vibration-damping feet for the DICE

Written by René. Posted in blog - english

To get the Dice even more silent, I casted some silicone feet which will work as vibration dampeners.

This feet are 20mm wide, 10mm tall and conically (20°) shaped. To cast them, I designed a mold for 4 feet at a time and a matching mixing tank for the needed amount of silicone.

This is what you will need:

The mold and mixing tank
of course the silicone
some toothpick or similar to mix
5 screws to hold the lid tight (I use M4x10)
maybe some disposable syringes, this is no need, but males the whole process easier and cleaner to work with

Here we go!

Of course, the mixing tank is little bit bigger than needed, to let you mix up the silicone with the additive well. On the inside, the tank got a mark for the needed amount, it's roughly 8ml. The casting silicone is the same as for the silicon-sleeve I put on the heaterblock of the E3D-V6. This type of silicone is refractory up to 450°C for a short time and originally used for casting lowmelting metal, like tin or lead. For weeks, it is doing well on my heaterblock and while mounting it, I recognized how flexible it is. So I hit on an idea to use it as a vibration dampener. Hopefully, the feet won't get this hot down there ;-)

I printed the 3 parts linked above, prepared the holes for the screws and did a dry fit. The mixing tank and the lit was printed in 0.2mm layer height, the mold with 0.1mm. Be warned: You will see EVERY LITTLE DETAIL of your print in the later castings. As a finishing touch, I grinded the top of the mold carefully flat to make it fit perfectly and the lid closing tight..

Now, to mix the silicone. I put both liquids in equal shares into the mixing tank (4ml of both) and mixed it very carefully to prevent some air to be mixed into. If mixed to hard, the cast will get tiny airbubbles on the outside. I used disposable syringes to dispense the liquids. The benefit of using syringes should not be underestimated. It makes dispensing very clean, exact and easy.

At roomtemperature, the mixed silicone is processable for about 10 minutes. I filled the 4 molds, and carefully tapped it on the table for about a minute. This is how the tiny airbubbles get their way to the top much more easier. After that, I closed the lit tight. The silicone squishing outwards to the top is intentional and shows that the mold was filled to the top.

The setup needs to cure some hours. The instructions state about 2 hours, but I waited 4 just to be sure. After all, the feet are pretty massive. After 4 hours, I cut of the oozed part and opened the lid. With a little movement the feet came loose of their own. Some finishing touches later, I had 4 very soft rubber feet for my DICE.

Tags: Silikon