Nice job on the redesign! I like it!
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Does it work good on the hinge considering its one print not two parts?
yeah it swings really nicely and it is very strong considering that it doesn’t have to be forced together like it would be if it was printed in two pieces. At the very beginning of my video you can see it swinging as the garage door goes up and down. Also at about 1:30 in the video you can se it swing pretty effortlessly.
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Did you print it in ABS considering that the sun in the summer on the garage door might cause it to get very hot? PLA would probably just melt/get mushy
no it is PLA I live in St George Utah with a south facing garage. had Arrons PLA bracket up in the hottest months I didn’t see any warping.
if it is an issue for another though i could print them in ABS and ship them new ones. But I am pretty confident that it will be fine.
I’m going to print one tomorrow in ABS and see how it goes. I’ll post some pics once its done.
I know PLA has issues in the sun as I printed something for my car and it got destroyed on the first sunny day.
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Hello Lachlan
You have a very nice simple one-piece design that removes alignment issues. This design could be used on metal mailbox doors. The design would have to be modified a little to make it resistant to rain. The swing-away part would have to be an enclosure (5 sided) for holding the sending unit, the magnet would be attached to the fixed part. The enclosure would be a protective shell that covers all of the rest, making it very sleek looking. The sending unit could be loosely held in the protective shell via a keeper wall (maybe like a baby kangaroo in a mother’s pouch).
To change the battery, the outer shell would be swung out and upward 90° or more, (if the shell’s top surface is sloped downward a little - this downward slope could also help shed rain water). The sending unit would then slide out into your hand, if resistant to free sliding, some sticky tape could pull it out. Or a small hole could be created in the bottom surface of the shell to permit pushing out the sending unit with a tooth pic.
Presently, some removable caulking could be used to seal up water entry points in the sending unit to adapt your design to the outside of a mailbox door.
Again you have a nice design.
Victor Maletic
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Thanks, I really appreciate that. Also that is a good idea I will try to thank about that one. One thing that might make that difficult is actually printing it. Some designs print better then others. Not saying it isn’t possible just needs to be thought through.
However you should really get into 3D modeling and printing. It is a really fun hobby. Since you have ideas you would probably be good at it.
Yes, I think printing this in one-piece is a challenge. Perhaps printing it open and shell cavity down would work. The pouch partition within the cavity would need consideration, or maybe it could be a separate snap in piece.
I also use the hinge method (second panel) only issue I’ve had is if the hinge swings to much, the magnet attaches itself to the garage door panel…and now it shows open all the time. No biggie but consider that when buying a hinge.
if you have the sensor swing and the magnet be stationary then you should be able to avoid that issue. I ran into a similar issue when working on the design of my hinge.
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Excellent!!! Thanks for another way of solving this issue.
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As long as it works right? :). Paint it black and it’ll fit in with the stuff up there and you’ll never be able to tell it’s there!
I’m not so concerned with the looks.
When it opens it triggers two wyze bulbs I have in the garage to turn on. Triggers them to turn off again when it closes or after five minutes of being on. Still trying to get the bulbs to trigger on/off when the camera I have in there detects motion.
Thanks all for the great ideas! I mounted my contact sensor on a hinge. It works great, but I had to add the plastic clip because I mounted it too close to the metal rail, and I had already drilled my holes.
Another solution to your situation with the magnet sticking may be taping on a small styrofoam block to one of the components. Small enough to allow magnetic latching in one configuration and yet big enough to prevent latching in the opposite position.
Till later
Thanks for the advise…never would have thought of that.
Steven Draksler
