Planetary Ptablet Platform (Patreon)

Hey there, wonderful people!

You may remember the Planetary Phone Stand from a while back, the model that started as an experiment I thought nobody would ever want to print!  Well, periodically I get requests for a larger tablet version of that.  

Of course, that model is already a very tight squeeze on regular printers, so in order to support much larger, heavier devices we now have this multi-part assembled version whose main design goals were (a) be stable, and (b) look completely overengineered in the best possible "why yes, I do have a 3D printer!" way :D

Let's look at how this thing is put together!  

To give you a sense of scale, that's a 13" tablet in the images below:

The main parts of the structure are the two big, geared sides and the top plate that connects them.  There are additional bracing plates underneath, too, and all those parts bolt together with eight big hex-driven bolts (a hex driver tool is included as one of the printable parts!)

The planetary gears allow the angle of the platform to be adjusted, and it is locked into place by inserting pins into the radial slots around the outside.  The pictures here show a plate with two pins, but an additional model is provided for individual pins if you'd prefer something more subtle.

The shelf plate above has a fairly small ledge, but an alternative model is provided that has a much bigger one for more security (and provides a central gap for cables if desired):

Print Description 

This is a collection of parts that need to bolt together, and some of which are print-in-place articulated parts in their own right, so make sure your first layer is nice and neat and that there aren't any issues like stringing or overextrusion that might bind moving parts together or compromise dimensional accuracy!  That said, the tolerances on this model are as generous as possible to avoid being overly sensitive to those kinds of print problems!

Print Dimensions 

The biggest parts are the geared sides (162mm x 175mm on the print bed and 52mm tall) and the shelf platform (166mm x 161mm).  These will fit happily on a Prusa Mini bed!

It'll happily support a large tablet!

Supports needed? 

No supports required!

Infill? 

The one place that infill will matter on this model is where the centre of the planetary gears connects to strut that joins it to the base.  If you go really, really light on infill then you'll just be relying on perimeters for holding that together, which is not going to work.  That said, you won't need to go too heavy on infill, just don't go crazy minimal :)

Scalability 

You can probably scale this one up or down a little without compromising things too much, but at some point you'll have trouble getting those gears to move freely!  The teeth in those gears and the threads on the bolts are fairly chunky, so they should be conducive to scaling as long as the slicing is done carefully!

Print Orientation 

The geared parts print on their sides, the plates print right-way-up, and the bolts print on their ends, like so:

Note that the alternative pins aren't shown here, but they print flat, which makes them very strong (which is kind of the point!).  The pin plates print with vertical pins, which are inherently prone to breakage thanks to the orientation of the layer lines.  

File location 

You'll find the Stacking Slot Cups at 667 Plantetary Ptablet Platform

Link to dropbox post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31697592

Further Thoughts

There are some benefits to the assembled nature of this model!  Most notably, it's easy to change the shelf plate to an alternative version, or to modify the crosspieces to add more stability or to incorporate other features (hmm, a stylus holder might be useful)

If you've read this far you might also have noticed the gratuitous Beyond the Printocalypse graphic on the tablet in one of the photos!  I wanted a 3D printing t-shirt that wasn't a picture of a printer, and that's where my possibly-questionable sense of humour took me :)  If you're curious, you'll find it at: https://clockspring3d.threadless.com/

Happy printing!

xoxo

Sven.