Author Topic: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.  (Read 6872 times)

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Offline Leslieann

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Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« on: Tue, 15 August 2017, 02:29:38 »
I finally got around to building my GH60.
I started off printing off by printing Ziptyze’s case on Thingiverse:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:983332

However, I found it didn’t quite fit the GH60, it was aimed at the Poker so this could be a matter of tolerances in the printers or differences in the keyboards, but I found it to be about a mm short in depth. After fixing that (and designing some feet) I realized that the plate sat way above the case, without a plate, or one that was painted, it would probably look good, but my silver plate it sticks out like a sore thumb. Looking at Ziptyze’s pictures it does show it is that short, it’s just not easy to see and I didn't look close (always print first and ask questions later!).

Here's my stretched version of his.
175852-0

Here you can see how low profile it is. The seam you see is also not visible in person, lighting made it very obvious for some reason and I have done nothing to clean up the print before taking the picture.
175854-1


Rather than just fix his to be higher profile, I figured may as well just use his to locate my screws and design my own. Here is what I came up with, two versions, high and low profile. Low profile should sit flush with the plate, and the high profile just above the bottom of the keycaps.
175856-2
175858-3
175862-4
175864-5

I started the case last night but I awoke to a mess on the build plate, it seems my printer decided making a rat’s nest would be more fun (been a while since it did that, so I guess it was due). A new one in silver is on the printer now as I’m now almost out of red (I'll pick up some more tomorrow from work). Oh well, silver will good with the caps I have in mind.

The failure, ignore the screws, I figured I would use it to double check my screw locations. I also didn't bother cleaning the print, I just wiped away the rats nest.
175860-6


Some other feet I designed for it before doing the more solid base seen above; anvil foot, rod foot, mini foot, classic cone foot. I’ll probably go with the solid base. The classic cone uses a stick on rubber bumper the others use o-rings on the end of the pegs.O-rings are cheap and don’t come unstuck.
175866-7



I'll update this late tomorrow when it's done (if I get home in time).
I'm still not sure what I’ll do with it, I ordered it in the group buy and have since found I don’t really want to go smaller than 65 or 75%, but I’ve had this sitting around for a while and just wanted to get it off the list of projects. I may keep it for use on customer computers or just sell it since I have plenty of others.

If someone wants the red one that completed (first picture), let me know, I can ship it off to someone for pretty cheap, I'll even toss in the matching feet I made (they are the red ones in the feet picture and raise it 17mm or 5/8in). The red color is a near perfect match for a Coca Cola plastic bottle label and matches Red Alert/Klaxxon keycaps. As for making any more of these or sharing the STL files... Maaaybe... I need to get it tested before I make any promises.
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 August 2017, 20:48:45 by Leslieann »
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Offline Leslieann

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 15 August 2017, 06:54:39 »
175902-0

Well, case printed and I found a slight issue with it and the red one, they both lack stab clearance for shift, backspace and the space bar. Easily fixed with a file/Dremel. I did put room for the right shift and enter, so I don't know how I missed these, but that's Cad for you. So much fun!

175898-1

Screws are properly placed and the size is right on the high profile, so I fixed the files and will probably just Dremel these to make clearance. No point in re-printing for this as all else seems right, but I still might. 


This is why I tell people wanting to design their own case and farm out construction to not do it, revision after revision gets expensive. This is the 4th or 5th (only two were my design and one of those was a print failure) GH60 case I've printed and if it was something more major and in aluminum, it would need to be re-done again. In my case it's a hobby and I'm not even really paying for the plastic but if you were paying industry rates those 5 cases would be a couple hundred bucks to have someone to do it, about $35-$50 each. It's just not worth it if you don't have the experience and/or access to the equipment when you can buy a plastic GH60 case off Aliexpress for $15.

Remember, I was working off known measurements from a known working item, I know the machine very well, and I know the cad program I was working in. For each of those you lack, the number of revisions will go up sharply. Technically I could have gotten away with only three prints and I often will just run it and see where I stand, to an outsider this may seem wasteful, but you need to understand that a screen is no replacement for having it in your hand to analyze and test. You can look at a screen for hours, check everything ten times, have 5 friends look at it and still miss a required hole or cut because you are not test fitting it.

175900-2


More still to come.
« Last Edit: Tue, 15 August 2017, 07:22:36 by Leslieann »
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Offline Leslieann

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 16 August 2017, 21:20:10 »
So the base finished printing.
Weight of the case and base is close to 1/2 pound, about 4-5 times what the first one weighed, a cheap off the shelf plastic 60% case will probably fall in the middle..
It looks good and combined with the case it's VERY solid. Keep in mind, I really haven't done any clean up yet to make it look good, this is pretty much how it came off the printer.
176034-0
176038-1


176032-2
Regarding the finish.
If you look close it looks like mini stair steps, that's normal in something like this, however, if you look close you will notice the taller sections (the legs) don't look quite the same despite being within a couple degree of each other.They even feel different. I suspect this was a software issue combined with a plastic issue, this plastic has a metallic sheen to it making it look sort of like aluminum and how it is laid down can have a dramatic effect on how it reflects light. While I won't say it's cheap plastic, I wouldn't call it easy to work with either. It wasn't my first choice of color, but I had more of it laying around than anything else.


Here it is next to the original red case.
176036-3


Here is a shot of the back.
The speckles are actually a lighting artifact, it happens on some 3d prints due to the layering and are actually not physically present or visible to the naked eye or even under a magnifying glass. It's just an odd reflection the camera sees.
176030-4


While it turned out well, I decided that the base could use one more screw in the center. When 3d printing, the plastic tends to shrink and deform a bit, in this case making the center of the base not sit perfectly flush in the middle. I could fix this by printing on it's side, but that could ruin the finish and screws are cheap. The easiest fix is just drill a hole, with or without making an alignment jig, but since I want to verify my changes on stabilizer clearance, I figure I will just re-print the case again, with the hole, and just use that as the jig for drilling the base and kill two birds with one stone.


Next update (in a couple days probably) I should have this cleaned up and have a functional keyboard to show off.
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Offline pixelpusher

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  • Location: Tennessee - USA
Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 16 August 2017, 21:22:32 »
This is cool. Thanks for sharing. 

Offline kamilakas

  • Posts: 23
  • Location: Russia, Kazan
Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 18 August 2017, 05:51:58 »
Hey. I've feetless 3d printed case!

Offline xtrafrood

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #5 on: Fri, 18 August 2017, 07:48:09 »
So the base finished printing.
Weight of the case and base is close to 1/2 pound, about 4-5 times what the first one weighed, a cheap off the shelf plastic 60% case will probably fall in the middle..
It looks good and combined with the case it's VERY solid. Keep in mind, I really haven't done any clean up yet to make it look good, this is pretty much how it came off the printer.
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)


(Attachment Link)
Regarding the finish.
If you look close it looks like mini stair steps, that's normal in something like this, however, if you look close you will notice the taller sections (the legs) don't look quite the same despite being within a couple degree of each other.They even feel different. I suspect this was a software issue combined with a plastic issue, this plastic has a metallic sheen to it making it look sort of like aluminum and how it is laid down can have a dramatic effect on how it reflects light. While I won't say it's cheap plastic, I wouldn't call it easy to work with either. It wasn't my first choice of color, but I had more of it laying around than anything else.


Here it is next to the original red case.
(Attachment Link)


Here is a shot of the back.
The speckles are actually a lighting artifact, it happens on some 3d prints due to the layering and are actually not physically present or visible to the naked eye or even under a magnifying glass. It's just an odd reflection the camera sees.
(Attachment Link)


While it turned out well, I decided that the base could use one more screw in the center. When 3d printing, the plastic tends to shrink and deform a bit, in this case making the center of the base not sit perfectly flush in the middle. I could fix this by printing on it's side, but that could ruin the finish and screws are cheap. The easiest fix is just drill a hole, with or without making an alignment jig, but since I want to verify my changes on stabilizer clearance, I figure I will just re-print the case again, with the hole, and just use that as the jig for drilling the base and kill two birds with one stone.


Next update (in a couple days probably) I should have this cleaned up and have a functional keyboard to show off.

I like the design/update process you've posted so far. Even though I haven't reached the build stage for anything I can understand what you said regarding CAD, haha.

Offline Leslieann

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 18 August 2017, 18:55:16 »
This is cool. Thanks for sharing. 
You're welcome.

Hey. I've feetless 3d printed case!
Awesome, nice work, excellent glow!

I like the design/update process you've posted so far. Even though I haven't reached the build stage for anything I can understand what you said regarding CAD, haha.
Thanks, I wasn't really intending for it to go there, but it's something I often tell people wanting to make something in cad and farm it out, so I should have known it would go there at some point.  If nothing else it proves what I was saying, it rarely works perfect the first time.

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Offline Leslieann

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 19 August 2017, 01:28:12 »
So I printed another after chopping out the supports and adding the extra screw, which made the base fit tighter.
176330-0

I also figured out that my print issue was due to retraction. I recently changed the hot end and my retraction changed, and while it worked great on other colors, apparently for the red and silver, it was a bit too much. My numbers worked fine on other colors and brands and I have never seen color effect retraction distance like that, but you're always learning. First print after lowering the distance came out perfect.


Assembled with some Cherry Blacks and scrap stabilizers, it turned out pretty good. Though, it's a lot of red, I'll probably need to change that.
176334-1
176332-2
176336-3
176338-4
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Offline WhyYouLikeDis

  • Posts: 10
Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 22 August 2017, 08:59:40 »
That's nice. Any chance I can get inner measurements? I need it for a project I'm working on and just my luck, I don't have any GH60 boards near by nor do I have my Ducky with me for the depth inside. What I do have however, is my dad who got his hands on some nice wood and me who wants a custom board sometime in the future.

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk


Offline Leslieann

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Re: Building a 3d printed GH60 case, Follow along.
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 23 August 2017, 19:51:53 »
All measurements are based on cheap digital calipers, but even that is faaar better than you will get with wood and a tape measure. Also remember, so long as it slides down inside, it's probably going to work, since the plate is not held in by anything other than the switches. Height on anything isn't really critical so long as it clears and taller sides can hide a lot. So my advice is don't try and do a low profile design with floating switches, go higher profile. Besides, unlike with 3d printed parts, you can always chop it down in height later if you want.

The main hole was 282.2 x 95.6mm, keep in mind, printer tolerances are in effect here, and the pcb can vary slightly as there are teeth where the pcbs were separated during manufacturing. Not to mention the plate at PCB are not the same size. I ended up with a bit less than 1mm clearance per edge.


Inner bottom of case to top of the ribs/pcb standoffs is 4.2mm
Inner bottom of case to top of plate is 11.5mm
Inner bottom of case to top of lip on the tall version is 18.5mm
My case bottom is 4mm thick for a total height of 22.5mm.
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