Reviving a destroyed Pint

  • @Lia , what you are doing is amazing! Thanks for bringing us all along with your photos and careful documentation. {{Applause!!}}

    I do wish you could simply order replacement rails, etc.

  • @HorsePlay Love the name!
    Thanks for the compliments and taking an interest :)

    I'd love to be able to buy the spare parts direct from them. I'm at least thankful they do sell replacement parts for the bits that do get damaged with use like the bumpers, pads and fenders to name a few.

  • While waiting on some materials to properly build up a table suitable to rout my rails (tried a jig, was messy) I'm working on making my own footpads. First bit to do was the connector itself. It seems Amphenol LTW make these but from some back and forth on reddit is seems you can't buy them :(

    Thankfully it's not too hard to just make my own

    Fit is nice and snug with it able to lock in place like the stock one. Got some thin brass tubing coming next week so I can make the contacts inside.

  • Can't catch a break, seems these Pint parts are extremely hard to come by. Tried reaching out to some 3rd party repair but been ghosted so I can only assume they don't have any.

    The controller housing is bent beyond repair let alone the mounting fins completely torn off. With the little detail I can pull I'm currently just making my own. Unsure how watertight it'll be but I can find solutions.

    Currently on the 5th test model and managed to lock in the general shape, bolt spacing, light bar position, power button, cable coupling and motor/pad holes. Need to make a top half and put in some holes for the bolts.

    Contemplating if I should make my own top half. Would be easier in some ways and a nightmare in getting that curve between the front and back to line up. Transparent filament kinda sucks so might end up making it compatible and use my current lid.

    In regards to making it compatible with stock rails really depends on if I'm just that much of a CAD legend and guess it or if someone could swoop in and get me some crucial measurements since I have a hunch the spacing left and right isn't the same.

  • @Lia what filament you using? I would use either abs or petg and brush on some solvent then some plastic slurry. Would have to use mek for the petg tho.

    I've got a buddy that has one of those cheap $200 cnc contraptions and he used it to mill out a custom aluminum oil pan (i think?) for an old tractor. About the same size. It took a while tho. Those things are meant for wood art, jewelry and other really light duty stuff.

    I've used to bootleg a few Evinrude parts before. They were fairly small tho. Expensive but very effective.

  • @NotSure Curretly PLA, mostly for ease of prototyping and my printer isn't setup for any other filaments. I avoid ABS since it's not as dimensioanlly accurate as I would like without putting in the adjusted tolerances in my models. PETG might be a safe bet but will see how my PLA holds up since I get some pretty tough prints with it.

    Was in the process of making a CNC mill but it got stuck on the back burner due to other projects taking up time and money.

    Tempting to use those other services for alternative filaments. Definitely expensive though, I had a guy on Thingiverse tell me they wanted to print one of my modified OW stand designs and were quoted $700 through one of the printing services!

  • @Lia Yeah shapeways can be pricey. Aluminum SLM is pretty neat tho. Might wanna try uploading a model just to get a quote. I got a decent sized nylon part for $75 a few years back. Works well.

  • Had my sis ask me why I didn't just 3D scan the broken controller housing. 3 reasons that I'll share in case anyone else is curious.

    1. Most scanning apps either don't know how big the actual object is or isn't precise enough which will require extra fiddling in CAD after.
    2. Anyone that has ever tried modifying a 3D scan will tell you how painful it is. No flat surfaces or geometrically accurate angles make for a nightmare. Tried modifying a GoPro mount once that was 3D scanned and uploaded to Thingiverse. Spent hours just fixing errors.
    3. The housing is bent, so even if I pull the geometry I'd have to unbend it in CAD which isn't particularly easy as mentioned above.

    So I've been painstakingly making a variety of test prints along the way, slowly getting each new addition to the model dialled in. I'll of course be making some adjustments to make it more suitable for 3D printing and just a few extra bits for my own purposes.

    Anyone got any requests to add to the design?
    Tempted to make a version that will accept alternative power buttons since the existing one is simply a dome switch under a silicone cover.
    In case anyone wanted to know what the Pint button looked like taken apart.

  • Home stretch on the controller housing!

    All the internal components fit nice and snug. Even managed to get that pesky o-ring to fit.

    Stock top shell fits perfectly. Waiting on some bolts to come as I ran out of 25mm M4 bolts. Won't be using the stock bolts which to some might be a bonus.

    The mounting fins are guestimated as to their spacing but with all the info I've managed to pull I'd be shocked if I was maybe 1-2mm off width or lengthways.

    While designing I realised the stock lower shell has a thermal pad to help transfer heat from the ESC. So in order to at least try dissipate the heat I've built in spacing for a 50x25x5mm heat sink. Not sure if it will be enough but considering the shell acts as thermal mass rather than a heat sink then I might be safe...

    This is version 10 of the prototypes. V11 will be the final (assuming nothing else crops up down the line).

    Any additional things you'd think might be good to add?

  • @Lia outstanding work! Very impressive. Only thing i could even think of is maybe a 60V port for adding a vnr mod, and I honestly have no idea if that's even possible or effective. Maybe a USB charging port for a GPS tracker? Again, i have absolutely no idea if it's even possible. Just tossing stuff at the wall. Get that cnc up and running next! Just a billet and some reliable gcode away from ur own Etsy store lol. Great job so far.

  • @NotSure Not a bad idea, there is a 5v line which looks to be for the hall sensors in the hub and LEDs. Assuming it's not limited to a super low current I'd imagine I could piggy back off it and add a usb port. Worst case you install buck converter off the XT60 and step it down to 5v.

    For VnR I'm not sure there would be room to fit a port. FM did a good job squeezing in the connectors on there with little room for anything else. With some imagination I could maybe think of something.

    Next step is for sure the rails and then while I do that will attempt my own footpads.

  • @Lia what material have you printed with? Any concerns with temps on or around the heatsink?

  • @stinkyface PLA currently still, was considering PETG for the final one but will see if I can get away with PLA at a higher wall thickness and infill density. I'm not sure what sort of heat the ESC is going to put out yet but will be able to bench it once it's put together and let it run under load.

    Hopefully that puny 50x25mm heat sink is enough to pull whatever heat FM figured they needed to get rid of. Since the XR puts it's heat into a bit of sheet metal with no airflow I imagine it's not doing a whole lot and might be similar for the Pint.

  • @Lia
    Truly amazing work on this 3D build out. I will guess that others likely have some interest in what you have done with this.... Bravo. Looking forward to the final assembly.

  • @LidPhones Cheers :)
    Seems to have a few interested, I'm just hoping it is a truly suitable replacement. Pretty sure I can find a way to work around additional issues.

  • @Lia do you use a shroud on your 3dp? I made one for my old R1 and increased the nozzle diameter to 0.8mm. I made some mounting hardware for a bimini top with nearly 100% infill using PLA and they are really solid! I had also bonded a sheet of PEI to the pre-heated glass build plate. It oozes like crazy but it prints like the blazes with a .5mm layer height. 20 mins per that particular fixture! I use Simplify3D. I'm done bragging...

  • @NotSure Mine sits in my server cupboard which gets a nice ambient temp of around 35c. prevent some first layer warping without a heated bed but needed to get a bigger cooling fan on the hotend to stop some crazy heat creep gumming up the heat break.

    I typically print 0.4mm nozzle, 0.3mm layer height and 20% infill on stuff like this, 10% if I can get away with it and I've not had issues with stuff breaking. That said I do want to try a Hemera hotend so I can dial in retraction since there's a narrow margin between clogs and hairy prints.

    For some bigger stuff I could have done with a bigger nozzle like yours. The poor printer has done 3 day prints before with that pathetic 0.4mm nozzle xD

  • @Lia said in Reviving a destroyed Pint:


    Yeah the only data points we have are the generic "controller temp", I've seen mine at about 45 deg C here in the tropics, it's getting pretty close to PLA softening temp. PETG only gives a bit more room. FWIW, I'd do what you are planning, trial and error is a slow but effective way to evolve a design.

  • @Lia said in Reviving a destroyed Pint:


    I've never tried to print that long before. Before adding the shroud, nozzle and the PEI laminate, I would try batching multiple ABS parts into a single run, and I'd always end up with an awful bird nest of ruined prints by morning. From the look of it, you've certainly dialed in your printer well. Practically zero z-wobble. IMO the best part about a larger nozzle is the increased thermal mass of the bead results in really nice layer adhesion. Increases the shear strength substantially. A 0.8mm nozzle with <=0.3mm layer height makes for really solid parts!

  • @stinkyface 45C is totally near the danger zone for PLA. I've got a plant pot that has deformed just sitting in the sun here in the UK. It was black filament so I was asking for it. Will see if I can get away with it though first and push my luck. Learnt the hard way that assuming failures leads to over-engineering very quickly. Was making an RC sub for 3 years and I bailed near the end from overdoing everything without actually testing my concerns. It sits on the wall to remind me.

    @NotSure I've only ever used PLA so it's been pretty easy to dial it in however every time I swap something out I end up back in tinkering hell xD If I do opt for another printer (maybe an S5 or custom) then a 0.8mm nozzle is certainly on the wishlist. I think I'm ready to get a different machine as I'm getting tired modifying the same system.

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