An ABS 3D Print in the Sun

The screws are rusted, the brass inserts darkend with exposure to salt and rain, the post it is clamped to is likewise suffering from corrosion in the salt air, but the 3D print is just fine.

An ABS 3D print that has spent four years in intense tropical sunlight.
An ABS 3D print that has spent four years in intense tropical sunlight.

Some plastics used for 3D printing decay fairly rapidly with exposure to sunlight and weather. Certianly PLA, the most common 3D plastic, crumbles to dust in just a year of harsh weathering. ABS or Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene on the other hand, seems to perform quite well.

Working at Symbrosia I have created dozens upon dozens of designs, many of which are installed in the extremely harsh environment of our outdoor cultivation area. Here the prints sit in intense tropical Hawaiian sunlight for days on end, subject to both intense UV light and high temperatures. The plastic is also subject to continual exposure to salt water used in our operation, or raining from the sky on days with heavy surf, when the waves are crashing just 100 yards away. It does not get much worse than this.

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Rotating Tube Rings

No project is ever completely done, even one “finished” decades ago… My 6″ f/5 RFT is the current incarnation of my first telescope, Primero. Built into an 8″ irrigation pipe this ‘scope is a rich field ‘scope that is just fun to use. And yes, I worked on this telescope again.

A set of new 3D printed tube rings for Primero, the 6" f/5 RFT
A set of new 3D printed tube rings for Primero, the 6″ f/5 RFT

One feature I have always meant to change is the tube rings. Simple aluminum straps that I kept loose enough to allow the ‘scope to be rotated to keep the eyepiece at a convenient angle for viewing. The issue is that in use the tube would constantly slide down through the rings throwing the mount off-balance.

I finally got around to fixing that. A set of 3D printed rings along with a stop mounted to the tube that prevented this sliding, keeping everything centered and balanced. The rings are attached to each other by the two dovetails and a handle forming a cage.

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