The DSO 138 purchase was ultimately decided by seeing one in person, assembled by a local maker. That unit was first encased in an acrylic case, which cracked under use and was replaced by a 3D-printed case. Learning from the pioneer's experience, I'll skip the acrylic case and go straight to the 3D-printed one. If it works out, I'll have something useful to protect the DSO 138. If it doesn't, at least I could see one in action and decide what improvements to make.

The printer is the Monoprice Maker Ultimate, and the STL files were sliced into G-Code using Cura 3.1, printed on top of a Cura-generated raft.

DSO138 Case Bits

The author of this particular case is Thingiverse user "chibikuma2". And the dimensions of the design looked good - all the pieces lined up well with parts on the DSO 138. The top and bottom parts of the case is held by friction. There were no fasteners and no clasps or hooks. 3D printers with loose XY accuracy may have problems creating this tight fit - if the XY "ooze" is too large, the pieces would not fit together at all. And conversely, if the printer under-extrudes, the two halves would be too loose to hold together.

The fit is good enough on the Maker Ultimate printer to fit together tightly. Once assembled, a putty knife or similar tool would be needed to pry the halves apart again.

The other printer performance dependency is first-layer performance. The labels for the controls in this design were done as lettering recessed into the surface. For these words to be legible, the first layer must be accurately positioned since slight movements are enough to spoil the lettering. Cura's raft is what I usually use when first layer is important, sadly in this particular case it was not enough.

DSO138 Case Reset

The lettering is cosmetic, but there's also a functional requirement for first layer precision: the 3D printed sliders that cap over the multi position switches on the DSO 138. The square hole at the base must match up to the square peg on the switches. If the holes are too large, there will be unpleasant slop in switch operation. If the holes are too small, the slider would not fit. Again this printer fell short of ideal, and had to be cleaned up with a small sharp blade.

DSO138 Case Slider

This is a decently functional case for the DSO 138, but this experience has motivated thinking towards creating a different design. Some items on the feature wish list are:

  • Move away from 3D-printed lettering. We have a label maker and we're not afraid to use it.
  • Expose the loop of wire that generates the test square wave form.
  • Include a battery pack to supply the 9-12V DC power, with associated auxiliary components like an on/off switch.
  • A removable screen cover to protect the screen while in transit.
  • Storage for the probes.