I got the solar trays, but ultimately they aren’t wide enough for my panels, and I wanted to go length wise anyway. So I printed up some brackets for my Zamp 190W panel with the Markforged Onyx material to test. Onyx is not UV stable as it’s a nylon 6 derivative with carbon fiber - so it’s just a test, these will not last. I didn’t reinforce with continuous carbon fiber because, I knew I would be moving to ABS or an ASA type filament if I wanted to make these for realz.
If you are a additive manufacturing nerd, or 3d printing affectionado you will already know that FFF or FDM printing is anisotropic - the direction of print matters. In this case I took great care to get that right as well as infill density, and some stiffening features. I will double down on the stiffeners in the final part.
Man did I give these things a workout on our trip from Hill Country in Texas to Big Bend, overlanding multiple days on rough backcountry trails to Padre Island Sea Shore. I have a bit of warpage (again Nylon 6 is not best for outside like this).
I made it such that all 4 of these sandwich the panel in, so no drilling or fasteners on the panels themselves. You have to slide the bars to make it all tight.
I have been looking at making something similar but actually want to mount to the underside of the beef bars so I don’t have nuts at the top for when I have to put plywood on top.
@hawesquatch, no way, I’ll send you a set for free. I’ll do 2 more folks if interested. I have to wait for the proper filament/materials so they last (UV is burly), so as soon as the new machine shows up I’ll set you up. I’ll post back here with a link once I get the machine kk?
I am looking to do the same thing. Is the offer to print your mount attachment still open? Or any other suggestions about how to do it if you don’t have a printer?
Yes the offer is still open. I have ScottH, Berc, and hawesquatch.
Sorry for the delay, we needed to get new printers ordered and setup and start to test with new materials. The picture materials are carbon fiber and nylon and they just aren’t good for UV. After months of testing in harsh conditions the results are clear - we needed something better. The new version will be in an UV stable material.
I am hoping to start making parts this week so stay tuned!
