were to do again...the bin is deep and a bit hard to get the lowest inside corners/angles. I would spray the primer and paint on the bottom inside edges only (a few coats extra) before spraying the entire cubby.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

2. Rust-oleum Acrylic Enamel Ultra Matte Black
After using the matte, I believe the cup-holder bin is satin and would match more.

That brand/type comes in Ultra-Matte, Flat, Semi-Gloss, and Gloss. Would Semi-Gloss be closest to Satin?

 

[ENDianDigital]

Thank you!

Could some square attachments fit on the outside of the tub with holes for standard screws (like M3) to cinch the 2 halves back together, or would those square tabs not allow the tub to fit down into its compartment?

Interesting idea. Probably the easiest way to do this would be by cutting the model in half flush with the front (firewall-facing) face of the shift box feature, adding some internal-facing tabs on the resultant front half of the bin and either heat-setting nuts in the shift box face, or just incorporating holes in the face to grab course thread screws. There would be a bit of unsupported union above the shift box, but if would probably not be too noticeable and you could definitely hit it with filler primer if you wanted to.

 

[boggle]

Interesting idea. Probably the easiest way to do this would be by cutting the model in half flush with the front (firewall-facing) face of the shift box feature, adding some internal-facing tabs on the resultant front half of the bin and either heat-setting nuts in the shift box face, or just incorporating holes in the face to grab course thread screws. There would be a bit of unsupported union above the shift box, but if would probably not be too noticeable and you could definitely hit it with filler primer if you wanted to.

Can't open your Thingiverse .steps for some reason. But thinking about it more you could probably just dovetail split through the shift box and have enough material for the two parts to slot into one another with some modest transitional tolerance added. Would have a better mechanical connection than splitting coincident to the shift box face and needing to add tabs/hardware. For thin wall model splits it's usually recommended to use a convoluted surface to maximize surface area and add some self locating features.

 

[ENDianDigital]

Can't open your Thingiverse .steps for some reason. But thinking about it more you could probably just dovetail split through the shift box and have enough material for the two parts to slot into one another with some modest transitional tolerance added. Would have a better mechanical connection than splitting coincident to the shift box face and needing to add tabs/hardware. For thin wall model splits it's usually recommended to use a convoluted surface to maximize surface area and add some self locating features.

This is why I'm grateful that you joined in on the project, haha.

I really like the dovetail idea and that would all together eliminate the need for fasteners to join the two halves. It would also potentially open up a opportunity for some modularity where you could just print the shift box portion then choose the front features/version you wanted. The only thought I have would be the angle of the dovetail joint. I could see making that a little less steep being useful for FDM printing to obviate the need for support elements. Then, the "halves" could be printed with the "cut" faces down.

 

[digitaldad]

That brand/type comes in Ultra-Matte, Flat, Semi-Gloss, and Gloss. Would Semi-Gloss be closest to Satin?

Out of those, I would probably do flat - here's a satin version.

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/16571911

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

I like the dovetail idea. Would having the dovetail that low, create an issue of potential flex/seperation at the top? Would we still need a way to ensure the top doesn't flex apart, or does it form fit in the cubby hole firm enough to keep it together? (My concern is if you have a magsafe mount in the front, and push your phone against the front wall, would it flex the seam?)

You all are awesome. I love community collaboration, it really is a beautiful thing.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

Out of those, I would probably do flat - here's a satin version.

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/16571911

Thank you, I'll give that a try. It's also reasonably priced at Amazon.

 

[bmwhitetx]

That brand/type comes in Ultra-Matte, Flat, Semi-Gloss, and Gloss. Would Semi-Gloss be closest to Satin?

Isn't this what he posted??
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-372699-Acrylic-Enamel-Spray/dp/B0B5YHNZCM?th=1

 

[digitaldad]

Thank you, I'll give that a try. It's also reasonably priced at Amazon.

Nice.

FYI - the paint goes far...the UPOL primer, not so much. I used a whole can of the UPOL on a couple of coats on the bin and the lid. If you plan on anything else, get at least two cans of that.

Isn't this what he posted??
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-372699-Acrylic-Enamel-Spray/dp/B0B5YHNZCM?th=1

I told him that satin would probably match the rest of the cupholder area better than the matte black I had used.

Also, you may be inclined to primer/paint the sides of the lid...don't. I ended up having to sand them back down as when I went to place the lid in the bin, I scratched the sides of the bin placing it in...way too tight. Just the front and top of lid is all that's needed.

 

[boggle]

I like the dovetail idea. Would having the dovetail that low, create an issue of potential flex/seperation at the top? Would we still need a way to ensure the top doesn't flex apart, or does it form fit in the cubby hole firm enough to keep it together? (My concern is if you have a magsafe mount in the front, and push your phone against the front wall, would it flex the seam?)

You all are awesome. I love community collaboration, it really is a beautiful thing.

J-B Weld 8237 (PlasticWeld) would work well around the perimeter of the joint. Would work double duty as a spot fill before prime/paint so it would still look like one cohesive part.

 

[Zprime29]

I like the dovetail idea. Would having the dovetail that low, create an issue of potential flex/seperation at the top? Would we still need a way to ensure the top doesn't flex apart, or does it form fit in the cubby hole firm enough to keep it together? (My concern is if you have a magsafe mount in the front, and push your phone against the front wall, would it flex the seam?)

You all are awesome. I love community collaboration, it really is a beautiful thing.

In the cosplay world, I've seen videos where the maker uses spare filament and a soldering iron to "weld" pieces together. I haven't tried this myself yet. I'd recommend an el-cheapo for this task so you don't gunk up a good one. Just needs to be hot enough to melt the plastic.

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