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3d printers

armada

Monkey
Aug 27, 2010
196
0
i would like to prefix this by saying i dont have any kind of engineering degree

I recently got the ability to you use a 3d printer and got some ideas and was wandering if anyone already had tried. I was thinking about printing 3 things.

first i was thinking about printing a spacer for running less cogs in my casete.

secondly about printing a whole casete but was wandering about the durability of said casete.

third was a air cartridge for the fork.

does anybody have any ideas and sugestions?
 

GodSmack

Chimp
May 27, 2013
88
0
BC
Which 3d printer? what material does it print with? Plastic or metal? How will you make the printing program?
What is your back ground in 3d printing. This is cutting edge stuff. Sorry more questions than answers.
 

Wetbed0

Chimp
Dec 17, 2013
73
2
Colorado
I took part in making a shiftable 42t cog, it would shred with much more than the weight of a chain on it.

They really only exist for prototypes at this point.
 

armada

Monkey
Aug 27, 2010
196
0
its an ultimaker 2, it can print up to 22x22x22cm, it prints ABS plastic, the printing program wil be made using solidworks and similar...
@watbed0 could you tell me more about your experiences?
 

Wetbed0

Chimp
Dec 17, 2013
73
2
Colorado
I've dealt with a handful of 3d printed parts.
The cog was for final tweaking before we had beta prototypes machined, they haven't broken, but we've treated them like fine china. I believe these were abs of some sort.
I had parts made for a slot care, one on a low cost 3d printer, this fell apart while removing the support material, I've heard the new plastic is better.
The other part was the shell, it was made on a high dollar commercial printer with clear abs, this has held up quite well.

Other parts I've dealt with have either felt rather cheap and fragile or about as sturdy as a plastic water bottle. All of the better parts have been made out of a clear abs, and I feel that the material is the real key.

I still don't see 3d printed parts getting much beyond prototyping.
 

Samoto

Guest
Dec 16, 2013
402
0
in future 3d printers will have heads for different materials. it would be fun for building house.

 
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maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
You have a prototyping machine, it's largely useless for what you're trying to build. The cassette spacer is a maybe, but even at that, you'd be better off just cutting a piece of aluminum tubing or buying the cheap single-speed adapter shims and stacking them on.

For the damper you need a lathe and a mill, and the skills to run them, for the cassette itself you need a mill. There are printers that can produce usable bike parts, Koenigsegg is using them to print turbos and other intricate parts that are too low volume for forging to be cost effective, but they're still many times more expensive that CNC maching would be. 3D printing in metal is still a process that only become relevant when you require a shape that can't be produced on a 5-Axis.
 

Mike87

Chimp
Aug 8, 2011
16
0
Hauser, Idaho
I used a 3D printer to 'print' a prototype custom disc brake mount that I designed. It was good to make sure that the design would work as designed, but would not even be close to working on a bike in the real world. I did mount it to the bike to verify that the design worked. I needed a few tweaks to make the bracket work correctly. Much cheaper to do that than CNC a part just to find out that it would not work correctly. After the tweaks were made, I made the part on a CNC machine out of aluminum. It works great!
 

velocipedist

Lubrication Sensei
Jul 11, 2006
559
702
Rainbow City Alabama
At my university I have used a 3d printer, as many have already said, for prototyping. MakerGear2 I used produced great parts for what it is... For example the piece that holds the nozzle for actual printing has broken during printing so many times, the additive manufacturing lab redesigned and printed their own head with the printer itself. And even after that it continued to break, so it got a revised numerous times until their current design, which only time will tell.

tl;dr : Great prototyping for dimensioning, and hobbyist pursuits (non load bearing). Not quite there yet for printing parts that would undergo wear through their normal use, or experience extreme forces during use.
 
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maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
why didnt you try the printed part? was it to soft?
You'd strip the threads from a 3d printed plastic brake adapter long before you even approached proper torque. Not even close to the right material for the job.

Stop thinking of 3D printing as a way to manufacture something, the printer you have access too is not a manufacturing tool. Think of it as a more advanced version of 3D modeling, like Solidworks, but one that can blend with real-life.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,558
24,181
media blackout
You'd strip the threads from a 3d printed plastic brake adapter long before you even approached proper torque. Not even close to the right material for the job.

Stop thinking of 3D printing as a way to manufacture something, the printer you have access too is not a manufacturing tool. Think of it as a more advanced version of 3D modeling, like Solidworks, but one that can blend with real-life.

agreed. it's gonna be years before the technology is refined enough for load bearing parts. and even then it's going to be prohibitively expensive for years after that.
 

Samoto

Guest
Dec 16, 2013
402
0
You have a prototyping machine, it's largely useless for what you're trying to build. The cassette spacer is a maybe, but even at that, you'd be better off just cutting a piece of aluminum tubing or buying the cheap single-speed adapter shims and stacking them on.

For the damper you need a lathe and a mill, and the skills to run them, for the cassette itself you need a mill. There are printers that can produce usable bike parts, Koenigsegg is using them to print turbos and other intricate parts that are too low volume for forging to be cost effective, but they're still many times more expensive that CNC maching would be. 3D printing in metal is still a process that only become relevant when you require a shape that can't be produced on a 5-Axis.
I agree!

Still when 3d metal print is available , it gets cheaper compared to CNC as you build up things instead carving out a block. In the picture above, to build house by printing cement, it got cheaper compared to conventional method of building.

Now as prototyping stuffs with abs plast, it seems good to make CF production faster, doesnt it?

I believe that new material suited for 3d print will come. Far more strong than abs plast, who knows.
 
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JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm aware that it isn't a very good process compared to real carbon, but it fit perfectly in the context of this thread.

I've made some 3D printed parts at work to check fits and things before machining out of metal, or sometimes to use in very low load applications, but I can't think of any bike related applications where a 3D printed plastic part would actually be useful.