OED's models for 3D printing poker stuff (2 Viewers)

**Note: Please do not reply to this thread. I'd like to keep it uncluttered so that people can easily find the files that I share from 3D models I've made. For comments, questions, discussion, and requests, please post in this thread instead:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/my-attempt-at-3d-printing-racks.50525/
Thank you!**

I have a 3D printer and have started modeling some poker-related stuff like chip racks. I will post the files for the things I model in this thread. Anyone is welcome to download them and print them, remix them, etc. I just ask that you don't use them for commercial purposes. The models are free to use, but if you use them and like them I'm happy to accept a donation of a buck or two to add to my filament fund. Feel free to PM me for my Paypal/Venmo info. Thanks!

I realize that a lot of people on the forum are not familiar with 3D printing (I just got a printer a year ago myself), so I'll explain a little more about it. In this thread I will post the .STL file for each thing that I design. Anyone with a 3D printer can take this type of file and print the model. Usually you have to pass the file through another piece of software to "slice" the model, which cuts it into layers for the printer based on the settings you choose (some printers also do the slicing too).

The printer I use is a popular entry-level model called a Creality Ender 3. Just google that and you'll get a ton of results if you're interested in buying one or want to learn more. So after you slice the .STL file you get a different file called a .GCODE file. This is what the printer reads to actually make the print. It contains not just the model info but also all the print settings that you choose and information specific to your printer. I will also post the .GCODE file that I make for each model if you have an Ender 3 and want to print it the same way I did. If you have a different printer, just use the .STL and slice it however you like.

I have a list of ideas of things I want to model and I already have a number of requests. My time is limited, so I may not be able to get to things right away. I don't plan on printing and selling lots of things, but I can take small orders. I think it would work best and save on shipping to have people print stuff themselves, ask a friend to print something for them, use a printer at a local library, or even use a commercial service to do prints for them. I just have the one basic printer, not a printer farm, and it's a slow process.

Remember, to keep this thread clean, please use this other thread for discussion:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/my-attempt-at-3d-printing-racks.50525/

Model: Copy of the classic Paulson rack
I tried to capture the Paulson rack as closely as I could. The width of each row is 66.7mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.
Advice:
I recommend using the "ironing" feature in the slicer software (I use Cura) and ironing all layers, not just the top layer. This made a noticeable difference for me on the smoothness of the curves for the chips, but it does add time. I also recommend printing it upright in its natural position with a support angle of 55 degrees (more than that, and I got some stringing on the bottom). I printed with the "dynamic quality" in Cura with a layer height of 0.16mm (with some tweaks to the standard settings).

Edit: I noticed a small mistake with my file and fixed it. I deleted the old zip file and uploaded the corrected version.
Edit again: Updated the files on 12-28-2019 because I noticed another mistake.

Model: I call it the Paulson Super Stacker
My goal on this one was to make a Paulson rack copy that would be more stable when stacking multiple racks, such as in a birdcage. I inverted the curved rows on the top and used them to shape the bottom of the rack. When you stack them, the rack rests tightly on top of the chips and doesn't allow so much slop. Obviously this only works with 39mm chips and is not for stacking on top of oversized chips.
The width of each row is 66.7mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.
Advice:
I recommend using the "ironing" feature in the slicer software (I use Cura) and ironing all layers, not just the top layer. This made a noticeable difference for me on the smoothness of the curves for the chips, but it does add time. I also recommend printing it upright in its natural position with a support angle of 50-55 degrees (more than that, and I got some stringing on the bottom). I printed with the "dynamic quality" in Cura with a layer height of 0.16mm (with some tweaks to the standard settings).

Here are some photos of my prototype to show the idea. It was printed at a rougher resolution, and I tweaked the bottom of the rack a little more after I printed this, so the model I uploaded isn't quite the same as the photos. The rack is upside down in the first photo to show the bottom.

Model: Paulson Flat Sider
Similar to my last model, this one is the same as a Paulson rack on top, but the bottom surface is designed to hug the chips below for better stacking. Instead of having curved rows though, this one just has a rectangular box on the underside. This should be more flexible for a variety of situations, such as stacking on top of a rack of 43mm chips where the Super Stacker model would not fit. The width of the box is 66.7mm to hug the sides of the chips below and keep the rack from shifting back and forth.
The width of each row is 66.7mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.
Advice:
Use ironing on every layer to make the curves on top nice and smooth.

I haven't test printed this one yet, but it should be fine since it's just a slight variation of the Super Stacker. Here's a picture of the underside of the model.



I've tried to design the underside of these stacking racks so that the rack-to-rack height is the same as stacking regular Paulson racks, so they will still fit the same way in a bird cage.

Model: Universal rack spacer
This was requested by @arch3r to help people with worn chips that are too loose and wobble around in racks. He has been cutting spacers out of acrylic but wanted the ability to do custom thicknesses to match the chips more closely.

I went through a lot of iterations on this one to get it just right and as universal as possible because rack and chip dimensions vary so much. This should fit almost any 39mm chip rack. I have tested it and confirmed that it works on:

• Paulson racks
• Chipco racks
• Brybelly racks
• A generic 66.7 rack
• A generic 67.7 rack
• and 4 other mystery racks that I have

It also still fits if you stack racks on top of each other, and even if you flip a rack upside down on top like a lid. You can put the spacer at the edge of the rack or down the middle to split the barrels in half or whatever you want.

To determine the thickness of the spacer that you need, it's easiest if you have a set of calipers (you can get cheap ones from Harbor Freight). Measure the width of a row on your rack. Measure the height of a barrel of your chips. Subtract the difference and then print a spacer of that thickness, rounded down.

I have made .STL files in 0.5mm thickness increments from 1-6mm in the attached .ZIP file. I did not make all the .GCODE files for these, so you can slice them yourself how you like. I have printed a 1mm thick sample and it is more flexible than I expected and doesn't break if you're careful with it. Thicker spacers are quite strong.

Let's see some pictures of this thing to explain it better!





Works with worn PCA primary $5s!


Spacer splitting the stacks down the middle with enough of a recess that you can easily grab half a stack (note this is an earlier version and the final model doesn't stick out past the chips like this photo).


I went through a lot of prototypes on this one to get it just right!

that is awesome!!

Model: 8V China clay 71mm rack
This one is based on the Paulson rack and massaged to fit a row width of 71mm. The bottom of the rack has the same dimensions as a Paulson rack so it will still fit in birdcages, etc. The purpose of this one was to hold the extra tall 8V china clay chips that don't fit in regular racks. I shaped the underside of the racks just like my Paulson Super Stacker model. The width of each row is 71mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.

Some colors of the chips (seems like purple in particular) are a little taller and just barely fit into the 71mm racks. I made a slightly wider version with 71.4mm rows that will hopefully fit those chips (I don't have any to test myself). Both models are in the attached .ZIP file.

Advice:
Use ironing on every layer to make the curves on top nice and smooth. I recommend a support angle of 50 degrees for the curved bottom.

My blue and brown 8V chips fit perfectly in this one!


Top view


Super Stacker bottom view


Reminder: please keep discussion in the other thread so that it is easier to find the models in this thread. Thanks!

Model: Paulson rack lid / shorty rack
What would a Paulson rack look like with the bottom cut off? Like this! I figured this would be handy for people that use cases like the Apache to carry their chips and they put an upside down rack on top as a lid. This is the same, but shorter and flat on the bottom (top?). It might also be handy to have some small racks for moving tables, coloring up, etc.

The width of each row is 66.7mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.

Advice:
Use ironing on every layer to make the curves on top nice and smooth.

Action photos:

Model: 8V China clay rack lid / shorty rack
Small update for today. Here's a version of the last model modified for the 8V china clay chips. You have your choice of 71mm or 71.4mm row widths to fit your chips.

Advice:
Use ironing on every layer to make the curves on top nice and smooth.

Model: The Stonker
This is simply the Paulson Flat Sider model above with 6mm chopped off the bottom. With 39mm chips, it should measure about 1-7/8" from the bottom of the rack to the top of the chips. And it still has a small lip around the bottom for stacking, unlike my flat lid model above. Inspired by the shorty rack that @stonker showed in this thread:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/low-profile-chip-racks.51135/

The width of each row is 66.7mm. The diameter of the curve for each row is 39.8mm.

Advice:
Use ironing on every layer to make the curves on top nice and smooth.

Here's a side view to show the dimensions:

Model: Card Tray - Original version
A few years ago I bought a clamshell case off craigslist, and it came with two card trays that sat on top of the racks. @justsomedude became enamored with them and even tried to get some acrylic copies made as a group buy, but it was too expensive with the cost of the mold. Once I started modeling stuff for my printer, he was begging for a 3D printed version of these.

To start with, I made a copy of the original trays which are quite simple. These are the most flexible for storing a variety of stuff: cards, buttons, plaques, etc. I'm also working on some specialized versions of card trays with recessed storage for dealer buttons, etc. and I'll post those soon.

The attached .zip file also includes a variation of the original tray with a hole through the middle which I think will make it easier to get the cards out. I haven't actually printed one of these to try it yet though.

Note: these trays are too narrow to stack on top of the 71mm wide 8V china clay chips. I can make a wider version for that if needed.

Advice:
I would not bother with ironing unless you want the surface under the cards to be super duper smooth. I printed my mockup without ironing and I think it's plenty smooth.

The original tray:






This is the modified version with a hole through it:

Model: Card Tray with Dealer Buttons - sized for Paulson racks
OK, here is my first remix of the card tray with a number of improvements. I added a recess under each side for a dealer button (up to 64mm diameter). I widened the center divider and added a hole to make it easy to get the cards and buttons out. I made it a little taller to hold the ridiculously thick Faded Spade cards (and I made shorter versions for normal cards too). I angled the sides so that you can put the card tray on the bottom and stack Paulson racks on top, OR you can fit the card tray on top of a rack of chips and put it at the top of a stack - or in the middle of a stack - go crazy! It works with either Bridge or Poker sized cards.

I attached 4 variations of the design which are as follows:
Stackable version (fits on top of chip racks)
- 40mm tall to fit Faded Spades
- 37mm tall for normal cards
Flat bottom version (only works on the bottom of the stack)
- 30mm tall to fit Faded Spades
- 27mm tall for normal cards

The 40mm/30mm versions will hold 6 ABC ceramic plaques on each side. The 37mm/27mm versions will stack 5 plaques high.

Note: these trays are too narrow to stack on top of the 71mm wide 8V china clay chips. I plan to make a wider version for those chips.

Advice:
I would not bother with ironing unless you want the surface under the cards to be super duper smooth. I printed my mockup without ironing and I think it's plenty smooth.

Edit: On 1-18-2020 I uploaded new versions of the models with some tweaks and updated some of the photos. The side walls flexed too much for my liking due to the hole in the middle, so I added some stiffening ribs underneath, and now it's quite strong.

Photos (note: the grey version is an earlier prototype and the red is more recent):

Stacks on top of chips:


Paulson rack fits on top of the card tray:




Fits bridge and poker size cards:


Hole in middle makes it easy to lift cards out:


Oh, hi there Dealer button. I didn't see you under there!


Why are these Faded Spade cards so thick??


Double DB storage:


Empty view:


Bottom view.

One Eyed Dollar said:

Model: Universal rack spacer
This was requested by @arch3r to help people with worn chips that are too loose and wobble around in racks. He has been cutting spacers out of acrylic but wanted the ability to do custom thicknesses to match the chips more closely.

I went through a lot of iterations on this one to get it just right and as universal as possible because rack and chip dimensions vary so much. This should fit almost any 39mm chip rack. I have tested it and confirmed that it works on:

• Paulson racks
• Chipco racks
• Brybelly racks
• A generic 66.7 rack
• A generic 67.7 rack
• and 4 other mystery racks that I have

It also still fits if you stack racks on top of each other, and even if you flip a rack upside down on top like a lid. You can put the spacer at the edge of the rack or down the middle to split the barrels in half or whatever you want.

To determine the thickness of the spacer that you need, it's easiest if you have a set of calipers (you can get cheap ones from Harbor Freight). Measure the width of a row on your rack. Measure the height of a barrel of your chips. Subtract the difference and then print a spacer of that thickness, rounded down.

I have made .STL files in 0.5mm thickness increments from 1-6mm in the attached .ZIP file. I did not make all the .GCODE files for these, so you can slice them yourself how you like. I have printed a 1mm thick sample and it is more flexible than I expected and doesn't break if you're careful with it. Thicker spacers are quite strong.

Let's see some pictures of this thing to explain it better!

View attachment 386782

View attachment 386783

Works with worn PCA primary $5s!
View attachment 386784

Spacer splitting the stacks down the middle with enough of a recess that you can easily grab half a stack (note this is an earlier version and the final model doesn't stick out past the chips like this photo).
View attachment 386788

I went through a lot of prototypes on this one to get it just right!
View attachment 386785

Click to expand...

you need to oil those PCAs!

Model: Bosch router circle jig
This one is for the table builders that use Bosch 1617 routers that would like a cheap, adjustable circle jig. It is designed to work with the Bosch RA1166 Plunge Router Base which is also part of the Bosch 1617EVSPK Wood Router Tool Combo Kit.

To make the circle jig complete, you will need to print this jig and add a few extra pieces of hardware. Here is a picture of it all together:



A side view:



Wireframe to show the nut pocket inside:



I don't have an assembled shot yet to show the whole setup with the router, but the idea is that you drill a hole in the middle of the circle you want to cut, drop the jig into the hole, and connect the router to the jig with two metal rods. The rods are held in place with screws that go through the top of the jig and pinch the rod.

What you need to provide in addition to the printed jig:
- Two 3/8" rods of the length of your choice (typically 36" long for an oval-shaped poker table), available from Home Depot
- The jig is sized for a 4mm diameter pin in the center
- Two 1/4-20 thumb screws
- Two 1/4-20 hex nuts to hold the thumb screws in place

Advice:
- This one took numerous iterations to come up with a version that would not easily break when the thumb screws were tightened. It's probably still possible to break it if you really keep torquing on the screws, but if you tighten them finger-tight (which is plenty), it should be fine.
- I found that the best balance between strength and dimensional accuracy for all the openings was to use a 0.28mm layer height with a 0.6mm nozzle. YMMV.
- Print the model in the orientation shown in the .STL file (on its side). If you print it upright, the force of the thumb screws is perpendicular to the layers, which forces the layers to separate and causes the jig to split apart.
- I had some issues with the bottom of the print warping a bit, so I've been printing it with a small brim which seems to fix the problem but requires a little cleanup after printing.
- The hex openings should not need support. I set my overhang support angle so that it just created a small amount of support in the round holes.
- The opening for the center pin is tight! It also prints slightly non-round because it's on its side, so I used a small round file to clean up the hole and then gently tapped the 4mm pin in with a hammer. You can file or drill the hole larger if you wish, but not too much larger because there is only so much solid plastic in the model around the pin hole. A 5/32" bit for the centering hole in your plywood should fit very well with the 4mm center pin. The model can be easily changed for a different size center pin if you wish.
- For larger radius cuts, you may wish to use a second jig without a center pin at the midpoint of the 3/8" rods to keep them parallel and reduce flex.

Model: Chip Flattening Rack - 39mm
This one was requested by @TeamNapoli who wanted something to hold loose chips in straight rows while getting ready to clamp them for flattening. More discussion and pictures in this post: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/my-attempt-at-3d-printing-racks.50525/page-7#post-1024447

Attached are the models for the frame and inserts that I have designed so far.

Note: these are only sized for 39mm chips and blanks. I understand that some people also use 43mm blanks for flattening, so I'm going to look at making another version that will also hold 43mmm chips. I kept this one small because I think the Bessey clamp that is popular for this is only 80mm between the screws, so a universal insert that holds 43mm chips would not fit in that clamp. These models will work fine for 39mm chips, but if you think you might want to use 43mm blanks, you might want to wait until I post an updated version for that size.

Advice:
I recommend printing them in the orientation that they have in the .STL files, with the frame flat and the inserts on their side. This makes the curves for the inserts smoother.

Edit: I updated the attached .zip file. It now includes inserts sized for 43mm blanks and 1-barrel wide inserts for the 39mm and 43mm chips (as requested by @RainmanTrail).

Edit on 4-7: The zip file has been updated again with ribbed versions of the 43mm inserts. They are designed to be printed on their backs (as oriented in the STL files) with no support.

why has no one proposed making a copy of Matsui racks? You'd probably be a millionaire overnight if you could master that.

SteveHNo96 said:

why has no one proposed making a copy of Matsui racks? You'd probably be a millionaire overnight if you could master that.

Click to expand...

Probably because those are super thin, too thin for 3d printing, and they're transparent, also not something you can do well with 3d printing. You'd end up with enclosed colored boxes basically.