I tried PLA, PETG and the HK color change ABS. PLA doesn’t really make sense for this. PETG I think printed the best and felt the strongest. ABS is really a pain to print, and doesn’t feel that strong. Haven’t tried an enclosure yet. I’m not sure that the temperature advantage over PETG is worth it. But that color change is very compelling.
PETG was not easy to print for me, in general. I believe I had to slow first layer down to 10mm/s, and globally limit to 50mm/s. Lots of stringing and blobbing. Enough blobbing, and the print fails. But I don’t remember having the corners lift with such intensity, so if the first layer stuck and blobbing was not too bad, dimensionally the part came out good. And strong. This is Inland’s PETG from Microcenter, which is about the cheapest I could find, $19 per 1kg.
For flex for rubber caps, I tried SainSmart TPU and HK TPU. They’re both a stringy mess I think they’re both 95A but the HK is noticeably stiffer. Either will work. They’re among the cheapest flex filament. SS was amazon prime about $27 for .8kg. HK is about $29 for .8kg.
Most of the stringing is your orint setting. It is a balance between temperature and retraction. Hk flex is stringy and I dont lower temp just to get layer bond better. Mkst of the stringing is inside and I burn it with blow torch, just a quick pass. Depending on which surface you print, petg sticks to pei like crazy.
It boils down to how good you knkw your printer and how good it is set up:)
nice work. i looked around for 3d print services and they are all way way way more expensive than you are, even with tax and shipping…kinda crazy how cheap you sell those modules.
I hadn’t planned on using these but thinking about it now they would be kinda perfect and you could easily take the battery apart for flights so regardless of the size you could take it anywhere. I hope they can make them in 20700 or 21700 size…
Although it would be easy for me to make for different cell size, little demand will not cover tooling cost. I think that there is no reason to choose other format than 18650. They are most dense, have most power.
BTW, if any of you guys are also into powerbanks(powerwalls). I have a design for that. Its a 5 slot module utilizing same principal for 10 parallel cells. Bolts to the wall and interconnects with each other to form large modules. It is designed so fuses could be used per 2 cells.
Well the new cell sizes are like 50-60% + or more, more powerful so it would make sense to use them… I was going to have to use a 12s6p with 30Q’s for my AWD build but instead with these cells I can go 12s4p
@agniusm i’ve been toying in my mind the following idea and would like to get your opinion on its viability.
I’ve been thinking of creating a 16 cell long module and using two 8 cell tabs welded in the middle. Since uncut tabs have holes on both side, by bending the hole tabs inwards and welding them you could create a 16 cell long tab.
My plan is not to create a 16P battery pack, but a 4S 4P with this design. You think it would work? I would then connect 3 and make a 12S 4P modular pack made from 3 rows of 16 cell modules.
These modules could also have terminals on both ends or not. Depending on the application.
@uigiroux show me that cell capable of 50-69% more and i will prove you wrong @Ronny_CTS its possible. You cant bend tabs invard as cells are tight and there is no room. You could cut and weld tabs with tig though if you know someone. Problem is balance wires. No room for them unless you drill out sides and run them externally. You would also need to double wire for bms. Why not just take 4P module and series to 12S ?
A lot better that way.
I think they’re both 95A but the HK is noticeably stiffer. Either will work. They’re among the cheapest flex filament. SS was amazon prime about $27 for .8kg. HK is about $29 for .8kg.
(I finally get to say that!) I had the 25r cells and was going to use it for a dual jet Spud with Turnigy 260kv
