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Futaba 3UCP Battery Cover (was: My first 3D printed item)

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Update 2014-12-18: This battery cover is available for purchase on Shapeways: Futaba 3UCP Battery Cover

Price is $19.99 + shipping in Black Strong and Flexible Plastic ($18.99 in White).

Original post:

I recently acquired a couple of Futaba 3UCP transmitters that were missing their battery covers.

The 3UCP is a computerized 75MHz PCM1024 2-stick 3 channel model from the early 1990's. It was quite expensive and being 2-stick, never very popular in the US market. Or perhaps any market, for that matter.

I started RC with a 2-stick Futaba Attack radio before pistol grip became popular and I preferred 2-stick for whatever reason ever since.

The 3UCP is absolutely my favorite radio system (with the R113iP PCM receiver) and is what I use for all of my models.

Each transmitter has 6 model memory, so over the years I have purchased more and more transmitters for my growing collection (I am up to 11 transmitters now, though not all are in use yet).

After no response from emailing Futaba support to see if they might have any leftover stock in their warehouse, I decided that I would try to make my own battery cover.

I asked Toykid (Hi James) what he uses and he suggested Rhino, but with only a 90 day trial and $1000 license cost I decided it wasn't my thing.

I downloaded Blender which is free and watched a few youtube videos on how to use it. It isn't perfect nor the easiest-to-use program, but I was able to get by well enough with help.

Using an existing battery cover and digital caliper for measurements, I had finished my first version of the battery cover in 10 hours of Blender modelling. Most of that time was learning how to use Blender and trying to understand what the heck "non-manifold" meant and how to fix it.

Finally I exported it to STL file format, created an account on Shapeways, uploaded the STL file and ordered one in Black Strong and Flexible plastic material and waited.

About 1 week later it arrived on my doorstep (which was fast considering Shapeways has been swamped with orders due to their recent price changes).

Incredibly the battery cover actually fit on the transmitter and "snapped" into place, just like the OEM part. It wasn't perfect, but it actually worked. I was amazed.

Not bad for a first try.

I decided to make some changes where I noticed I had missed certain details (rounded corners, the bend wasn't really 90 degrees on the original part, etc.) and upload version 2 to Shapeways and order it.

Today I just got version 2 in the mail and it fits even better than the first one.

In fact, while I could make further refinements to try and get it to fit even more perfectly, I should probably not bother since there may be variation between 3D printings by Shapeways.

Here are the pictures.

Look, I know it's boring - it's just a stupid battery cover, but I like it because it allowed me to create a part that is impossible to get any other way and without it the transmitters are useless.

In fact, I got a good deal on the two transmitters because the covers were missing.

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Good job, and I totally understand where you come from. I started using a two-stick Futaba when I was 15, and to this day I just can't use anything other than that kind of radios! ;):)

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You should be proud - that is pretty cool man. It takes a lot of brain power and patience to just sit down and learn something like that... Thanks for sharing.

I forget his screen name, but you should check out Knight Customs who posts here. He does some amazing 3D stuff.

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Fabulous. We are at the beginning of a new era; an era which is closer to Star Trek than most may think. This technology will change everything. Keep up the good work and let me know when you open a store on shapeways. I might need some stuff from you!

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Very nice!

I have a Futaba Conquest that came with a part-built bruiser. Brand new, still has protective film, but missing battery cover...

Do you think yours will fit?

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I think this is great. Should we as a community be building up a database of parts or would the manufacturers not like that.

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Thanks for the nice comments guys. Once I got the hang of Blender and understood how to solve problems (simple ones at least) it started to become fun rather than a chore. Plus I got to say "I made this! It didn't exist before, but now it does." when I was done.

And I totally agree with Pintopower that 3D printing will change everything. Heck, it already has begun. Gone are the days where you must create an expensive plastic mold to make shaped parts. Sure, there are still limitations like material choice, size and other things, but over time it will only get better.

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You should be proud - that is pretty cool man. It takes a lot of brain power and patience to just sit down and learn something like that... Thanks for sharing.

I forget his screen name, but you should check out Knight Customs who posts here. He does some amazing 3D stuff.

Hi Mike, thanks a lot!

Knight Customs is Toykid on the forums and I love his creations. He was who I contacted via PM to see what he was using for 3D software.

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Very nice!

I have a Futaba Conquest that came with a part-built bruiser. Brand new, still has protective film, but missing battery cover...

Do you think yours will fit?

Hi Yonez, I looked at lots of different Futaba transmitters, including the Conquest series, to see if the 3UCP battery cover was the same and came to the conclusion that it is unique and not shared by any other Futaba model.

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Hi Yonez, I looked at lots of different Futaba transmitters, including the Conquest series, to see if the 3UCP battery cover was the same and came to the conclusion that it is unique and not shared by any other Futaba model.

Too bad.

Still love your work. 3D-printing is going to be big wherever anyone needs a functional replacement for a part.

Checked ebay; Conquests seem really cheap. Maybe I should just get another. Might want a spare set of servos anyway.

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Yonez, that might be a good idea. The Conquest series was very popular and hopefully cheap enough (I was thinking used transmitter only) to be able to get one with a battery cover and then you'd have spare parts (switches, gimbals) in case something broke on the one you are using. But having a whole spare complete set is even better!

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Always a good idea to find a used and perhaps non working radio for the battery cover and other misc parts from the internals to fix or repair or bring back to life your display radio. I recently scored a second 3 channel silver "box" radio from Futaba with the GIANT steering wheel. Forgot its model number and since I am at work, I can't check it right now.

It was because my first found radio of the same model missing a few bits that spurred me on to still look for it all these years. I am happy I got one, now to just figure out how to make it work on a vintage 3 speed, that will be a chore as finding the MANUALS for these old radios seems near impossible and I am SOOOOOOOO tired of the guys posting on ebay their CD with one model covered on it. I want the real paper item sometimes, not a digital copy.

Rant over, never can have too many servos.

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I've never actually seen a 3D printer but just the thought of what you could do is simply amazing. Speaking in terms of this hobby, no more ordering overpriced plastic molded parts when you break something....I cannot wait until they become affordable for everyone.

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The beadlocks for my Clod came from CPE. Very nice. And the texture, although odd, it's kinda cool.

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I love stories like this as they're really inspiring that anyone with a bit of patience can do something similar. I also love the fact you've fixed something that otherwise would have become redundant.

I think I'll have to download Blender too and give it a go!

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Really great job in this and it's great to have your part added to this new forum.

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