3D printing question

[South City]

I saw some custom light mounts in another thread that looked pretty awesome. They could be the solution that I'm looking for to mount my canopy while keeping the water surface open. The cost to pay a machinist to carve them out of blocks of solid aluminum would be prohibitive though.

For those of you here who work with 3D printing, I have a question. Could mounts like you see in the photos below be made on a 3D printer? They'd be about 10 to 12 inches in length and 4 of them together would need to support approximately 50 to 70 pounds worth of canopy. Each leg would need to be able to handle two bolts sunk into the top as a way to attach them to the structure.

For me, the aesthetics aren't super important. I could lose that carved out center string of holes and not really mind.

Could these be done at this size and able to hold that much weight with the media available today in a 3D printer?

 

[mpgrant77]

What you are asking for could be done. For my printer they are a little to long to make in one piece but could easily be made in 2 pieces and fastened together. Strength is not an issue. Plastic is more flexible than metal obviously so you would probably want a little more of a holding feature on the bottom of the leg to attach to the aquarium.

 

[mjpelikan]

Would heat be an issue?

 

[mpgrant77]

Only if it is over 200 degrees F. If your light puts out that kind of heat at the legs I think you would have bigger issues.

 

[South City]

Would this be something that you'd want to make on your setup? If so, I'd be interested to hear your price. Please PM if you want to keep it private.

What you are asking for could be done. For my printer they are a little to long to make in one piece but could easily be made in 2 pieces and fastened together. Strength is not an issue. Plastic is more flexible than metal obviously so you would probably want a little more of a holding feature on the bottom of the leg to attach to the aquarium.

 

[mpgrant77]

I need some kind of rough sketch with basic dimensions to start with. If you can work something up that shows the edge of your tank with dimensions and what the top of the leg will be attached to, along with how high you want the light over the tank I can work something up on a price and design for you.

 

[South City]

Thanks. I'll get that together. Suspect it will be a few days as things are a bit busy at work.

Excited to see what you can come up with.

I need some kind of rough sketch with basic dimensions to start with. If you can work something up that shows the edge of your tank with dimensions and what the top of the leg will be attached to, along with how high you want the light over the tank I can work something up on a price and design for you.

 

[mpgrant77]

No problem just get it to me when you can and we can go from there.

 

[South City]

I think I'm going to look into some options that involve metal legs. The more I thought about it, the idea of using plastic that has some flex in it to support 40+ pounds over my tank made me a bit uncomfortable.

I really appreciate you taking the time to consider it initially. Thank you. I'm sure that I'll have needs of your services for another item in the future!

 

[mpgrant77]

no problem.