New Fun Cage - more fun!

So, I've got a couple pieces that I've done in the past month or so, and want to share with you all. These are some new style pieces for the New Fun Cage and should be compatible with other pieces.

There are two rings that may be of interest - they are circular and mimic the shape of a steel base ring (i.e. a torus)
Circular Ring - 47mm (ID), 8mm diameter ring
Circular Ring - 48mm (ID), 8mm diameter ring

There are two new cages
The first new cage is another short cage, but is a little wider and has a nice new tip geometry that improves urination and should help prevent extrusion through the tip. (45mm x 35mm diameter, 33mm depth)
The other is a Holy Trainer style tube/cage combination that incorporates the new cage described here at the end of an enclosed tube that goes through the base ring. This one really closes the gap between the cage and the base ring, and is an interesting piece, but is not easy to print, and may not be suited for small rings. It's really kind of an experimental piece.

It turns out that the two cages exceed the 2MB file size limit here, even when zipped. I've compressed them with 7Zip using some maximum compression settings to get them under the limit. If your unzip program has issues with them, please try 7Zip.

As always, enjoy, have fun, and leave you comments, questions, and requests below!

 

I have a Tevo Tornado, which recently got a Micro-Swiss all-metal hotend (I want to try printing Nylon), a new cooling solution and a new extruder (still on the fence about this piece). I'd recommend a different printer though, unless this is your highest price point ($350 USD) as there are some things about this one that drive me a little crazy that are due to the electronics and mechanical design.

 

At their price point, I would hope you'd be very happy with it! Dual extruders is an appealing upgrade, but I'm not to a point where I'm interested in trying it yet.

If you really want to give it a test, I've got some files for cage rings that would be cool to have in nylon that need supports (being ergonomics).

My Nylon filament arrives tomorrow

 

Nylon printed well on the fourth or fifth try. Cranked the hot end up past the manufacturers recommended hot end temp (230-260) - it wouldn't adhere to the previous layer below 260. Bed temp of 120 was real interesting as it caused the glue stick to melt, and look like a puddle creeping up the print (that was too high, dropped to 115/110). Needed a bit more finishing after the fact than even PETG, but it feels strong, and less flexible than I was expecting. I'm going to give it a couple days to absorb some humidity and get to its final strength/flexibility before "installing" it

Added a pic of the ring after about 10 minutes of dremel and file work - I'm pretty happy with this part.

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures - I guess I'm not the only one who likes a nice blue!

I'm curious about the "heart shape" modification you mention - Do you have a better picture of that, and was it just to accommodate shape?

I haven't had any sag with a tight fitting ring, but I don't have experience with a metal device to compare it to - the hole is a nice touch, and offers the option for that, or other uses

Regarding the break - ouch! I've never had a break on the cage, even with very thorough strain testing. In the earlier versions, I did have the locking ears of the ring break off where they met the base, but I haven't had that happen since I redesigned that portion. It may be because I've also always printed in PETG and made sure I had good layer adhesion. It does look like it's broken along layer lines, but regardless, I have noted that has been an area to be concerned about, and is an area for improvement. I'll have to find a way to design something both strong, and stealthy given the material.

Looks like you've been enjoying working with Meshmixer - I have a love/hate relationship with that program as I'm more attuned to engineering style design than freeform...

 

One thing I want to post about is failures - I have tried a few things that just didn't pan out due to the material.

I tried adding a "ball hook" to the ring, but even with good layer adhesion, it wasn't difficult to break that off when designed like a metal ring would be done.

I tried a "horseshoe" ring that was open at the very bottom (not much gap at all), but since it wasn't fully connected, it never really worked either. Maybe it would work in metal, but that's not the point.

I'm still here plugging away at this, just splitting my time on this and other projects at the time.