PK2 PICkit 2 Programmer Clone Case

While I wait for the servo motors to arrive for my robot arm, I decided to try and make a 3D project and print it on the Davinci 3D printer. I decided to make a case for my PK2 - PICkit 2 Clone programmer. I had played around with a 3D software called TinkerCad a year or so ago but never had a printer to test anything on, so I never got into it too deep. I fired it up again and tried to make the case.

It requires google chrome to use it and its a free online program. Its a bit clunky but I was able to figure out the basics. They have some step by step tutorials which do help but after a few of those I knew I just had to dive in and learn. 

The case started with just a base and holes for the board. I thought about making standoffs but then decided to build walls around the base. That led to even taller walls and eventually a removable top. I even cut some holes in the ends to only allow the connectors to poke through. The cover has holes for the LEDs and I added letter cutouts to form the PK2 name. 

The last part was the toughest challenge. I wanted the cover to snap-in and lock itself in place. So I made little wedges on the walls of the top and holes in the sides of the bottom case that lined up. It took a couple tries but I finally got it to work. The final step was to recess my website into the top but not all the way through. Because it will be on the bottom of the print its not visible in the picture above and gravity will fight it when the printer tries to put that on the face of the cover. It's printing now as I write this so I'll see how it turns out. I'll show the final version in a future post. I'll open source the files so anyone can print the case as well.
I'm still having a lot of fun with this Davinci 3D printer.