Industrial/steampunk stepper motor cover for CNC or 3D printer (NEMA17 motor)
Industrial/steampunk stepper motor cover for CNC or 3D printer (NEMA17 motor)
3D
Published 2019-10-07T17:30:51+00:00
I decided that the NEMA17 stepper motors on my CNC machine needed a bit of extra pizzazz so I thought why not 3D print some covers for them. After some thought I decided to have a go at an industrial style, similar to what you see with motors and transformers in industrial settings, and this is the result. You could even say that the design is somewhat steampunk, especially when printed in the right colours. And they definitely add a talking point to my CNC machine.
To get the steampunk-esque look I decided to use some gold PLA for most of the build, with some silver PETG for the inlay pieces that slip over the top and side inset pieces. The inlays are quite thin so PETG seemed a good choice as it's easier to get off the print bed in one piece. Building is quite straightforward: simply glue the inset pieces into the inside of the cover's frame, then the inlays can be added using a little glue to hold them down.
The inlays are sized close to the dimensions of the parts they cover, to make them look good when installed, so a little light filing/sanding of their edges, to remove over-extrusion, may be necessary before installing them.
In case you'd like to make some changes, or even remix the design for a different motor or use, the OpenSCAD file is included in the downloads.
| Date published | 07/10/2019 |