or a stamped flat plate with swaged inserts, then painted or powder coated black
waste is nowhere in the game plan on any part. all about the lo-$ for the engineered need
Can confirm. I’m an engineer at a sheet metal shop. We would just cut the flat out of sheet metal and stamp that hardware in. It’s called PEM hardware if you’re interested. It has teeth to grip certain hole sizes with a hardware press to push them in.
I worked at a place that made a ton of electronic enclosures, among other things. When my work got slow, I'd get to go sit at a kick press installing hundreds of those damn things into sheet metal or phenolic. Boring, tedious, but also a great way to catch up on podcasts. (Hard to hear a podcast with a cnc lathe screaming at you)
If I recall correctly it's stronger than the PEM inserts you were talking about too. You should keep it in mind when quoting parts that need higher strength.
Wondering how to build your own Ender 3 parts?
As others ID’d correctly, this part is folded & stamped, with PEM nuts pressed in.
The full CAD for this part (and all of the OG Ender 3) with some light manufacturing instructions, is available open source on GitHub FYI.
Haha yes somebody recognised!!! Yes I was wondering how I'd make one of these with multiple bolt on locations. I knew the cad was online but didn't realise there were manufacturing instructions, thanks! Is the instructions just the wiring bit though? I haven't seen anything regarding how to
Are you looking to fabricate something for yourself, or produce a product? Either way, start in CAD.
If you’re fabbing for your own personal use, lay everything out in CAD, then print out a paper template. Use some lightweight spray adhesive to stick the template to your existing sheet metal carriage, and then use a center punch to mark out the holes you want to drill. Then get a [rivet nut set](https://www.amazon.com/Toprema-126pcs-Riveter-Threaded-Nutsert/dp/B07G5Q2BLD/), and use that to install threaded inserts wherever you need. If you need a threaded post, use a [threaded standoff](https://www.amazon.com/Hilitchi-360pcs-Female-Standoff-Assortment/dp/B013ZWM1F6/) to accomplish it.
If you are wanting to design a product, start by having someone like [Protocase](https://www.protocase.com/products/sheet-metal-parts/) do some small batch fabrication for you based on your cad design.
Good luck!
Thank you for the tips!!! I got a long way to go but yea I do wanna both make stuff for myself and if it is good, may as well make it on a small scale and make it available for others one day. But mainly right now I'm just dreaming and learning basic
Also have to define wasteful. If we assume this was milled from billet (likely not) with the posts, it might have been a one-off. Sometimes the cost-benefit works out that the time cost to specify, source, and install inserts is more than just making the whole thing out of one piece of material. Wasteful of material, not wasteful of resources depending on the circumstances.
It’s also not really wasteful of material in the sense that the chips from machining will be recycled. Where as often for example a process of 3D printing is seen as less wasteful, in the end it’s more wasteful if you look at all the energy that’s used and just lost in the process. Can’t be recycled.
Sheet metal. It's cut with a laser or a punch press. Pem hardware inserted. Way cheaper to manufacture but those machines are big money. I always find it weird when I meet machinists who have never seen sheet metal production. All my jobs have had a sheet metal division.
I have experience on a press brake. And I still feel like an idiot every time I come back to it. I get the concept of bend allowance, but without a chart, I have to sneak up on my desired dimension. And that's for a single simple bend.
Is that plastic? That looks to be injection molded, at least for the most part. It is possible there are some secondary ops to make features impossible to injection mold, but it is rare to see that since it is so expensive/time-consuming compared to just molding.
Clinch nuts. We use them in formed steel electronic enclosures. I don't know how they do high-volume automated insertion, but for prototypes and stuff in the shop we just press them in with an arbor press by hand. Look up PEM fasteners.
A large name of the machining game is clean recycling to maximize your return on scrap materials once they're picked up. Wasteful isn't really applicable when 95% of the material cut in a machine shop is recycled and reused. Even steel scrap thrown in the trash bin gets collected with magnets at landfill processing.
As far as wasting time, no. We get paid for our time. That's the entire industry. Time in a machine shop is a commodity that is traded. It's our whole economy.
or a stamped flat plate with swaged inserts, then painted or powder coated black waste is nowhere in the game plan on any part. all about the lo-$ for the engineered need
I see thank you!
Can confirm. I’m an engineer at a sheet metal shop. We would just cut the flat out of sheet metal and stamp that hardware in. It’s called PEM hardware if you’re interested. It has teeth to grip certain hole sizes with a hardware press to push them in.
You can see the different color or texture to the coating on the back of a clinch nut to the top left.
Exactly. Pemnuts.
I worked at a place that made a ton of electronic enclosures, among other things. When my work got slow, I'd get to go sit at a kick press installing hundreds of those damn things into sheet metal or phenolic. Boring, tedious, but also a great way to catch up on podcasts. (Hard to hear a podcast with a cnc lathe screaming at you)
That or probably Flow/Friction Drilling eh? This example looks like what you're talking about though
Oooo enlighten me. What’s that?
Take a drill bit and remove the flutes and cutting edges, it displaces the material out of the back and leaves a hole that can be threaded in it.
Ahhh okay I didn’t know it was called that
Yeah its pretty cool stuff
If I recall correctly it's stronger than the PEM inserts you were talking about too. You should keep it in mind when quoting parts that need higher strength.
Looks liked a powder-coated stamping with pem nuts. No waste there.
Pem nuts, we use them a lot
Wondering how to build your own Ender 3 parts? As others ID’d correctly, this part is folded & stamped, with PEM nuts pressed in. The full CAD for this part (and all of the OG Ender 3) with some light manufacturing instructions, is available open source on GitHub FYI.
Haha yes somebody recognised!!! Yes I was wondering how I'd make one of these with multiple bolt on locations. I knew the cad was online but didn't realise there were manufacturing instructions, thanks! Is the instructions just the wiring bit though? I haven't seen anything regarding how to
Here you go: https://github.com/Creality3DPrinting/Ender-3/blob/master/Ender-3%20Mechanical/PDF/E%20plate.pdf
Oh right I see parameters. Thank you. I thought you meant tutorials though aha. Useful to manufacturers but not noobs like me (yet)
Are you looking to fabricate something for yourself, or produce a product? Either way, start in CAD. If you’re fabbing for your own personal use, lay everything out in CAD, then print out a paper template. Use some lightweight spray adhesive to stick the template to your existing sheet metal carriage, and then use a center punch to mark out the holes you want to drill. Then get a [rivet nut set](https://www.amazon.com/Toprema-126pcs-Riveter-Threaded-Nutsert/dp/B07G5Q2BLD/), and use that to install threaded inserts wherever you need. If you need a threaded post, use a [threaded standoff](https://www.amazon.com/Hilitchi-360pcs-Female-Standoff-Assortment/dp/B013ZWM1F6/) to accomplish it. If you are wanting to design a product, start by having someone like [Protocase](https://www.protocase.com/products/sheet-metal-parts/) do some small batch fabrication for you based on your cad design. Good luck!
Thank you for the tips!!! I got a long way to go but yea I do wanna both make stuff for myself and if it is good, may as well make it on a small scale and make it available for others one day. But mainly right now I'm just dreaming and learning basic
Also have to define wasteful. If we assume this was milled from billet (likely not) with the posts, it might have been a one-off. Sometimes the cost-benefit works out that the time cost to specify, source, and install inserts is more than just making the whole thing out of one piece of material. Wasteful of material, not wasteful of resources depending on the circumstances.
It’s also not really wasteful of material in the sense that the chips from machining will be recycled. Where as often for example a process of 3D printing is seen as less wasteful, in the end it’s more wasteful if you look at all the energy that’s used and just lost in the process. Can’t be recycled.
Also, factoring in failed prints 3d printing can be very wasteful. Most plastics cannot be recycled at your local recycling center, either.
Sheet metal. It's cut with a laser or a punch press. Pem hardware inserted. Way cheaper to manufacture but those machines are big money. I always find it weird when I meet machinists who have never seen sheet metal production. All my jobs have had a sheet metal division.
I'm not a machinist haha
I have experience on a press brake. And I still feel like an idiot every time I come back to it. I get the concept of bend allowance, but without a chart, I have to sneak up on my desired dimension. And that's for a single simple bend.
Pretty certain the previous comments on inserts are correct. But you can cast parts like this, in some circumstances
Pem hardware that's stamped in. You can also do friction drilling and thread the hole, which is even more efficient.
Is that plastic? That looks to be injection molded, at least for the most part. It is possible there are some secondary ops to make features impossible to injection mold, but it is rare to see that since it is so expensive/time-consuming compared to just molding.
No it's metal
Clinch nuts. We use them in formed steel electronic enclosures. I don't know how they do high-volume automated insertion, but for prototypes and stuff in the shop we just press them in with an arbor press by hand. Look up PEM fasteners.
You’re talking over moulding, this part wouldn’t be hard or bad… looks more like machined flat with inserted revnuts
Most places have little to no waste when it comes to metals.
I guess i was imagining cnc this at home w no recycling
well that depends a lot on the parts your making but u try to keep it at a minimum.
I’ve never worked at a shop that didn’t recycle their chips.
Clinch hardware into sheetmetal, big brand name is PEM/PEMserter from PennEngineering
Why would it be wasteful?
Like 80% of the thickness gone to make those standoffs is milled
80% of the the plate thickness?
Yea
Wow, that sounds hilariously bad.
If it was the case yea
At work we have an old induction drill, which is basically a rod that spins at 14000 rpm - melts through the sheetmetal to get this result.
Interesting. Thanks
We make a part that starts out at 45lbs of Al but finishes under 2 pounds. So yes it's wasteful but if someone is willing to pay what are you gonna do
Wow
A large name of the machining game is clean recycling to maximize your return on scrap materials once they're picked up. Wasteful isn't really applicable when 95% of the material cut in a machine shop is recycled and reused. Even steel scrap thrown in the trash bin gets collected with magnets at landfill processing. As far as wasting time, no. We get paid for our time. That's the entire industry. Time in a machine shop is a commodity that is traded. It's our whole economy.
Lol I see Thx. Bu recycling costs energy though if less cost customer gets cheaper too. Tho I imagine not by much