3d Printing Book

3D Printing for Home Automation

Imagine, Design and Print Open-Source Cases for HomeAutomation Projects

Marco Schwartz, PhD

Contents

Legal v

Introduction vii

0.1 How is the Book Organized? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

0.2 Why 3D Printing for Arduino Home Automation Systems? . . viii

0.3 What Will you Learn? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

0.4 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

1 Printing a Simple Case for Arduino 1

1.1 Learn to Get an Existing Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Print Your Case Using an Online Service . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 Test the Result with an Home Automation Project . . . . . . . 7

1.4 How to Go Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 Modifying an Existing Design 11

2.1 Arduino Board Design & Choosing a Case . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 Modifying the Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.3 Building the Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

iii

iv CONTENTS

2.4 How to Go Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3 Building a Case for a Temperature & Humidity Sensor 21

3.1 Arduino System & Choosing a Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 Designing the Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.3 Building the Case and Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.4 How to Go Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Conclusion 33

4.1 What Did You Learn in This Book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.2 How to go Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

5 Resources 35

5.1 General Information about 3D Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

5.2 3D Design Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

5.3 3D Printers Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5.4 3D Printing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5.5 Suggested Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Legal

Copyright 2014 by Marc-Olivier Schwartz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in anymanner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotationsembodied in critical articles or reviews.

v

vi LEGAL

Introduction

0.1 How is the Book Organized?

The book is organized around three chapters, each chapter describing a 3Dprinting project for home automation. The goal of this book is really to giveyou an overview of the design flow from your need of a case for your project,to the production of the case itself.

In Chapter 1, we are going to get an introduction on how to use 3D printing forhome automation projects. We are going to explore a website that proposes acollection of 3D designs and chose one for our project. In this first chapter, weare going to print this design as it is, and then insert a basic home automationsystem in it.

Then, in Chapter 2, we will take an open-source existing design and modifyit so it fits an custom-designed Arduino board. We will see how to take thedimensions of the board and modify the 3D design accordingly. We will thenproduce the design using an online 3D printing service.

Finally, in Chapter 3, we will again modify an existing design. However, in thislast chapter of the book we will do more modifications to the original design aswe want to integrate a complete home automation module in it. As an example,we will take a temperature & humidity measurement system with integratedWiFi. We will also design a simple top cover part from scratch so the cables ofthe system are not visible. We will then print this design and insert our homeautomation system in it.

vii

viii INTRODUCTION

0.2 Why 3D Printing for Arduino Home Automa-tion Systems?

I wanted to write about 3D printing for Arduino home automation projectssince I first discovered 3D printing. Building home automation projects withArduino is great, as you have a complete control on the hardware & softwarethat you are building.

However, there is one issue when building systems with an Arduino board,some components and a breadboard: it doesnt look good. At all. This is not aproblem if it will be hidden under some furniture, but it can be a problem if isis a motion sensor that has be installed in a room for example. There is also thesafety issue: if you have a system using the mains electricity, you dont wantsomebody to touch some bare cables. Finally, if you want to use your systemoutdoors, you need some way to protect it against bad weather.

And 3D printing solves most of these problems, and makes it available to thehobbyist that want to build his own home automation systems. By using 3Dprinting, you can easily & quickly build cases for your home automation sys-tems. It will make them look professional, will make them safer, and willprotect them again bad weather.

0.3 What Will you Learn?

In this book, the main thing you will learn is the process from the need for anenclosure for your home automation system, to the final product sitting on yourdesk.

You will first learn how to define what you need for your home automationsystem based on Arduino.

Based on this need, we will see that there are two options: choosing an alreadyexisting design, or designing your own 3D model so it fits your needs. To de-sign our own system, we will see how to use a dedicated 3D design software:

0.4. PREREQUISITES ix

OpenSCAD. This software is completely open-source, and is making 3D de-sign accessible to programmers and other people that are not familiar with 3Ddesign.

Wewill also learn how to produce the models that you design on your computer.As there are many 3D printers available on the market, I will always show youhow to use online 3D printing services so you can be sure to get the same resultsas I did.

You will also learn how to integrate home automation systems based on Ar-duino into 3D printed designs, to build systems that nearly look like profes-sional products.

0.4 Prerequisites

First of all, you dont need a 3D printer to realize the projects of this book.All the prints of this book were made using the online 3D printing service thatI recommend in each chapter and in the Resources chapter of the book. Ofcourse, you can print the designs of the book using your own 3D printer if youhave one. I personally have a PrintrBot Simple 3D printer, which is cheap andproduces amazing 3D prints.

You will also need to have some basic 3D design skills. I used the OpenSCADdesign software for all the projects of this book, which makes it easier for peo-ple that are more into programming than into traditional 3D design software.

You will need to have the OpenSCAD software installed on your computer formost of the chapters of this book. To download it, simply go to:

http://www.openscad.org/

x INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1

Printing a Simple Case forArduino

In this first chapter of the book, we are going to see how to print your first3D design for an home automation project. After defining the specifications ofthe enclosure, we will see how to find the perfect design online that is alreadyready to be printed.

Then, I will show you how you can print it without owning a 3D printer. Indeed,we will use an online 3D printing service for this task. As an example, I willshow you how I integrated an Arduino board and some components inside thisdesign.

1.1 Learn to Get an Existing Design

We are first going to see how to define what you want for your project, and howto get an already existing design that you can print without any modifications.

For this first chapter of the book, we will keep things simple. We just want asimple case that can host an Arduino board (while keeping the USB connectionapparent), and that can also host some cables and components.

1

2 CHAPTER 1. PRINTING A SIMPLE CASE FOR ARDUINO

In this chapter, we are going to use a 3D model for our project that was alreadydesigned by somebody else. There are many websites to find ready-to-print 3Ddesigns. The one I always use is called Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/

Go over there, and you will be greeted by the welcome page:

You can now start your search for a design. For this chapter, I simply searchedfor Arduino, and this is the result I got:

1.1. LEARN TO GET AN EXISTING DESIGN 3

As you can see, there are many designs to choose from. Some of are not evencases for Arduino, so you can rule them out. The nice thing is that you can alsosee the rating on the design and the number of people that already printed thedesigns. I usually use three criteria when choosing a design on this website:

The project has a significant number of likes (> 100) and has nice com-ments

The project has already been built by the designer and by other people,with pictures of the 3D prints

The project is available in STL format (for 3D printers) and in an open-source format that you can modify (OpenSCAD for example, which wewill use later in the book)

Following these criteria, I finally chose this case:

You can find it at the following address:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:20739

Still on the same page on Thingiverse, you can download the STL files, and


move to the next step: fabricating the design.

Note that you can find all the files for this chapter inside the GitHub repositoryof the book:

https://github.com/openhomeautomation/3d-printing-book

1.2 Print Your Case Using an Online Service

We are now going to see how to print the design we just chose using an online3D printing service. Of course, if you have your own 3D printer or access to aHackerspace or Fablab, you can just skip this step.

For this chapter, and also for the rest of the book, I chose an online servicecalled Shapeways. You can go to their page to see the services there are offer-ing:

http://www.shapeways.com/

Of course, you can also use other online 3D printing services. You will finda list of several 3D printing services in the Resources chapter of this book.You can now create an account on Shapeways. After that, you can go to theirUploading interface to upload your first STL file:

1.2. PRINT YOUR CASE USING AN ONLINE SERVICE 5

Here, you will be prompted to select a material for your design (I chose whiteplastic for this project). Then, you can add the design to your cart. You needto repeat the operation for all the parts of your design. Here, I had two parts toprint. Then, you can order your design & pay:

After some time (two weeks when I ordered the design for this chapter), youwill receive your parts in your mail. This is what I received:


As you can see, it is really accurate and corresponds to what I ordered basedon the design I chose on Thingiverse. The first thing to do after that is to testit. I simply inserted an Arduino board inside to see if it fitted correctly, whichit did:

1.3. TEST THE RESULT WITH AN HOME AUTOMATION PROJECT 7

1.3 Test the Result with anHomeAutomation Project

Finally, I wanted to test the design I received with some components I usedfrequently in home automation: a motion sensor, and a relay. I simply leftmy Arduino board inside the case, and I attached the two components to theArduino board using jumper cables. I also made sure that all the cables weregoing through the side hole of the top of the case:


I then simply closed the case using the top part:

1.4. HOW TO GO FURTHER 9

As you can see, it looks much nicer than if we just used the bare Arduino boardwith these two components connected to it.

1.4 How to Go Further

In this first chapter of the book, we saw how to choose an already designed casefor an home automation project. We printed this case using an online printingservice, and installed our project in it. As we saw, at the end the result is muchbetter than just leaving the bare Arduino board with cables around.

To go further on this first chapter, I really invite you to browse websites likeThingiverse to find designs you like. Not only it will help you find designs youneed for your projects, but it will also help you to get inspired to build yourown designs in the future.

Chapter 2

Modifying an Existing Design

In this second chapter of the book, we are going to go further and modify anexisting 3D design. First, we will define what we want to do, and choose analready existing design that can be modified using the OpenSCAD software.

Then, we will modify this design according to the specification of the systemwe want to put inside. Finally, we are going to print & test the design that wemodified using an online 3D printing service.

2.1 Arduino Board Design & Choosing a Case

The first step, as in the previous chapter, is to define exactly what we want. Inthis case, I just wanted an enclosure for an Arduino-compatible board I builtrecently for low-power home automation applications. Because this board issimilar to an Arduino Uno board, but has slightly different dimensions, I neededa custom case for it. This is a 3D rendering of the board:

11

12 CHAPTER 2. MODIFYING AN EXISTING DESIGN

Of course, one option is to design a new case from scratch. However, this is along process, and is really prone to errors. Instead, I will show you how to findan already existing design and modify it for your needs.

2.1. ARDUINO BOARD DESIGN & CHOOSING A CASE 13

I went back to Thingiverse and started looking for suitable cases. This time,not only you have to look for designs that have been tested & printed already,you also need to find designs that have a version that can be easily modified. Irecommend finding designs that proposes to download an OpenSCAD version(which is the software we will use in this book). After a while, I found thisparametric case for Arduino:

The case is available at:


Below the description of the case, in the Downloads section, you can see thatthere is an OpenSCAD version of the case:


I simply downloaded the design, and proceeded to the editing of the file.



2.2 Modifying the Case

Now that we have the design file, its time to add some modifications so it fitsthe system we want to put inside. Simply open the file with OpenSCAD, andthis is what you should get:

2.2. MODIFYING THE CASE 15

OpenSCAD has two main windows: one the left, you have the code editorwhere you can writecode to modify the design. On the right, you have a livepreview of the design in 3D. This is how the initial design looks like:


In this chapter, we are not going to dive into the code and add new parts. Weare simply going to change the variables at the beginning of the file, whichcompletely define the dimensions of the board:

arduino_width = 54;arduino_length = 69;arduino_usb_width = 13;arduino_usb_height = 15;arduino_usb_x = 9.5;arduino_power_width = 9.5;arduino_power_height = 15;arduino_power_x = 3.5;

wall_thickness = 2;wall_height = 7;bottom_thickness = 1;side_shoulder = 6;

The next step is to take the dimensions of the board you want to fit inside the 3Ddesign. For the board I used as an example, I needed to modify the dimensionsof the board, but also the sizes & positions of the USB connector and the powerconnector.

To get the dimensions of the board, I simply opened the design in Eagle anddraw the relevant dimensions:

2.2. MODIFYING THE CASE 17

Once you got the correct dimensions of the board, you can enter them insideOpenSCAD. These are the modified dimensions:

arduino_width = 52.1;arduino_length = 43.2;arduino_usb_width = 19.55 - 10.4;arduino_usb_height = 15;arduino_usb_x = 10.4;arduino_power_width = 19.05 - 10.8;arduino_power_height = 16;arduino_power_x = 10.8;



Note that I also made the bottom of the case thicker, and made the case a bithigher. This is a rendering of the modified design:



Before you can print the design, you need to export it as an STL file. To do so,simply go to File>Export>Export as STL.

2.3. BUILDING THE CASE 19

2.3 Building the Case

When you are satisfied with your design, it is now time to build it. Once more,I used Shapeways to build the design. Of course, if you have your own 3Dprinter, you can use it for this task. This is what I received after 2 weeks:

This is the same design next to the custom Arduino board that I mentionedearlier:



Lets summarise what we learned in this chapter. We saw how to choose analready existing 3D design and modify it. Following the specifications we de-fined at the beginning, we saw how to use OpenSCAD to modify a 3D designjust by using some code. We also produced the modified 3D design.

There are many ways to go further with what you learned in this project. Youcan for example go back to Thingiverse and find designs you like. Try to finddesigns that have a version you modify easily with OpenSCAD. Then, exper-iment by modifying these designs so they suit your needs for your home au-tomation projects.

Chapter 3

Building a Case for aTemperature & HumiditySensor

In this last chapter of the book, we are going to go further and not only modifythe dimensions of a design, but add new elements. We are going to designa case that can host a complete home automation system based on Arduino:a temperature & humidity sensor that has WiFi connectivity. The Arduinosystem will be based on an Arduino Uno board, a prototyping shield, and somecomponents & cables.

3.1 Arduino System & Choosing a Case

As usual, lets first define what we want to do in this chapter. I wanted tointegrate an home automation system that measures temperature & humidity ina room and transmit data via WiFi. Here is a picture of the project:

21

22CHAPTER 3. BUILDINGACASE FORATEMPERATURE&HUMIDITY SENSOR

As you can see, it is quite messy. This is why I wanted to have a case to putthe project in. The case should cover every cables of the project, leave the USB& the power connectors accessible, and also have holes so that the temperaturesensor could work correctly.

I measured the dimensions of the Arduino board + shield + all components, soI knew how to modify the case design later.

As a starting point, because the project is based on the Arduino Uno board, Iused the same design that we used in the previous chapter. Remember, you canfind the design at the following address:


I simply downloaded the design in the OpenSCAD format, so we can modifyit later.


3.2. DESIGNING THE CASE 23


3.2 Designing the Case

We can now open the design in OpenSCAD and start the modifications. Thisis the design in OpenSCAD:

There are three things we need to do here so the design fits what we want toachieve:

We need to modify the dimensions of the design so we can fit a shieldand some components inside the case

We need to add holes on the side of the case so air can come in We need to design a top cover for the case

We first need to modify the dimensions of the case, and adjust the height. Thisis done by modifying the variables at the start of the file:


arduino_width = 57;arduino_length = 69;arduino_usb_width = 13;arduino_usb_height = 50;arduino_usb_x = 9.5;arduino_power_width = 9.5;arduino_power_height = 50;arduino_power_x = 6.5;


This will enlarge the design slightly so we can an Arduino shield on top of anArduino board, and will also enlarge the height of the case so we can fit somecomponents and cables on top of the project.

Then, we need to put some holes on the side of the case, to let air pass so thetemperature readings can be accurate. The first step is to define the dimensionsof the holes:

side_hole_width = 5;side_hole_height = 30;

Then, we will create the holes by creating a 3D box (called cube inside Open-SCAD), place it to at the right space, subtract this box to the case to make ahole, and finally repeat the process several times.

It starts by creating a very long cube that goes from one side of the case to theother, with the dimensions we defined before:

cube([500,side_hole_width,side_hole_height], center=true);

Then, we translate the box so it is at the desired place inside the design. Notethat we already introduce an index called i, so we can just translate the boxlater:

3.2. DESIGNING THE CASE 25

translate([arduino_width/2.0,side_hole_width-arduino_length/2 + i*10,0]){cube([500,side_hole_width,side_hole_height], center=true);

}

After that, we introduce a for loop to repeat the boxes automatically with aconstant space between them:

for ( i = [0 : 1 : 6] ){translate([arduino_width/2.0,side_hole_width-arduino_length/2 + i*10,0]){cube([500,side_hole_width,side_hole_height], center=true);

}}

This is the result at this point:

After that, we just need to put it into the difference() function so it subtractsthe boxes with the main case. Here is the final design of the case:


We are now going to design the top cover. The design of this part is very simple,as we simply want it to cover the design when it is in operation. It consists intwo boxes of different dimensions, placed on top of each other:

arduino_width = 57;arduino_length = 69;wall_thickness = 2;

cube([arduino_width,arduino_length,wall_thickness], center=true);

translate([0,0,wall_thickness]){cube([arduino_width+wall_thickness*2,arduino_length+wall_thickness*2,wall_thickness],center=true);

}

Here is the final version of the top cover:

3.3. BUILDING THE CASE AND TEST 27



3.3 Building the Case and Test

It is now time to build the design. Again, I used Shapeways for the task, butyou can of course use your own 3D printer. Here is what I received in the mailtwo weeks later:


I immediately tried it with the home automation system I mentioned before.Here is the result with the Arduino system inside:

3.3. BUILDING THE CASE AND TEST 29

And finally, here is the result with the top cover on the case:


As we can see, it keeps all the functions of the home automation systems, andit is much cleaner if you want to use such system in your home.


Lets summarize what we learned in this chapter. We learned how to chooseand modify an already existing design. Not only we modified the dimensionsof the design, but we also added some extra elements like holes on the side ofthe design. We also designed a part from scratch to close the case when thesystem is in operation.

To go further, I really invite you now to start designing & building your own 3Ddesigns from scratch using OpenSCAD (or any other software of your choice).Designing 3D models and then using them for home automation is an exciting

3.4. HOW TO GO FURTHER 31

process, and I really invite you to experiment with it with what you learned inthis chapter.

Chapter 4

Conclusion

4.1 What Did You Learn in This Book?

In this book, we learned about how to design & 3D-print cases for your Arduinohome automation projects.

In the first chapter, we saw how to choose an already existing design for yourproject. We saw how to browse dedicate websites to find a suitable design.Then, we saw how to choose an online 3D printing service to get the designprinted. Finally, we saw how to use the design that we printed to build a simplehome automation system with a nice enclosure.

In the second chapter of the book, we took another approach: we modified thedimensions of an existing design so it fits a custom-designed Arduino board.This chapter was an introduction to the OpenSCAD design software. Again,we saw how to produce this design using an online 3D printing service.

Finally, in the last chapter of the book we took again an existing design andmodified it. This time, we not only modified the dimensions the design butwe also added some elements to the design. We also designed a cover for thisdesign from scratch, so there are no apparent cables. Again, we printed thisdesign, and inserted our home automation system inside.

33

34 CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION

4.2 How to go Further

There are many ways to go further and build even more exciting designs withwhat you learned in this book. The first thing is to experiment with what yousaw in this book. Browse online repositories of 3D printable designs and findsome that suit your needs. Then, use an online 3D printing service and printthe design.

The next step is to start taking existing designs and modifying them, just aswe saw in this book. You can simply take an existing design and modify itsdimensions so it fits your project, or add/remove elements to the design.

Finally, the next step is to design your own 3D models for your home automa-tion designs. This task can be scary at first, as you will be starting from a blankpage in your 3D modeling software. However, this is also the most exciting:you have complete freedom to design exactly what you want. And of course,dont forget to share your newly created design with the community after youprinted & tested it!

As a finishing remark, note that 3D printing is an always evolving domain, andthe best is to experiment, experiment, and experiment. And of course have funalong the way. Also, if you have the opportunity dont hesitate to visit a localcommunity like a Hackerspace to print your designs. You will usually findmany people that are passionate about 3D printing and that can help you out.

Chapter 5

Resources

The following is a list of the best resources concerning 3D printing & 3D designfor home automation. I organized this chapter in different categories so you canfind the information you need easier.

5.1 General Information about 3D Printing

Instructables: A website containing step-by-step projects. Search therefor 3D printing or cases and you will find a lot of exciting projects.

Adafruit Learning System: An online learning platform with a selectionof high-quality step-by-step articles on making things in general. Someprojects are about 3D printing.

5.2 3D Design Software

OpenSCAD: The software I usually recommend for open-source 3D de-signs. I recommend it because is easy to share the code describing the3D objects, for example on GitHub.

35

36 CHAPTER 5. RESOURCES

TinkerCad: An online 3D design software. The cool thing is that youdont have to download anything, its all free, and you can easily sharedesigns with other users.

Blender: A more traditional 3D design software, that can also be usedfor 3D printing. Its also completely open-source and free.

5.3 3D Printers Manufacturers Printrbot: A company selling affordable 3D printers. MakerBot: One of the most famous brand of 3D printers. They are moreexpensive than other brands, but they sell high quality products.

Cubify: Another brand of 3D printers, that are specialized in 3D printersthat can be used by anyone.

5.4 3D Printing Services Shapeways: My favorite 3D printing service. The interface to uploadfiles is great, and you can choose between a wide range of materials foryour prints.

Sculpteo: Another online 3D printing service. 3D Hubs: An alternative to the more traditional 3D printing services. 3DHubs offers to find somebody who has a 3D printer near you, so you canhave your design 3D-printed locally at the best price.

5.5 Suggested Reading 3D Printing: The Next Industrial Revolution: A good introduction onhow 3D printing will change the way we produce things in the next years.

Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers: A good guideto know how to choose a 3D printer that is best suited for your needs.

5.5. SUGGESTED READING 37

OpenSCAD for 3D Printing: An excellent guide on how to use Open-SCAD for 3D printing.

LegalIntroductionHow is the Book Organized?Why 3D Printing for Arduino Home Automation Systems?What Will you Learn?Prerequisites

Printing a Simple Case for ArduinoLearn to Get an Existing DesignPrint Your Case Using an Online ServiceTest the Result with an Home Automation ProjectHow to Go Further

Modifying an Existing DesignArduino Board Design & Choosing a CaseModifying the CaseBuilding the CaseHow to Go Further

Building a Case for a Temperature & Humidity SensorArduino System & Choosing a CaseDesigning the CaseBuilding the Case and TestHow to Go Further

ConclusionWhat Did You Learn in This Book?How to go Further

ResourcesGeneral Information about 3D Printing3D Design Software3D Printers Manufacturers3D Printing ServicesSuggested Reading

Documents

3d Printing Book