217 Mirror Array with >300mm focal length (to be separated for printing)

CAUTION: MAY CAUSE EYE DAMAGE OR FIRE! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Update 1 12/15/2021: I noticed a perimeter alignment error for adjacent sections of the array due to the outer base perimeters being too wide that will prevent adjacent array sections from mating properly. This is because the bases of the individual mirror cells overlapped in the model and when I separated the mirror cells into sections, each cell along the perimeter got their full width base around the perimeter which will prevent adjacent pieces from mating properly... I believe one solution is to eliminate the base overhangs on the six border pieces as well as the base overhang on the center piece of the hub if using the hub with the hub center hole missing... The alignment of the mirrors themselves is correct I believe however the wider than necessary overhang around the perimeters of all sections will cause interference when assembling with adjacent pieces...

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These are the parts of a 217 (or less) mirror array that was separated into chunks to fit the pieces on an Ender 3 or Ender 5. The focal length was set to 200mm or about 8 inches above the center of the array except it was then scaled up to 150% of its size to fit 1" hexagonal mirrors which raises the focal length to 300mm. After testing a section of another array that, it may might actually even be about 100mm or so higher than that so perhaps around 400mm or so? (roughly 16 inches?)... I haven't printed to test the focal point on this myself so if you print, you will need to find it using just a few mirrors for eye safety... Playing around with this can easily damage your eyes with just a few mirrors, cause burns, or even fire so be aware of the dangers, especially to your eyes, even just from to the scattering of the concentrated light reflecting off an object at the focal point!

I created a few options for the hub which could be printed at a higher quality than the rest which may help with mirror alignment. Keep in mind that the mating parts have no tolerance built in.

It is easy to plane cut the meshes apart in Fusion 360 for example. You will need to use Fusion 360 "Wrap" repair function on the resulting stl files for the slicer.

based on my mirror array experimentation here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5158449

which is very much derived from the excellent design here: https://github.com/bencbartlett/3D-printed-mirror-array

My first Thingiverse page above is cluttered so I created a new thing specifically to capture files relevant to this particular experiment.

Don't burn yourself or damage your vision as this can be VERY DANGEROUS! Keep your eyes away from the focal point to avoid vision damage/blindness and be careful that it is stored out of sunlight.

I shifted my effort onto a larger array. If you are looking for something ready to print check the larger mirror array I already divided into parts that will fit on an Ender 3 bed here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5162272

Category: Engineering