Tag: mold

Basic Node for the Internet of Sex Toys – part 2: 3d printed form, assembly, molding

March 29, 2017 in 3d printing, assembling, case design, DIY, esp8266, how-to, internet of dongs, internet of things, IOT, molding, silicone, Tinkercad, Wemos mini

In this series of posts we describe how-to make a vibrating sex toy which is part of the Internet of Things.

part 1: Basic Node for the Internet of Sex Toys

part 2: Molding the Basic Node

part 3: Software for the Basic Node

In part 2 we describe how-to make a mold form for the basic node. We need three forms:

the mold form which consists of two parts
the inlay which protects the electronics of the basic node
a “hanging” for the inlay

We used Tinkercad to construct the parts. The molding form is based on Tinkercad’s banana form. You can edit and share them from your browser:

Inlay: https://tinkercad.com/things/h5fFOBqlmjw

Hanging: https://tinkercad.com/things/jUxc2oAamww

Form: https://tinkercad.com/things/6HS3XScOsCM

Instructions

Print out all forms. The STL files are available at Thingiverse. You might want to use XTC or similar for smoothing the inner part of the mold form.

Assembling the Inlay

We use the inlay to protect the electronics.

Simply put the electronics inside so that the upper body of the switch is on the same level as the upper inlay. We use hot glue to fix the basic node.

Then fix the receiver coil of the wireless charging module on top of the inlay. The next step is to fix the hanging at the inlay.

Now fix the LiPo battery on the bottom side of the inlay using hot glue or similar. Fix the wires. Finally you might fix the wires of the vibration motor next to the middle of the LiPo battery.

Use tinkering wire to fix both parts of the molding form.

Put the inlay in the form. Fix the hanging with a tape or similar. The motors shouldn’t touch the inner part of the form.

Now prepare the silicone. We use Shore A 45 silicone (approx. 250 ml) from Silikonfabrik.de. It is hard but still a bit flexible. You may add color, too. You have about 10 minutes to stir the silicone and poor it in the form.

After some hours you can remove the form. As you can see there is overhang which make removing the form very hard. The form could break when removing. Better preparation of the form (eg rasping) could improve the results.

If the blue LED of the Wemos board is still active you were successful.

Now you need a charging station. The construction is shown here. It is also possible to connect the sender (or transmitter) module with a 5V power source (eg. from the USB port). Just put the bottom of the molded basic node on the sender coil.

In the next part we introduce an updated version of the software including over the air update and WiFi management.

Smooth 3d printed vibrator form for silicone molding

December 22, 2016 in application, case design, crowdfunding, DIY, esp8266, how-to, material, molding, Node-RED, silicone

We started with printing sex toys (see here, here and here), then moved to printing mold forms for sex toys and finally we made sex toys which are partially silicone molded and partially printed. The best results were achieved with printing mold forms and fill them with silicone. But even there we have the problem that the surface isn’t really smooth and that it is hard to clean.

To overcome this problem we use a 3d print smoothing (XTC 3D) to smooth the surface. Application is very easy. It is like applying a transparent varnish. The results are impressive: The silicone gets a smooth shiny surface.

Shiny blue vibrator with vibration motor and air bubble in silicone form But you can still see printer artefacts. To overcome this issue you could apply a thicker layer of XTC-3D. If you use a better printer than my daVinci 1.0 the “staircase effect” shouldn’t be a problem at all. Another problem are tiny – sometimes quite large – air bubbles. To remove this air bubbles you need a vacuum chamber. So it is still not perfect, but it works and looks quite good… shinybluecomplete

Moving dildo with motor driven skeleton

September 1, 2016 in 3d printing, Arduino, case design, DIY, how-to, molding, programming, sextech, vibrator design

So far we have used vibration motors for our sex toys. Vibration motors are cheap, powerful, easy to control and robust actuators. That’s why they are part of most sex toys. But what about moving or touching objects. Obviously we need some mechanics, maybe joints and gears? Or is there a simple option? A skeleton?

I realized the idea for using some type of skeleton for moving a dildo when I saw the video of a naked Pleo – one of the best artificial life forms ever.

On www.thingiverse.com you will find more inspiration for using a skeleton to move something. The design is very simple.

The skeleton is composed of a number of vortexes. The holes are for connecting all vortexes and a servo with a nylon wire or similar.

In addition we need a handle where the vortexes are fastened to. There is also space for a servo. Then use a nylon wire to connect the vortexes with the servo. You can drive the servo with a Arduino development board or you use the body interaction development board as described here.

The servo should turn only 15-30 degree or so. If you use the body interaction development board please copy the following code and upload the code to the board.

#include &lt;TinyServo.h&gt;

// servo control with the body interaction development board using the TinyServo library
// -- adaption of the demo script by
// tylernt@gmail.com's ATTiny Hardware Timer Assisted Servo Library v1.0 20-Nov-13
// http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=198337.0;attach=71790

const byte SERVOS = 1; // number of servos is 1
const byte servoPin[SERVOS] = { 7 }; // servo is connected to PA1 which is pin 7
#define SERVO 0 // our servo is given the name &amp;quot;SERVO&amp;quot;

void setup() {
 setupServos();
}

void loop() {
 moveServo(SERVO, 0); // move servo to 0°
 delay(1000);
 moveServo(SERVO, 30); // move servo to 30°
 delay(2000);
}

In addition we need a wrapping for the skeleton. This can be made using these two forms (download STL files).

Use flexible silicone and poor it in the form. The thickness of the wrapping is a bit too large – it rather hinders the skeleton in its movements. But it works!

Now we can put everything together.

Download on Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1736282

Tinker with Tinkercad!
Form: https://tinkercad.com/things/e8yscABu9Al
Skeleton: https://tinkercad.com/things/dfbMQsE4Mtl
Servo handle: https://tinkercad.com/things/5EHHrqM5sqC

YouTube: https://youtu.be/F1b8bGbuSHw

New small fusion vibrator

May 26, 2016 in 3d printing, case design, molding, vibrator, vibrator design

This is a small version of the fusion vibrator. The small fusion form for molding can be made with 3d printers with smaller volume. In addition the inlay for the body interaction development board is reduced in size, but there is still enough place for board and battery. Only about 120ml silicone are needed. The form was constructed in Tinkercad.

Modify the form in Tinkercad: all forms, inlay only, form only

Download the STL files for printing: round_something_06_final_inlay_improved. There are some artifacts but printing is fine on the daVinci 1.0.

Download and discuss in Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1589075

Please follow the instruction from the large fusion vibrator. When you poor the silicone into the form it is very important to keep the USB connector free from silicone. Even very small amounts can cause the USB connector to break apart from the board. When the USB connector is broken then you cannot recharge the vibrator. Also be always very cautious when you plug-in or plug-out the USB connector.

Finally you can remove the overhanging parts from the inlay.

New vibrator design “fusion”

April 21, 2016 in 3d printing, Arduino, assembling, case design, charging, how-to, molding, sextech, tutorial, vibrator, vibrator design

bodyinteraction designed a lot of vibrating toys, some are usable as massage devices, some are explicit sex toys (vibrator ring, balls), some are experimental (collar). Everyone is motion controlled. If you have more than one they will influence each other remotely, eg. a vibrator and a vibrator ring.

But a device like a classic big vibrator is still missing. So we designed the “fusion” which is approx 19cm long and up to 4+cm in diameter. It is called fusion as the case is made of silicone and 3d printed material (ABS).

We have put the body interaction vibrator development board, motor and battery in a silicone form. There is an on/off switch – so when you travel the vibrator doesn’t wake up when it is moved. And you can charge the battery with a USB micro connector. There is a spacious inlay for the electronics, so it will be easy to get it done.

Pros:

easy to charge the battery via USB
on/off switch
hard handle
flexible upper part
large (if you like this)
ISP interface (“hacker port”) accessible

Cons:

only the silicone part of the form can be put under water for cleaning

What do you need?

200 ml silicone with high shore A rate, eg. shore A 45 from silikonfabrik.de
optional: special colour for silicone molding
3d print of the molding form, inlay and closure
tinker wire
body interaction vibrator development board with LiPo and motor (or similar Arduino boards)
bin for preparing the silicone, something to stir the silicone

How much is it?

Board, battery, motor: 30$ (buy at Tindie)
Silicone: 10$
3d Prints: less than 5$

Step by step instructions

Step 1: Print out the inlay, the form and the enclosure

Download as zip-file: Fusion

Download at Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1505539

Step 2: Prepare the inlay: Insert the body interaction board and the LiPo battery

The body interaction vibrator development board is inserted into the provided rails. It it doesn’t fit in use a file to remove printing artefacts. Use some glue to fix the board. Then insert the battery and fix it.

Important: The Micro USB connector must be above the upper part of the inlay.

Step 3: fix the wires of the vibration motor

The vibration motor will hang down from the inlay as the inlay will be put in the form upside down. You can influence the position of the motor by shortening the wire or fixing the wire to e.g. to the battery. In this case the wire of the motor was threaded between battery and board. Therefore the motor will be in the middle of the vibrator.

in the center there is the overmolded vibration motor

Step 5: Prepare the form

Use some tinker wire to “press” both parts of the form tight together. molding-form-empty Use some wax to fix little holes in the form where the printer failed. (These are the white spots)

Step 6: Insert inlay into the form

There must be some space between inlay and form for the silicone.

Remark: The two wedge like forms at both sides of the inlay help to hold the inlay. The wedge can be removed after molding. inlay-in-molding-form

Step 7: Cast the silicone

Prepare the silicone as the producer recommends. It takes some time to pour the large amount of silicone into the narrow form. The silicone we use must be used within 10 minutes. So start at once after preparing the silicone.

Important: The USB micro connector, the switch and the ISP connector shouldn’t be dashed with silicone. If this happens remove the silicone. Maybe some silicone will remain behind. This can be removed later when the silicone is solid. molded

The battery is covered with silicone, the USB connecor and switch are not. drying-seen-from-top

Step 8: Remove the form

Remove the tinker wire. Remove overhanging part of the silicone. Carefully tear both parts of the form away. You can use a knife, but be careful not to “hurt” the vibrator. Remove overhanging silicone at the vibrator. Also remove the two wedge like forms at both sides of the inlay.

Step 9: Install the closure

Now you can put the closure on the inlay. Fix the closure with glue. (Be careful! The USB connector is not very strong.) closed-inlay

Tinker, share and download from Tinkercad:

form and inlay: https://tinkercad.com/things/b8nQxRn4XWl

closure: https://tinkercad.com/things/dhgtgeaYG0B

Download as zip-file: Fusion

Download at Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1505539

New fusion 3d printed and silicone molded vibrator

April 7, 2016 in 3d printing, application, Arduino, assembling, case design, molding, sextech, vibration motor, vibrator design

This is the initial design. The round curved form will be in silicone with vibration motor within (vibration motor not shown on sketch). The red part is 3d printed. It is the enclosure for the body interaction vibrator development board and LiPo battery. You can plug-in the Micro USB connector for battery charging. In addition there is an on/off switch e.g. for travelling.

Silicone overmolded vibrator – balls revisited

March 10, 2016 in 3d printing, assembling, case design, molding, sextech, vibrator, vibrator design

Building your own silicone molded vibrator becomes now easier. We already have presented 3d printed forms for building your personal vibrator (massage wand, wireless charged vibrator). The vibrator uses the body interaction vibrator development board. The body interaction board has a Arduino compatible microcontroller, vibration strength control by motion, a vibration motor and a rechargeable battery.

What is new? The electronics including battery are in the base of the vibrator. We developed a 3d printed enclosure for the electronics. This has several benefits: The assembling of the electronics and the molding itself is easier as everything is fixed within the enclosure. And it is more safe as the enclosure shields the electronics from the environment (and vice versa). In addition we used a different charging module from Seeed Studio. The input voltage is only 5V. Now you can connect the charging module with a USB connector and don’t need another power supply. (Look here for an explanation of wireless charging sender and receiver.)

Another improvement is the placing of the vibration motor. The vibration motor can now be placed in the center of the vibrator and it different heights. Just were you need the power.

Finally the mounting is improved. The mounting holds the enclosure when it is inserted into the form.

The mounting (together with the enclosure with the electronics) is inserted into the form. The form consists of two parts which must be fastened together by tinker wire. It is a variation of the ball theme.

We present a step by step procedure for tinkering the vibrator. You need:

3d printed form (molding form, 2 parts)
3d printed enclosure
3d printed mounting
body interaction vibrator development board
silicone with a high shore A value (eg. shore A 45 which is quiet hard but still flexible), approx. 100 ml
wireless charging module eg. from Seeed studio
soldering station, (hot) glue

Step by step procedure:

A. Print out all forms. You can download the forms from Thingiverse.

B. Connect the wireless charging module to the body interaction vibrator development board.

B.1 You have to solder a wire connecting (-) on the wireless charging module and GND on the body interaction board.

B.2 Now comes the tricky part. You have to connect (+) from the charging module with the body interaction board. Solder a wire at (+) of the charging module. But where do you solder the wire on the body interaction board? Unfortunately the wireless charging option was not taken into consideration during the development of the board. So there is no appropriate connection on the board.

The best solution is to unsolder the USB connector and connect to + of the USB connection. The easiest way to unsolder the surface mounted USB connector is done with a hot air soldering station. Alternatively you can solder the wire directly to the MAX1555 module – this solution is presented here. In any case: Be careful not to break the tiny pads connecting pcb and USB connector.

B.3 Connect the sender module with a 5V power supply. You can use a USB cable, dismantle the cable and connect the black and red wires.

C. Place the receiver charging coil on top of the enclosure. The diameter of the top side is a bit larger than the diameter of the bottom side. Use some glue to fix the coil. Don’t fix the mounting now. It is easier to do it later (step E).

D. Put the electronics into the enclosure: Begin with the body interaction board. The RFM12b is quite large so place it at an outer position. Then insert carefully the LiPo battery. Don’t force it! The plugs for the battery and the motor could break. If you have done so insert the tiny wireless charging receiver board. At the end fix the wires of the vibration motor in the middle of the enclosure.

E. Connect the mounting with the enclosure. There are 2 holes provided where the mounting fits into the enclosure. Use some glue to stick together both parts. (see picture above step C).

F. Put together both parts of the molding form. Use tinkering wire to attach both parts tight together. Then insert the enclosure into the form. Check the wireless charging function. The yellow LED must be on when you place the charging coil over the receiver coil.

G. Now poor silicone into the molding. We use Shore A 45 silicone which is rather hard. The silicone has to dry for some hours or days. Read the instructions of your silicone provider.

H. When the silicone is hard, you can remove the tinkering wire. Then carefully remove the form.

I. Remove the overhang.

J. Test the wireless charging. The orange LED must be on when both coils are near together.

K. Remove the mounting.

Design your own forms using Tinkercad. Start now and share!

Old versions of the enclosure:Enclosure & mounting togther, Enclosure , Mounting

Download the STL files for 3d printing from Thingiverse.

Update 2016/03/12: Added image of circuits showing where to solder the wireless charging module.

Update 2016/04/05 redesign of mounting and enclosure due to different versions of the wireless charging receiver coil

Wireless battery charging of the body interaction vibrator development board

November 5, 2015 in 3d printing, molding, sextech, vibrator design

One major Problem oft DIY electronic sex toys (or massage wands) are the need to charge the batteries. Usually the batteries are charged via the USB connector. This means that there is a physical connection between the sex toy and the USB connector, making it impossible to mold the whole sex toy with eg. silicone.

The solution is to use a wireless charging module (eg. this module from Seeedstudio). It comes in two parts: The sender (IN) and the receiver (OUT). Both are connected with a coil. If you place the two coils close together, the sender coils induces power in the receiver coil. Though you can share the batteries wireless. The receiver could be molded, separating the electronics, batteries, connectors etc. from the environment. The result is a form with a smooth surface enabling secure usage as a sex toy.

We have made an easy DIY solution based on the body interaction vibrator development board, wireless charging module and a 3d printed silicone molding form.

Part A: The molding form consists of two parts.

3d print form A

Step 1: The form comes in 2 parts. Print both parts of the form. The STL file is called part A. After printing polish the inner part of the form as well as the surface between the two sides.

Step 2: Now print out part B. It is used to fasten the board, battery, receiver coil and receiver board.

Step 3: Connect the + pad of the wireless charging receiver board with the pin marked + of the vibrator development board (that’s pin 1 of the MAX1555 battery charging IC). Connect – of the receiver with the GND pad of the vibrator development board. You need two short wires and have to solder them at the two boards.

Step 4: Now wind up the wires connecting the board with the battery and the vibration motor. (The connection to the receiver board is not shown on the image.)

Step 5: Now attach the coil on the shorter “cross” of part B with some glue. There must be space between the coil and the outer longer cross. Then attach the board, battery and vibration motor as shown in the pictures. you can use some glue to fix these parts. Be sure to set the switch to the ON position.

The receiver board can be placed within the coil. It’s the small long board in the middle.

Step 6: Fix part B (with board, coil etc.) at part A. Be sure that there is enough space between them (min. 5mm).

Step 7: Now attach the second part of part A. Use some tinkering wire. Double check: There must be space between Part A and part B. And there must be space between the coil and the upper edge of form A as the coil must be molded by the silicone.

Step 8: Now pour silicone into the form. Use silicone with a high Shore A value. The higher the Shore A value is the higher is the firmness of the silicone form. We have used silicone with Shore A 45. You need about 90 ml silicone.

Step 9: After the silicone gets hard, remove the tinkering wires and softly remove the form A. Remove overhanging part.

Step 10: Now you can remove the outer cross of part B.

That’s it. It takes about half an hour (without printing). Before using check carefully that the silicone is solid. Even if you skew the silicone form you should not be able to feel the edges of the vibrator development board. Otherwise there is the danger to get hurt. Use it as a massage toy on your own risk. For charging the batteries place the molded coil over the sender coil. The yellow charging LED should go on.

The next development step is a battery charging station!

Download 3d printing files from Thingiverse

Modify and construct your own with the online 3d modelling software Tinkercad: Form A, Form B

Dildo form for overmolding vibration board

October 15, 2015 in 3d printing, molding, vibrator design

Instead of printing a vibrator case we construct a form for overmolding the body interaction vibrator development board. The updated overmolding process is described here

Download from Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1073109

Edit with Tinkercad: https://tinkercad.com/things/aqqmSmn78ex

Molding a silicone case for the BI1 board with a 3d printed form

March 12, 2015 in 3d printing, case design, molding

As alternative to the 3d printed form a flexible form made with silicone could improve the handling of the body interaction board (BI1) for certain applications. The vibration is more comfortable and less noisy compared to other cases. If you want to do it on your own follow this how-to.

Silicone molded BI1: vibration motor (top), RF12b (bottom)

silicone molded BI1 board – vibration motor (top), LiPo (bottom)

Some adult toys are made of silicone or at least are coated with silicone. Silicone cases are easy to clean.

We have constructed a 3D printed form where we will fill in the silicone. The form comes in two parts that have to be fixed to one another by tinkering wire. In addition the board has to be hooked to the form. For this we use a USB connector which is plugged in the USB port of the board. Then the USB connector is fastened to the form.

Form for molding

USB connector holding BI1 board is fastened with tinkering wire

Use a silicone which will become solid after moulding. This property of silicone is indicated by the shore A value. Silcone with a low value is flexible. We use silicone with shore A 43.