Neon Skullbox (for electroluminescent wire!)

Hi there, wonderful people!

Electroluminescent wire (or just EL wire) is such cool stuff!  I was reminded of it in the Clockspring3D discord recently and so jumped online and grabbed some three metre, AA-battery-powered lengths and started experimenting.  A few experimental prints later, I'd worked out how tightly I could curve the wire and not be too paranoid about breakage, what kind of channel depth and width seemed to work well for the 2.3mm wire I had, and so I moved on to hyper-futuristic skull iconography with great enthusiasm!

Look how glowy this stuff is!  isn't that just cool?

Okay, so what is this thing, other than an excuse to work with EL wire?  Well, it's a box.  It's a reasonably large print - spool for scale:

Fitting the Wire

But where does the wire actually start and end?  I'm glad you asked!  In the rear corners of the box are two holes.  Take the length of wire and thread it all the way out through one of those holes.  Then, carefully push it into the channel, working your way around the whole box, until you eventually come to the other hole.  I used a rubbery tool handle to push the wire into the channel, to save my poor fingers.

If you've used a three metre length of wire you should have about ten centimetres left, which can be threaded into the hole or optionally trimmed to length.  

Power Pack Divider

There's an optional divider that slots into the box - use this to keep the power pack for your EL wire separate from the actual contents of the box.  

Sourcing EL Wire

The only important feature of the wire is that it should be 2.3mm in diameter.  The EL wire I've used is just cheap stuff that I sourced locally, but it works very nicely and looks to be the same stuff that's sold all over the planet.  I aim to base these kinds of models on the kind of hardware that's (hopefully) easy for everyone to find!

Print Description

This is a regular mode print designed for straightforward printing.  You can go fairly light on the infill on this one - the main thing that'll be affected is the rigidity of the inside floor.

Print Dimensions

The main Neon Skullbox model occupies 146mm x 146mm on the print bed and is 130mm tall.

Supports Needed?

Not at all!  Designed for straightforward printing!

Scalability

This model is sized to fit 2.3mm electroluminescent wire, and scaling things is going to cause that fit to be a problem!

Print Orientation

The main box and lid print right-way-up, while the divider prints flat side down like so:

File Location

You'll find this one at at 586 Neon Skullbox

Link to dropbox post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31697592

Further Thoughts

There are a bunch of design aspects I completely forgot to cover above, because I was too caught up with the EL wire part.  Things like overhangs in the wire channel that are only half-mitigated, so that the outer will look neat but the interior will still grip the wire.  There are probably other things, too, but I am still too entranced by the glowing wire :P

Hmm, I wonder how EL wire would work if it was somehow hidden inside a vase mode print?  Only one way to find out! :D

Happy printing!

xoxo

Sven.