X Band Waveguide Mount

thingiverse

I worked as a research assistant for two years and helped a master's student complete his thesis using my CAD skills learned in an art class. He was making an imaging array with Vivaldi antennae, but ended up using a hacked-up piece of wood instead of my beautiful CNC'd HDPE track. Now that I'm doing my master's degree, I've decided to use my old HDPE track to move my probe with a stepper motor. Anyway, since I won't be using his old antennas, I had to design a new mount. The last picture shows part of the old structure this was designed to interface with. Boy have my 3D modeling skills come a long way since back then! This model helped me get some decent preliminary results! Check out the 3D graph of a 1D scan of a simulated defect, showing what it looks like over a varying frequency range. Print Settings Printer: FFCreat0r Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 200 micron Infill: (See below) Notes: Below are recommended print settings for PLA: (use active cooling) Adaptor.stl: 30% infill, 3 shells, .2mm (60C Heated Build Platform, if applicable) WGMnt.stl: 50% infill, 2 shells, .2mm (60C HBP) WGMntLo.stl: 80% infill, 2 shells, .2mm (60C HBP) WGMntUp.stl: 50% infill, 2 shells, .2mm (60C HBP) No rafts/supports... designed for manufacturing! Oh don't print XBand_WG.stl. It's just included in case you want it for your waveguide mount! (Inside dimensions not guaranteed to be precise) Post-Printing Using 8-32 screws (sorry I don't have metric screws readily available) and nuts complete the following: Use 2x 1" 8-32 for the upper/lower Mnt Use 1x 1/2" 8-32 to attach the MntLower to the WGMnt. Put the nuts in the (3) hex holes (obviously) How I Designed This I measured the waveguide with my harbor freight calipers and modeled it. Outside dimensions should be reasonably accurate, inside, who knows? I didn't really spend much time there since waves won't need to propagate through a 3D printed part. Once modeled, the clamp was designed around it that could use readily available materials. It's somewhat inspired by scope rings but with more hard edges (but soft/blended where necessary) for a bold sexy appearance!