WALLY - Wall Plate Customizer
Description
Update v1.3: Added 3 plate sizes "Standard", "Junior-Jumbo", and "Jumbo". If you've got a larger hole in your wall these may help.
So here it is, my first model designed in OpenSCAD. I found something that would really benefit from being a parametrically designed model: Wall Plates. I've created a OpenSCAD model that allows you to pick from a list of 18 types of connector/outlet style which then generates a 3D model correctly oriented and modeled to be immediately 3D printed.
So what options did I include in this file? Well I’ve allowed the user to pick any width from 1 to 5 “plates” wide. These were measured off the standard electrical box sizes and should match screw holes in your existing boxes. The list of available plug and outlet styles is listed below:
1. Blank Port
2. Toggle Switch (Takes up entire plate)
3. Duplex Outlet (Takes up entire plate)
4. Rocker/Designer Plate (Takes up entire plate)
5. Keystone Jack
6. VGA Port
7. HDMI Port
8. DVI-I Port
9. Displayport
10. Cat5e/Cat6 Port
11. USB-A Port
12. USB-B Port
13. Firewire IEEE 1394 Port
14. DB-09 Port
15. PS2 Port
16. F-Type/Coaxial Port
17. S-Video Port
18. Stereo Headphone Jack
With the exception of #2-4 all of the plug types are modular and be placed on the top, bottom, or centered on a generated wall plate. All of the ports (excluding the outlets and keystone jacks) are designed to accommodate DataPro.net’s panel-mount cables.
I asked a Mathlete friend of mine if he could calculate the possible number of plug and plate combinations and well, the number is big, real big. He estimates that you can generate a total of 850,789,801,599 possible permutations. Making this possibly one the most customizable objects currently on Thingiverse. If you'd like to check his math here's some nerdy details: thenewhobbyist.com/wall_plates.txt
Also I've included more details and a few additional pictures in a blog post here: thenewhobbyist.com/2013/02/designing-with-parameters/
Change Log:
Update v1.1: Stopped by Home Depot and picked up some wall plates to make a few corrections (thanks 3dsteve). I corrected the screw locations on the "toggle", "outlet", and "designer/rocker" plates. If you've generated one of these you may want to re-generate it.
Update v1.2: Added "Long Toggle Switch" for laird.
Update v1.3: Added 3 plate sizes "Standard", "Junior-Jumbo", and "Jumbo". If you've got a larger hole in your wall these may help.
Instructions
2. Pick your plate width
3. Select the plugs or full plates options to fit your needs.
Note: Three of the plug types fill the entire faceplate (Toggle Switch, Rocker/Designer, and Duplex Outlet) selecting one of these will ignore any option set in the bottom hole of that plate.
4. Print
5. Install your customized wall plate
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Hello TheNewHobbyist (Chris)! This is a fantastic implementation in OpenSCAD, and we at DataPro couldn't be more pleased that our cutout dimensions helped bring it about! If there's any other dimensional information you might need, just let us know and we'll dig it out for you.
We printed a 1-gang plate with the USB-A cutout and a keystone on our new Replicator 2X and noticed that while some keystones will fit in the frame you designed (F-Type keystone, RCA, PS/2), a network jack doesn't have enough clearance to rock into position the way keystones are supposed to.
You might also consider adding some supports behind the mounting points for the plate itself. See this image for reference: http://i.imgur.com/WKvUavA.jpg
Seriously, great job on this. We hope you'll remember us when you're famous!
Thanks!
mixing low voltage and high voltage in the same electrical box is against code in most places.
Great work for our community can't see more of your design. Props
Isn't this something that should only be installed by a licensed electrician?
And hence only have limited usefulness for most people?
Or are you by publishing this, encouraging illegal home wiring practice?
Illegal to install a faceplate? Where do you LIVE? It'd take a special kind of person to get injured or otherwise do it unsafely - those people probably shouldn't be trusted around anything that moves or gets hot, either.
No, no, and no?
It's not even at the level of replacing a light switch (which is generally legal for a homeowner to do themselves anyhow). It's replacing a decorative cover over it, which doesn't even interact with the electricals.
a single keystone plate can have slots for up to 6 keystones, it would be a great additions to this file.
Please keep in mind that actual wall plates have fire suppression additives for obvious reasons. Our 3D printer filaments do not, and will burn quite nicely.
I used this to make, and print, a 'Full Plate - Rocker/Designer' switch plate. Those are the ones that have the single large rocker switch for turning on/off the lights.
The rectangular hole for the switch is too large. The switch dimensions are: 65.5mm X 32.5mm. The design prints out a 70.7mm X 38.5mm hole which is too large for the standard switches.
The mounting holes for the switch plate also turn out to be in the wrong place. The distance between them should be about 96.5mm and this program prints them out about 82mm apart. It looks like the measurements were probably made from the ends of the rectangular hole for the switch, rather than down from the top of the switch plate.
I did not try other designs after the first one had the incorrect dimensions. This is a great idea, but it may need a little more work.
Thanks for the heads up, I picked up a few plates after work and have made the corrections you pointed out. Thanks!
Do you have dimensions for the correct size of the rocker cutout? I used the dimensions from this rocker: http://i.imgur.com/RmbXq2b.png
But since it sounds like it's a little off I'd like to adjust it.
You're right about the screw hole locations, I used standard box width for that plate, I missed that they were slightly different. Thanks for the catch.
I attempted to make one that is 3 panels wide but the customizer does not let me type in the plate width area. I chose the three panels and it only creates the first one. Other than that, COOL!
I love the idea of text labels. If you have any trouble with Write.scad, I'm happy to help!
I have some vertical sliders in my house. They are like this: http://www.kyledesigns.com/pro... .
The opening is (by the tech sheet) 2 23/32" (1.718") tall by 15/32" (0.468") wide.
I'd love to have 3D printed faceplates with labels for which slider controlled which light.
brilliant! Exactly what 3D printing is all about.
What you need, the way you need it...
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is there any way to customize the plate further with labels for each port? now that would be awesome! thanks!
It's something I'd like to add when I get a chance to work on this again. I've been working on other projects but this is still on my todo list!