New Case For Plastic Weather Gauges

TL:DR = A wallmount unit for two old weather gauges.

Long version:

Back in 2010, I was given a mechanical clock and weather station as a birthday gift. I've included a picture of a similar clock for the curious.

But the design of the original case acted like a sound box. It amplified the normal ticking and grinding noises of of the clock's mechanism to a near-unbearable level. On sleepless nights it would be like hammer blows with a side of cement mixer. Even removing the clock's second hand didn't get rid of the awful grinding noise and, in the end, I simply stopped putting a battery in. It's stayed that way for the last 10 years.

But I liked having the two weather gauges. They aren't particularly accurate, but I got used to them being around. They were somewhat useful in the winter as a guide for when to activate my manual dehumidifier.

A few weeks back, I accidentally knocked the clock off the wall and broke its glass (oh no, shame!). But since I was rather fond of the gauges, I decided to create and print a standalone case for them.

Dismantling gave me the two gauges, two pieces of glass (as well as more broken glass and a spare clock mechanism. But we won't dwell on that!). All I needed was to re-house them.

Even better, I found I could strip the gauges further by dispensing with their redundant rear covers. This would reduce their depth quite a bit.

It was easy enough to design a face panel with the necessary mounting points for the glasses and gauges - even though I still struggle to do more than the basics in FreeCad.

My next consideration was how to provide a rear cover and wall mounting point. I'm always impressed with the clever designs of others, and I tortured myself for days trying to think of exotic ways to add a stylish back cover. Then it suddenly occured to me that I could just adapt the basic slidey-lid box design I've used for tool storage in the past. Not fancy or elaborate, of course, but perfect for the task!

I decided not to have any air slots on the back as I wanted to reduce the possibility of damp or condensation on the wall affecting the (already inaccurate) readings.

So I went with a plain back, with a built in frame for extra strength, then chucked on a simple “keyhole” hanging point. There's a small ledge at the slide-in point to retain the lid. It's not particularly strong, but it's only there to retain the lid when hanging up the unit. Once hung, gravity makes sure the lid stays put.

Printing is easy-peasy, because I didn't want to mess with supports. Just make sure to print the backboard with the flat side on the print bed.

I've included the (very messy) FreeCad file, along with the STLs and Step files and, for good measure, I've bunged in the 3mf files for those stuck with a Bambulabs printer.

Well, that's it for today. I like my simple design, weather or not you do too. No one could possibly describe it as hot, but it definitely won't bring you out in a cold sweat!

Happy printing!