Eclipse Ship Parts Tray and Dividers

thingiverse

Still somewhat new to this 3d printing thing, but I figured I'd tackle one of the organization nightmares of one of my favourite board games, Eclipse. Specifically, my first project was to come up with a tray for the game's ship parts. Between the expansions I have, and the Rift expansion, which I have not yet been able to find, there are ~300 different ship part tiles, and ~26 different components that they fall into. From what I've been able to see, the Rift expansion is going to add a few new tiles, and also brings in more copies of existing tiles, so I wanted to come up with a solution that was adjustable for this and any possible future expansions that may come out. There are 2 trays and a lid - A flat bottomed tray, a cover/tray combo and a lid. A set will ideally consist of one of each. Each column can hold about 80 tiles, with each divider taking up the space of 4 tiles. The tray set should hold 480 tiles total, and with the dividers, there is still room for 50+ tiles to be added in the future. Still need to figure out how best to print the middle section. It's either going to require a ton of support, or the ring will be split off and glued on manually. I also wanted to make it easy to find the tile you're looking for, so I'm customizing the tops of the dividers. The prototype pictured was an attempt at keeping the icons similar to those appearing on the tile, but my printer just can't handle the scale it required. In the dividers I've uploaded (but have not tested yet), I've opted for a slightly different arrangement of symbols. They are printed face down which works out well on my heated glass bed. You may need support if you want to print them on their side. (The pins are not flush with the sides; it made the fit too tight) Still a work in progress, but I figure there are other Eclipse players who would like something like this. :) March 21st - Found a slight error with the Interceptor Bay divider. Fixed and re-uploaded. Printed out a number of other dividers and put up another photo. March 23rd - Created a smaller prototype mockup for the bottom, mid and top tray using measurements from the full sized model. Experiencing corner lift on the middle tray, even with brims and the lid/bottom of the middle tray is about 1mm too short. March 28th - Printed out the full sized mid section. Usable, but still have too much warping. Might be worth printing out two lids and two bases, gluing one lid to a base rather than dealing with the hassle of the middle layer. (It also uses a ton of support material) Also appears that the orbital/monoliths and discovery tiles will fit in the slots (the orbitals are slightly tight) and there is ample space for them. Got a few more parts to print and then I'll get some action shots. April 2, 2016 - Posted some additional shots now that I've got the tray completed. The dividers didn't come out exactly the way I'd like, especially any divider with text. Holes are easier to print than posts in this case; the shields/computers are barely readable, but the weapons, drives and missiles came out alright. April 19, 2016 - Redid a number of dividers (annotated with _v2) to increase the text and symbol sizes for hopefully better printing. (I'll be testing them whenever my replacement thermistor comes in.) Also added tiles from Shadows of the Rift (Except for Transition Drive. Probably just as simple to print Tachyon Drive in a different colour instead.) I may tweak a few things here and there later on, but for now, I'm calling this done. Print Settings Printer: Monoprice Maker Select Resolution: 0.2mm Infill: 15 Notes: Print trays at 0.3mm, dividers were printed at 0.2mm. Glass with hairspray (PLA) works great for the base tray, but dividers require painters tape to really come out well. I was not able to get the small details to adhere otherwise. Print dividers in groups of at least 3 at a time. (Possibly more if you've managed a fast print speed) Otherwise, the layers don't have enough time to cool and the shape ends up warped. Middle tray can be printed out as a single unit, but if I were to do this again, I'd just print out two bases / lids. They're more likely to come out straight with proper adhesion and use a lot less support material.