Replacement battery cover from sheet metal

[@nloer]

My favorite days as a dad were when the kids were running around the yard playing and then running into my shop with something for me to fix or an idea for a way to make their toy better. Fond memories!

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

That's great if you aren't already in the middle of another project

[@Don.Challenger]

@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 When juggling those multiple projects, don't forget the kids are the Patreon's of your heart. In any case those fortunate interruptions can spur a last minute inspiration or realization of some difficulty up ahead.

[@cornelmasson4610]

Same here!

[@dwang085]

@@matthiasrandomstuff2221nah it’s still great

[@johnhawkinson]

I always find it's helpful to draft my sheet metal one-off projects with thin cardboard or thick paper (either with scissors or tearing it) before switching to sheet metal. Especially helpful when there are folds, but also e.g. if you want to replicate the curvy/pointy area around the screw hole.

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

Good advice, especially if its a bigger part and you don't want to waste metal

[@markdammes1947]

The real CAD: Cardboard Aided Design

[@mikewatson4644]

@@markdammes1947 Just what I was going to say!!

[@mcbeardface]

I have zero need for tin snips. But every time I see the right angle ones, I want to buy some.

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

Those came in a set of 3 I bought. Leftie, rightie and right angle. They are now my favourite ones! They also cut cleaner than the other ones for some reason.

[@eric_has_no_idea]

​@@matthiasrandomstuff2221I'll also suggest a manual sheet metal nibbler. I have an easier time with them. A quick file is all that is ever needed.

[@akaHarvesteR]

I didn't know there were right and left handed versions! I'm suddenly in need of two new tools 😅

[@ekij133]

Once you have a pair you will find a variety of unexpected uses for them. Such as destroying expired credit/debit cards.

[@heyitsjay22]

If your only tool is a hammer, everything is fixed with a hammer. I so enjoy your channel and how we can get things done with simplicity. I normally expect you to use wood, but in this case the thin sheet metal did the job. I know that with your skills and using sketchup and perhaps other cads, if you had a 3D printer you would totally have designed that for 3D printing. I would have watched it anyways. I have been finding solutions for all kinds of problem for many years, but I still always learn something when I watch your channel. Ever since I experienced the video of your Marble adding machine, your channel rocks!

[@joen0411]

All I ever had was cardboard and duck tape. Worked great and lasted longer than the batteries. We didn’t have Amazon when I was growing up but cardboard boxes were still a common thing to have in the house.

[@bnasty267]

Nice fix. My typical go-to as a Dad-toy-fixer is epoxy to fix all kinds of cracked toy plastic parts. Being a little handy with a collection of spare materials will usually get a toy working again. It's crazy to think how many toys end up in landfills because a tiny piece of plastic broke off some critical part and essentially ruined the toy.

[@TKC_]

Try the new uv cure resins. Strong like epoxy. Cures as fast and clear as super glue with a uv led flashlight or sunlight. It’s only good for stuff that can be hit with the light though.

[@Electronieks]

All toys eventually

[@shivaargula4735]

The best way to solve this problem is with the tools you have at your disposal.. I have a 3d printer. I do not have multiple types of tin snips or grinding wheels. Your solution looks more durable than the car itself. For this application, assuming correct measurements are taken and a good CAD model is made, the print could have easily accomplished the same goal.

[@JoeBcrafts]

My brother and I had a favorite pair of "inexpensive" RC cars. Eventually the plastic bumper and suspension pieces would break as we raced them and crashed them playing "tag". We'd make "better" parts out of pieces of nylon (flexible bumper) and aluminum for parts that needed to be stronger. The plastic A-arm had the tabs that it pivoted on break off. I fixed that with 5-minute epoxy and a nail as the new pivot. We got years of fun out of those things and by the end they were frankenstein monsters.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic work, Matthias! 😃 You could also use PVC sheet, made from PVC pipes! (It's a freaking great material for a lot of uses!) Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@restorer19]

Quick and easy, assuming you have the materials on hand and the tools (and possibly the shop) to work with them. As easy as sheet metal is to buy, setting up a temporary work area to use it is just as much trouble as practically any other method. Sometimes arts-and-crafts is all you have, and a battery door made of popsicle sticks made water-resistant will last just as long (that is - exactly as long as it takes to be lost again).

[@Paremo_]

Folding over is sometimes easier than cutting away, the space between the "hinge side" tabs looks like such a case from this side of the camera. Plus, you get a smoothed over edge and some structural reinforcement as a little bonus.

[@RubyRhod]

"the best way".. "sheetmetal"? Is this the real you, Matthias?

[@loodusefilm7881]

I was also hoping to see some hardwood or plywood solution 😂 But it sheetmetal is the best then it's the best!

[@Don.Challenger]

The metal is thinner than the plastic skid plate (and infinitely thinner than the typical woodwork alternatives) so now the nascent off roader has more clearance in their bedroom waste lands - use the most effective of the availables.

[@bensonyoutuber7944]

I have gone down this same road a couple of times. Most recently, it was for a treadmill that my mother bought used. It's the kind of project which justifies keeping scrap around.

[@bradley3549]

Great fix! I like to think of myself as a bit of a master toychanic as well. For folks with limited toolset and a lower noise threshold, the same process could be applied to a multitude of disposable plastic or even heavy paperboard products. Laundry detergent bottles for example have fairly large flat surfaces and can be cut with heavy duty scissors. I think it would be just rigid enough to work in this application.

[@craigsudman4556]

Funny you should publish this video, just yesterday I put new wheels on my lawn mower. The wheels that I bought fit over the shaft with a lot of slop. I could not use a piece of copper pipe as the wall thickness was just too great. The inside diameter of the wheel was .040" bigger than the shaft. I've been using half gallon olive oil cans for storing long rods and had an empty one lying around so I cut a strip about 1-3/8 wide by roughly 2-3/8" long and wrapped it tightly around a smaller shaft so that when I put it on the lawn mower's shaft it would fit snugly. Worked like a charm, hardly any wobble. Great video Matthias thumbs up.

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

done that sort of thing a few times. but can't count on that shim staying in place necessarily

[@craigsudman4556]

@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 held in by a shoulder on the shaft and a washer and compression nut on the open end. I slathered it with graphite and oil I don't envision it going bad too soon.

[@ericperkins3078]

When we were expecting our first son, we would haunt garage/yard sales on Saturday mornings to find cast-offs and things I could rehab back into working order. An old dresser became a changing table, and innumerable "broken" toys and bikes repaired at little to no cost, using just imagination and elbow grease that were not at a premium back then. Happy, golden times.

[@SeorkMaxx]

My kids are now doing the same, so it rubs of, saves money and the environment ❤

[@FrankGraffagnino]

i like seeing ways that you fix stuff around the house. more folks need to buy into at least attempting to fix things before they throw them away!

[@Spik3rSuppa]

That tilt down to the screw collection 🤣🤣

[@aksmith68]

I feel that. I have a similar bin of screws that usually gets me what I need, but it can be tedious.

[@P_RO_]

Always a good day when a kid's toy is repaired. There's never enough fun in the world so this repair matters.

[@smaug1234]

Its even easier to use a thick walled plastic bottle to make a cover like that. The 3d printer does have some great uses as well though. Impressive loose screw collection :)

[@cheyenne5804]

glad to see I'm not the only one with a box of random screws. Also, have one for nuts and bolts as well as ¼" bolts

[@andreyzagoruyko5390]

SUUUUUUUUUCh a useful video; thank you a TON! Hope this breaks the internet, as EVERYONE has this problem on one device or another.

[@Wes12940]

my dad used to hot glue the batteries in place, since the hot glue is kinda reversible when it's only slightly warm

[@mlindholm]

Alcohol makes it separate from the adhered surface too, rubbing alcohol is cheap and works great for this.

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

I once soldered some pigtails to a D cell for a friend who needed to power a small lego motor inside an experimental chamber. After a month or so it stopped running. Replaced the battery, still not working. Turns out, it was the motor, not the battery that had died! The lego mindstorms motors were really efficient but not long lasting.

[@foldionepapyrus3441]

@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 Which era of Mindstorms motors is this? I've got quite a collection of Lego motors and yet to have any of them fail in a way I'd consider early... But I've not used every era that hard if at all... Got to love the hot glue approach as well, simple, instant, doesn't prevent a more proper future repair and usually good enough you forget to go back and fix it properly for a good long while...

[@mastasolo]

I'm envious of that screw collection

[@woodsprout]

I consider my single pair of tinsnips as one of my most valuable/useful tools. They cut cardboard and paperboard nicely too.

[@sevenismy]

A 3D printer is more apartment friendly. It just replaces so many specialized tools, maybe not as perfect, but more universal.

[@backyardbasher]

Yep 3d printer would be better for sure and then you can put your design up on thingiverse or similar website for other people to print.

[@HeathLedgersChemist]

And a 3D printed part is not going to slice your kid's fingers off.

[@tissuepaper9962]

​@@HeathLedgersChemist you're definitely watching the wrong guy if you're a safety freak/helicopter parent.

[@HeathLedgersChemist]

@@tissuepaper9962 What part of my comment do you think is wrong? Or do you just like ad-hominem attacks?

[@JDeWittDIY]

To put it plainly, the sheet metal will not slice anyone's fingers off.

[@DooMMasteR]

Nice fix! I would add some isolating to the inside of the lid, the batteries "wrapping" might wear out and NiMh-Cells pack quite a punch when making a short circuit.

[@sdavidleigh6642]

you are the best of the best of the best sir!

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

I made a few of these for remotes, but with aluminium sheet, that is easier to cut.

[@hermanfinster7692]

Cool! Makes you wonder why the broad expansion into 3D printing for rapid prototyping when they could be doing it all with tin and scrap wood.

[@rolfbjorn9937]

I have about 85-90% of my screws sorted, it helps in the finding. I have to stay disciplined though. Like some others suggested, I would have folded the edges to get rid of the sharp jaggies. But I would have slapped at least some beige marking tape or eletcrical tape.

[@canoetipper019]

Nice job...now you could join the Tin Bangers Union...lol. BTW: nice odd size screw collection...my wife figures I'm a hoarder...until I find the screw she needs in mine. 😁

[@technoman9000]

Cool, love the idea of using a screw as a center punch.

[@mckenziekeith7434]

Spring loaded punches are handy also, and also allow you to see where you are making the hole.

[@thatotherguy9917]

Piece of duct tape works pretty good too.

[@GeoffBarnes-l9k]

Still got scraps of the green metal roofing kicking around from the shed build - lol... One of my favourite goto materials is vinyl siding... cause I got lots kicking around. That would make a good battery cover too.. Vinyl J-channel makes a good cable chase for behind a desk

[@michaelpurdy8569]

Cool video. A non-pneumatic sheet metal nibbler would work real well for this too.

[@MisterMcHaos]

2:34 "I'll fix that." That made I larff... :)

[@John-1984]

You can also buy a polystyrene sheet from a hobby store and use some of the same techniques. But instead of needing aviation snips or a grinder, you can use a sharp knife.

[@danlawford]

Glad to see the people oversized mallet in use - not sure anything else could have solve the slight bend

[@sleepib]

Can also fabricate it from sheet plastic. I don't think 3d printing is any worse for this one, you can print it flat so there's no weakness from layer lines. Just trading some of your time for the machine's time. Shouldn't be more than 5~10 minutes to model that, and designing it with half a millimeter of clearance will make it work the first time. Print time would be about 10~20 minutes, depending on the printer.

[@williamreinhard]

Yeah, in this case I'm pretty sure I could model and 3d print this about as quickly as he fabricated the sheet metal piece.

[@tissuepaper9962]

why bother using the precision of a 3d printer at all if you're just going to leave a bunch of slop to save design time? matthias filmed himself doing this whole process and still probably did it faster than one could with a 3d printer.

[@williamreinhard]

@@tissuepaper9962 The thing is, Matthias prefers to do things this way, and has decided that 3d printing is not for him. I would much rather model something and send it to the 3d printer instead of fussing about with sheet metal, tin snips, and angle grinders. Neither way is wrong, they're just different ways of doing things.

[@sleepib]

@@tissuepaper9962 3d print tolerance ranges from 0.1 to 0.4mm, depending on how well tuned your printer is. We're not looking at a part that needs tight tolerances, so just don't. Less wasted, time, energy, and material. Also, 0.5mm is similar to what the clearances would be on the original part. This isn't supposed to be a press fit, the original design spec likely had around 0.15 to 0.2mm of clearance at maximum material condition(the tightest fit possible with the parts manufactured to spec).

[@tracybowling1156]

I didn't realize you had a 3-D printer. I like your fix better anyway!

[@robertsteel3563]

Will the metal cover cause a short of any kind?

[@andreaslied7077]

The metal is covered in a thin layer of paint. Essentially insulative plastic. If that was to wear away you can always glue on a piece of paper, plastic or other non-conductive material.

[@scream221]

There are three AA Batteries. Even is you short the terminals, not a lot is going to happen

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

Hadn't considered. I suppose if the contacts slide out of place. Maybe I should put it on painted side inside.

[@HomeDistiller]

Or just a layer of insulation tape, it could short all the cases on the batteries, so it would be worth doing

[@loodusefilm7881]

Nice big screw collection with thousands screws is pain to find right screw but good part is that you will always find that fits 😆

[@wasdaletimelapse7658]

What a Dad! another quality installation.

[@Rócherz]

The sheet metal even matches the toy!

[@HGKaya]

What if i am 3d printing a form to bend the sheet metal? Jokes aside, i love practical repairs, nowadays, people dont even attempt to fix things, order a new one, get it delivered to your home, consume more. I remember cutting altoids and soda cans to create makeshift sheet metal as kid. It usually worked but Ive ruined so many scissors doing things like that:)

[@RichardBetel]

"I don't have the patience for that." LOL.

[@alainbourgault1937]

Wouldn't you run the risk of the metal shorting on the battery terminals?

[@ivanbessarabov690]

I still really hope that one day you'll buy a 3D printer-I'd be very interested to see your videos about 3D printing.

[@heyitsjay22]

@@ivanbessarabov690 I am sure if Matthias does get a 3D printer, those of us that have been creating things for years would still learn lots from him. His method of extracting things down to raw principles would certainly give lots of people lots of ideas. I wonder if he ever will get the itch to go to the dark side of 3D printing.

[@chainmaillekid]

You can't use junk you find from the scrap pile or on the curb to 3D print with, you have to buy filament. You know that sheet metal was just some piece of scrap that was saved from the garbage. The day you you can find filament being thrown out on the curb is the day Matthias might see the utility of 3D printing.

[@_xano]

⁠@@chainmaillekidactually u can, converting pet bottles into usable filament is very easy and it even has pretty good mechanical properties.

[@chainmaillekid]

@@_xano I'm not sure that's reached the point of being practical yet. My impression has been that for the people doing that, using PET bottles as filament is the project, rather than that being utilized for projects.

[@_xano]

@@chainmaillekid biggest problem with it is that it can be used only for small parts, as one continuous strand of filament from 1 bottle is pretty short. It definietly is in category "interesting but non practical", nevertheless it allows to convert trash into something useful :D

[@xanokothe]

It is funny that Matthias is transitioning from wood to metal

[@worstuserever]

Simple shapes with no fine tolerances or cosmetic importance are just quicker and easier to hand fab, but another reason is to use scraps instead of new material.

[@teemoto3923]

Best dad ever

[@Flako-dd]

Hey you also could have spend 1h designing it in fusion and printing it for 1h and then reiterating it 5 times until it fits! :D

[@Convolutedtubules]

It is good practice to put some padding or insulation between batteries and metal parts.

[@Punchin83]

Some covers have raised supports to keep the batteries in place farther away from the main cover. For these a printer could be better, or just some wood trimmed to the correct thickness.

[@droko9]

Benefit of 3D printing is that once the part is designed, you can reprint it any number of times if it ever gets lost again. In an ideal world we'd have a database of spare parts already modeled for stuff like this, but I don't see that ever happening

[@Biru_to]

Perhaps a matter of time? In a way 3D model websites are already filled with replacement parts, just not for everything.

[@tissuepaper9962]

you could make ten of these in just the time it would take to print one, let alone the time it would take to design and redesign until the fit is right. furthermore, matthias's method reuses trash and reduces waste, whereas 3d printing relies on inherently wasteful plastic. using the old roofing is just better in every way. 3d printing is only worth the setup and design costs if either A) the part is complicated/can't be made by any other methods or B) your production run is somewhere in the 1000-10000 range where hand fabrication is impractical and injection molding is uneconomical.

[@guillaumedeshors8313]

​@@tissuepaper9962 1000-10000, sure. Obviously you don't have any clue and dont regularly use a 3d printer. For instance this particular simple design would take me like 10 to 20 min, measurements included. And I don't babysit my printer for the whole 2h of print time so it doesnt count in the same way. Also I only have to adjust and reprint scarcely, maybe once out of ten times ? It's a matter of experience and common sense. All that being said i always try first to wonder if there is a simpler way and in this case i'm sure I would do it in metal too. I try to avoid adding to plastic waste if i can reuse scrap.

[@ionymous6733]

Getting good at 3D printing so I can model quickly, print once, and have strong quality results has been a fun challenge. Don't miss out.

[@heyitsjay22]

@@ionymous6733 Of course we all have to make the mistakes, No better way to find out how to create things right by making mistakes first. I find that after years of designing and improving, I still make mistakes because I take on much more complicated parts and projects. Even when there are no actual mistakes, better ideas keep being formed. I agree with you not to miss out. It is so exciting to hold an idea in your hand, whether it is woodworking, metal, or 3D. The important part is that we keep making stuff.

[@ilanmagen]

The best solution, using roofing sheet metal 😊

[@Dale-TND]

Based gravedigger kid!

[@peterjensen6844]

No concerns with causing a short on the battery and/or box terminals?

[@spikeydapikey1483]

Yup!

[@AlexanderTES]

absolutely agree

[@faokie]

I'm still not convinced. Can you try it with some wooden gears for comparison?

[@steveoddlers9696]

I did something similar once with a fretsaw and plywood. Only took moderate amounts of swearing and sanding.

[@Mike-bd2se]

The angle grinder was a tad scary :D

[@NavinF]

Well done, but personally I still would have 3d printed it and sanded away the bad measurements. Or just glued in 3 rechargeable batteries that have micro USB ports

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

I hear you, but let me tell you that there's no faster introduction to tolerances in 3D design than trying to 3D print a battery door to a kitchen timer. Plus I don't have tin snips and scrap metal lying around while I do have a Prusa Mini.

[@reddcube]

Sheet metal definitely beats my cardboard and tape method.

[@14types]

amazing

[@moth.monster]

To people complaining in the comments: just because two solutions both work doesn't mean one is better. They're both solutions. Use whatever you got to fix the problems you need to fix.

[@thoperSought]

didn't Matthias explicitly say that one is better, tho? that's kind of throwing down a gauntlet

[@tissuepaper9962]

one solution is, in fact, significantly better. 3d printing parts like this always seems like a quick 30 minute job and always ends up being a 1 or 2 day debacle including a handful of redesigns and print failures. it's a big waste of time and plastic. matthias made a better part, faster, out of trash that otherwise would have been wasted.

[@thoperSought]

​@@tissuepaper9962 I think when we say something is "better" we really need to remember to include the *"for"* part of that. while I agree about the trash part of that-that's really significant, and is a big drawback to 3d printing things like this-I am confident that I could design a working part for something like this in an hour: - since it's hard to get the calipers in there, cut a 3x5 card to fit the space, - measure that, being mindful of which direction to put the tolerances, - if I had any doubts, a 0.2mm test print to confirm, and then - print I've done much more complicated shapes and nailed them in one go by contrast, I don't have any of the tools that Matthias has, or a place to put them. if I wanted to do this, and already somehow had some trash sheet metal and tin snips, I'd be hand filing and sanding this outside, struggling with holding it, and have no surface to pound on it on so, *who* is Matthias's way better *for?* for people who have those tools, in a workshop that's already well set up, and don't have Fusion open already on their other monitor

[@JonnyDIY]

My Dad woulda just used duct tape 😄🦆💕👍

[@Reprint001]

I think you're going over to the metal dark side 😮

[@mjaerkens]

If you're good with a hammer, everything is a nail.

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

And then you no longer have a need for a battery lid!

[@DatBlueHusky]

you are like those people that prefer carburetors in their cars than fuel injection.

[@simoncleret]

"I'll fix that" *BANG BANG*

[@AlaskanInsights]

Easier than duck tape too

[@greglamphier4430]

I’ll be here anxiously waiting for a response from my other favorite Canadian 😊

[@DaveChurchill]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity here to design some sort of micro panta router

[@gacherumburu9958]

👍👍

[@Traderjoe]

I would do it exactly the same way. I know nothing about 3D printers and don’t care to know anyway. This’ll do just fine.

[@TonyHammitt]

I've been using a lot of armature wire to do things I would have 3D printed. It's about 100x faster to do a one-off bracket that way

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

You could have measured, modeled it, set up the printer, and printed it in 40 seconds? I don't believe you.

[@TonyHammitt]

@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 No, the other way around, bend up a bracket in a minute or so instead of modeling it and printing it in a couple hours

[@alengusic4259]

The old way, we approve 😂❤

[@russterman1]

I think you need a 3D Printer, even if you just try it and hate it (you wont). I'm sure there must be plenty of manufacturers, who want to send you one. Go on, it'll be fun 😊

[@MrTarfu]

I seem to recall he used one before so that scenario has already played out and not in the way you expect

[@tissuepaper9962]

nobody "needs" to have a little plastic turd factory on their desk. 99.9% of the things people print are better made using other materials and methods.

[@russterman1]

@@MrTarfu Hi, couldn't find the episode, is it on another channel ?

[@cest7343]

And still produced sooner than modeled right 👍

[@sleepib]

Nah, that part is ~5 minutes in CAD, maybe 10 if you include the time taking reference photos and measurements.

[@cest7343]

@@sleepib And then you run the first test print that fails every time - for various reasons, at the third time you print it it has already 3x 5 minutes CAD, been there, done that...

[@sleepib]

@@cest7343 I've modeled far more complicated things than this that worked on the first try, just need to know what tolerances you can hold, and add at least that much clearance. I can hold around 0.2mm, so I'd add around 0.4mm clearance for something like this. Even if it doesn't fit first try, it will be close enough that 30 seconds with a file will make it fit.

[@serdiefgotreb]

That uncathegorized screw box is a monstrosity.

[@Serbokrat]

It's a beauty and comes in handy countless times throughout life

[@ansemik]

@@Serbokrat Yes! Every DIYer has at least one of those on hand.

[@serdiefgotreb]

@@Serbokrat yes, but takes 1 day to organize your collection. I did that for about 10 kikos of random bolts, sorting doesn't take a lot of time.

[@matt3gan]

The screw collection!! Hah

[@bqdavis1]

My 5 year old son always removed the remote battery cover. My teenage daughter never gets around to 3d print them. So I think this will be the answer.

[@mrheineken88]

The angle grinder must be to piss off some peope. 😂

[@matthiasrandomstuff2221]

Also to show other options. Not everyone has a bench grinder, angle grinders are pretty cheap too.

[@miki09876]

Or a file would work well

[@mrheineken88]

​@@miki09876 what's the fun in that.

[@jimbarchuk]

"You have three minutes and thirty seconds. Go!" ...said no algorithm ever.

[@honeyforce996]

or you know, a spacer & tape, depending on how long the toy's expected to last ;) And, no rechargeable AAs for the famous ultra tightwad? IKEA laddas are supposed to be good. Or a price alert on cmaelcamelcamel or slickdeals Hope your kids enjoy the upgraded new truck. I'm sure it'll run faster & jump higher now

[@marcoloos9395]

Are you not afraid the metal will short circuit the batteries??

[@RROOBBWWAANN]

You should make two pieces at once. :)

[@RJay-b9o]

Very nice. You could 3d print it though 😅

[@thoperSought]

I wonder how long that took, total-not that I think I could do it faster with a 3d printer, just curious how it would compare

[@heyitsjay22]

@@thoperSought That would be a great project for the channel. I would watch that for sure to see how Matthias would handle getting a 3D printer out of the box and making a project like that. We would all learn something for sure.

[@MrTarfu]

I would say less than 10 minutes, it would probably take me longer to turn my pc on and open up the software.

[@thoperSought]

@@MrTarfu less than 10 minutes seems optimistic to me. not sure, though setup for making a 3d model would take a bit, certainly, and you'd also have to count print time the opposite side of that, though, is when you don't have a shop like that unpacked and ready to go. even if I had the tin snips-which I would like to have-I'd have to get tools out, move stuff around to make space to work on it, carry it in and out of the house to do the sanding, &c. meanwhile, I have Fusion open already on the other screen I'm typing this on. so, even granting the 10 minutes, *I* certainly couldn't do a metal one in ten minutes. it would def. take me longer than that to model and print one, but probably less time than making a metal one

[@MrTarfu]

@@thoperSought yeah I was basing the time on his video length plus how much seemed to be cut from the process.

[@thoperSought]

@@MrTarfu seems reasonable. I don't have a good metric for this kind of process, esp. since, (see above) I don't even have tin snips.

[@BDYT1422]

Square: KLANGKLANGGGG KLGGLGKLGGG

[@FrietjeOorlog]

I know it doesn't matter because the battery housings don't complete a circuit, but I'd still feel better if the back of the cover was lined with some electrical tape.

[@GabeSullice]

"And even if you've got a 3D printer, the best way to solve this problem is with sheet metal" … and a workshop … and > $1000 in tools 😅 Still an interesting little fixit video. Still, it's so easy to forget all the capital that goes into "quick and inexpensive" solutions.

[@TheLostVector]

Get rid of the benchtop grinder and he used sheet metal scrap, tin snips, an angle grinder and a screw. A lot of people who aren't even woodworkers/mechanics have those. Heck, include the benchtop grinder and I think we're still under $100.

[@bnasty267]

@@TheLostVector You could also do everything he did here with a $30-$50 Dremel (or knockoff) kit. For that kind of close cutting, I really like the Dremel-style cutoff disks better than using snips. More accurate and doesn't bend the metal.

[@mckenziekeith7434]

The whole thing could have been done with just an angle grinder. And the metal snips are not all that pricey.

[@Biru_to]

All you need is an empty soda can and scissors. Matthias used his tools because he has them. As a kid I'd play around with left over scraps, and build stuff out of it. 30 years later, luckily, I have a bunch of tools as well to "do it the right way". Personally I would've 3D printed it, but that's because for some reason I find it important to make it appear "authentic" even when I repair things. I find it stupidly difficult to settle for "works", my brains wants "perfect", and I and up spending hours replicating the exact curvature and offset the injection molded part probably had. Oh well 🤷‍♂

[@tissuepaper9962]

do it with an empty can of beans and a good pair of scissors, easily achieve the same result with stuff you have lying around.

[@cornelmasson4610]

The advantage of this method over 3D printing, is that all the time was spent in the garage/workshop, not in front of a computer.

[@olkman3440]

Good papa

[@sharedinventions]

I did it with 20cm of galvanized steel wire within two minutes :)