The 3D printer works and I’ve actually managed to print a couple of things but no design of mine yet.   So, this weekend, I worked on my own printing project.

I have Bose QuietComfort QC 15 headphones.  I love them, best headphones I’ve ever had.  They’re getting a little bit long in the tooth though.  I’ve had to change the pads and wire a number of times in the last 5 or 6 years.  A month ago, it became necessary to replace the ear pads:

Totally DONE!

Long story short.  I couldn’t get original parts and therefore had to get knockoffs from Amazon.  They are actually quite a bit less expensive but they simply do not fit.  The pads are much smaller than the original ones and can’t hook in the earphones.  I don’t understand why they can sell these as QC15 replacement pads.

I could have used scotch tape or glue to make them fit but this would not be aesthetically pleasing.  Since I have a 3D printer though, why not use that?  How about I print a small base for the pad that would extend the area of the pad so that it fits in the pad receptacle.

I did it this weekend.  It was actually quite simple.  I used OpenScad and created a 3D structure built through the difference of two ovals.  The ovals were measured using a digital caliper.

Here’s the model for it:

//Parameters

mm=1;

outside_dia_long= 88 * mm;

outside_dia_short= 69.3 * mm;

height= 1.4 * mm;

width= 9.2 * mm;
outside_r_long=outside_dia_long / 2;

scale_val = outside_dia_short / outside_dia_long;

inside_r_long=outside_r_long - width;

difference() {

	scale (v=[scale_val,1,1]) cylinder(h = height, r=outside_r_long);

	scale (v=[scale_val,1,1]) cylinder(h = height, r=inside_r_long);

}

Printing it took about 20 minutes (per pad extension) and here’s what it looks like:

So I’m quite happy with the result.  I probably could have done something using a piece of wood and some sawing, cutting and sanding…but the 3D printer allows me to go from a very physical to a more abstract world where I can express things mathematically (at which I am a little better).

Hopefully, this is just a start.  I’ll get more familiar with the technology and print more impressive stuff in the future.  Again though, very very happy about the result.