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3D-Printed Weather Stations Could Enable More Science for Less Money:
Commercial weather stations can cost thousands of dollars, limiting both their availability and thus the amount of climate data that can be collected. But the advent of 3-D printing and low-cost sensors have made it possible to build a weather station for a few hundred dollars. Could these inexpensive, homegrown versions perform as well as their pricier counterparts?
[...] A team at the University of Oklahoma followed the guidance and open source plans developed by the 3-D-Printed Automatic Weather Station (3-D-PAWS) Initiative at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research to print over 100 weather station parts. Instead of using polylactic acid, more commonly used in 3-D printing, they turned to acrylonitrile styrene acrylate, a type of plastic filament considered more durable outdoors. Coupled with low-cost sensors, the 3-D-printed parts provide the basis for these new systems, which the 3-D-PAWS Initiative established as promising in earlier experiments.
[...] While the 3-D-printed system did start showing signs of trouble about five months into the experiment—the relative humidity sensor corroded and failed, and some parts eventually degraded or broke—its measurements were on par with those from a commercial-grade station in the Oklahoma Mesonet, a network designed and implemented by scientists at the University of Oklahoma and at Oklahoma State University.
[...] In the experiment, the low-cost sensors accurately measured temperature, pressure, rain, UV and relative humidity. With the exception of a couple of instruments, the plastic material held up in the Oklahoma weather from mid-August 2018 to mid-April the following year, a period that saw strong rainstorms, snow and temperatures ranging from 14 to 104 degrees F (-10 to 40 degrees C). A 3-D-printed anemometer, which measures wind speed, did not perform as well, but could be improved partly with better printing quality.
Journal Reference:
Adam Theisen, Max Ungar, Bryan Sheridan, et al. More science with less: evaluation of a 3D-printed weather station [open], Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4699-2020)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 12 2020, @04:19PM (7 children)
I've printed many things with ABS plastic and put them outside for years. They discolor a little bit, and are probably more brittle than when they first were printed, but they're mostly still "in service."
Now, granted, most are not serving as wind-vanes or similar mechanical moving bits, but... if you're not a purist you can design for hybrid devices that include things like cheap skateboard wheel bearings and the occasional metal rod where it matters.
The biggest age factor seems to be UV exposure, and a coat of spray paint can do wonders for that.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday November 12 2020, @09:28PM (3 children)
Other than getting kicks out of making something in your hobby shop, there is no reason to construct a functioning weather station when you can just go into Walmart get one for 2 C-notes or less.
https://www.walmart.com/browse/industrial-scientific/weather-stations/6197502_5602287_9023403 [walmart.com]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 12 2020, @10:19PM (2 children)
If you already have the 3D printer, most printed parts are actually pretty stupid cheap at $20/kg.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday November 13 2020, @03:28AM (1 child)
Good point! But if one doesn't have a 3-D printer, or even if you do, what is your time worth?
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 13 2020, @03:34AM
A 3D printer came our way for free-ish, as an educational tool. I spent time showing the kids how to run it and actually won 3kg of filament from Thingiverse in a design contest... it is a serious serious time suck, but when people want to charge you $20 for a part that weighs 10g it definitely gives you the option to spend time instead of money to get it.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dx3bydt3 on Thursday November 12 2020, @10:38PM (2 children)
I've designed and printed my own weather stations, and had even PLA work fine for years outdoors. I do use them in shade, and I've added a coat of paint as suggested. Interestingly, white pigmented 3d filament materials often have a fairly high light transmittance, limiting the effectiveness as a radiation shield in weather station applications, the paint fixes that, as it tends to be quite opaque.
(Score: 2) by hubie on Thursday November 12 2020, @11:58PM (1 child)
I presume the paint adheres to the plastic sufficiently and doesn't flake off too much?
(Score: 4, Informative) by dx3bydt3 on Friday November 13 2020, @01:33AM
I've had good luck with Krylon fusion with ABS and PLA. I expect most paint would work fine with those plastics. PETG may be more challenging.
In TFA they refer to ASA as the plastic they used, which I found to be really difficult to get reliable layer adhesion in printing, and I haven't tried painting it. I can report that epoxy doesn't stick well to ASA.