Filament Passthrough for an Ikea (TINGBY) based enclosure

This is a filament pass through for a printer enclosure. It was designed for my enclosure which is based on an Ikea TINGBY coffee tables (which has a 37mm thick top). I'm pretty sure there are few if any folks out there using the same, so this is a very niche design right now. If you can provide exact dimensions for say a Lack enclosure's thickness, and want to try this (and will provide feedback), I can probably remix it to fit that style as well.

It required the following parts:

3x M3x45mm screws
3x M3 nuts
1x P18 17.8 (ID) x 2.4mm O-ring (for the ball)
1x 22 (ID) x 3mm or 22.1 (ID) x 3.5mm O-ring (for the cap)
I used an older version (91512) of the following O-ring kit from Harbor Freight which has the required parts:
https://www.harborfreight.com/397-piece-metric-o-ring-assortment-67580.html

A 1 3/8" forstner bit, a 1/8" and 1/16" drill is also needed to cut the holes for the passthrough.  The 1/16" bits are to create starter holes for the 1/8" bit.  

Everything should print with supports touching the buildplate, and they should be rotated to minimize supports.

If you make one please post it, any questions let me know.

STEP file is included for easy remixing too.

Installation is not simple, and requires a lot of care, since the holes for the top and bottom need to align, but I've included several drilling guides to help with alignment.

Due to the difficulty of aligning holes and such, I made 3 templates. One template is a basic drill guide, and the other has a stop - and is the one I used on my enclosure. I used a 1 3/8 Forstner bit to cut the hole. The other template (Filament_Pass_Through-2L-TEMPLATE-Forstner) was added after I installed mine, but I think it could help with aligning the hole for the 2nd cut with the Forstner bit.  I will add some pics showing the installation as well, but the hardest part is alignment of the holes.

Post-Printing

Below is a pic showing the template which I used. It was aligned with a mark on the edge of the top, and then pilot holes were drilled through using a 1/16" drill. The process was repeated on the bottom side - though I suggest only drilling the center hole in the bottom first, flipping the template to the top side, and drill the center hole there.  Then verify alignment of the top and bottom center holes using a long Allen key (as shown in the pic below).  If alignment of the center hole looks good, then drill the three outer pilot holes on top.  I suggest waiting until things are confirmed with the center pilot holes, before drilling the outer three pilot holes on the bottom side.  It would be best to wait to drill the final 1/8" outer holes, until the large center hole is confirmed to be aligned.   I do not recommend drilling any of the holes all the way through from the top, since that is almost guaranteed to cause some misalignment and blow out.

It's important to verify the alignment of the hole placement on top and bottom before drilling.  In the pic, I had already drilled the center hole in the bottom, and used a small Allen key to verify the alignment though the center hole (from the top), before I drilled the rest of the 1/16" pilot holes in the top.  I recommend waiting to drill the bottom side three outer holes until all the 1 3/8" center hole alignment is confirmed from both top and bottom.

Since I made this, I added a 2nd drill template, which is optional, and designed to help with aligning the bottom hole when the template shown cannot be used for some reason.  If possible, I suggest aligning things using the original template as shown and described above, and then use the new template to verify or adjust things after the top side 1 3/8" hole is drilled.

Above is a pic of the 1 3/8" Forstner bit I used to drill the large hole. I repeated this on the bottom side (after careful verification of the alignment of the center pilot holes between top and bottom). The new drilling template (Filament_Pass_Through-2M-TEMPLATE-Forstner.stl) may help with alignment (or verification of alignment) of the center of the bottom 1 3/8" hole (once the top 1 3/8" hole is drilled), but it is not a substitute for careful alignment of the templates as described above.  This new drill template was included since there may be cases where installation may not allow precise alignment of the original templates on both top and bottom. Regardless, always verify alignment several times before committing to cutting the large hole in the bottom.  I do not recommend drilling any of the holes (except pilot holes) all the way through from the top, since that is almost guaranteed to cause some misalignment and blow out.

Above is a pic after drilled the remaining 1/8" holes from the bottom side (and after I confirmed the large hole is aligned on top and bottom).  The pic shows the fitting of the M3 x 45mm screws. It is much easier to get the screws in if the center "tunnel" part is not yet installed, but I used a vacuum to make sure no dust was still in the hole before doing this.  Note that the ball and O-ring are installed in the bottom part, before the tunnel and the top retainer part is installed (the tunnel will hold the ball and O-ring).

The finished guide shown from below (inside the enclosure). I added some PTFE tube which is just a friction fit.

Finished pass through shown from the top (outside the enclosure). The cap can be screwed on when it is not in use.  

How I Designed This

This was designed with ViaCAD V9

Category: Other