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3D modeling 3d printing electronics

Case for a FM-radio (Velleman MK194)

Making good use of a 3d printer

I have a MK194 radio kit from Velleman and turned it into a radio some  time ago. The radio looks pretty cool with all the electronic components visible but the wooden case was awful. I therefore decided to build a new case for it. Of course I want to use my Hephestos 2 printer from BQ to make this case.

First I designed a case in FreeCAD. I use FreeCAD for a couple of weeks now, together with OpenSCAD, but this is the first design with multiple parts that I create with it. After several iterations I finally decided to have a design consisting of three parts. A box, a support plate for the radio PCB and a lid. The radio fits into the support and the lid which are then screwed onto the box.

radio_case
Design for the radio case made with FreeCAD consisting of three parts (the red part just represents the MK194 PCB). I made a nice radius on the lid and the MK194 fits nicely between the support and the lid.

The box is by far the biggest 3D print that I made with the Hephestos. It took the printer almost seven! hours to print it. Luckily it came of fine the first time. Both the lid and the support plate were printed in less than an hour each.

I think the radio looks really nice now much better than the wooden case at least. I’m getting the hang of FreeCAD. The learning curve is steeper than OpenSCADs but it is worth it. Creating a more complex design is just faster with FreeCAD than with OpenSCAD (at least for me).

Here are the .stl files:

P1020760
The 3d print consists of three parts: a box, a support plate and a lid.
P1020761
The inside of the lid just fits over the PCB.
P1020762
All part assembled, just need four large metal screws to keep everyting in place.
P1020765
My FM-radio on my electronics workbench.

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