If you need gears... Print them...

I don't know enough about the process to know how necessary it is nor what the pressure involved is. But the machine shown in the photograph in most of the MOLO's operates at what I would guess is a fairly high pressure.
 
clif said:
As far as material to use to print gears. PLA the easiest to print is the most brittle and weakest, however oil doesn't degrade it. ABS I would NOT recommend because of the problems with both warping and need to exhaust the fumes, PETG is better here, but Nylon is even better.

IF you want to learn a bit more four people with u-tube channels I could recommend are;

Thomas Sanladerer:

Makers Muse

3D Maker Noob

3D Printing Nerd

One last thing, I am waiting for the Prusa MK3 from Prusa Research, because I want a better printer to work with, and Josef Prusa is the originator of the I3 design, the chinese are so fond of cloning. Should arrive at the end of the month.
Click to expand...


I purchased a Prusa MK2 from Josef in November, about 2 weeks before he announced the Mk3. I will have to say, I love that printer. Mine has been pretty much flawless, plus you get the support via online chat or email from Prusa Research. Just can't say enough good things about the Prusa. I am tired of the Chinese copying everything, and I chose to support Josef Prusa. Yes, it cost some money, but most good things do.

Also, the Creality CR-10 would be on my list of printers to try if you want to go inexpensive. You can also get it pre-built, but then you are looking at a fair amount of money. Creality CR-10 Pre-Built

I have printed numerous items from PETG and I am surprised at how strong they are.
 
Just to compare, what is the expected cost to have the following gears printed:

9-101-20A 20-T gear for feed screw tumbler
9-101-24A 24-T gear for feed screw tumbler
9-100-32 Spindle gear

I got a quote from Clausing this morning (1/18/2018) and new replacements are in stock for $42.76, $42.92, and $31.68. I figure I would have to get at least 2 of each in a better quality Nylon or better at this price to make it worthwhile...
 
That seems very expensive for a 3D printed part. Heck, maybe I should start doing this. If you have a 3D drawing or STL file I could take a look for you.
 
The prices I posted are replacement metal parts which should be the equal of Zamak originals. Use those prices as comparison when deciding if printed plastic gears are really worth buying. They are NOT 3D printed plastic! I do not know if they are new old stock or modern manufacture, but they are from the company that bought Atlas decades ago.
 
There's a thingiverse link above with the files. Based on the sizes, I wouldn't expect more than $10/ea in nylon, depending on exactly how much filament is needed, as nylon can be on the more expensive side. It's also kind of a pain to print for a lot of people. So things to consider. I do think it's probably one of the best available filaments for this though.

I also like the idea of doing a cast replacement, but I don't have a foundry running so I can't comment on the costs there. :)
 
I thought it was pretty cool of Mr Pete to intentionally increase the radial depth of cut until the lathe locked up (stopped spinning) as the belt slipped; no broken gear teeth on the 100% filled gear.

He also printed gears of different fill % and showed how the teeth snapped via pliers abuse to qualitatively show the strength of the teeth.

I could see getting a 3D printer in the future but doubt I would be a sufficient CAD monkey to create the model and driver files.
 
One other thought about these gears and 3D printing. If you want stronger gears (as far as teeth are concerned) and a much quieter running machine would be to use helical gears. I realize all would have to be changed but for someone that is missing a number of gears, that might be a viable option too. The guy I work with has a plug-in for gear making on Solidworks.
 
cdhknives said:
The prices I posted are replacement metal parts which should be the equal of Zamak originals. Use those prices as comparison when deciding if printed plastic gears are really worth buying. They are NOT 3D printed plastic! I do not know if they are new old stock or modern manufacture, but they are from the company that bought Atlas decades ago.
Click to expand...

First a minor correction - Clausing didn't buy Atlas. During the period late 1949 early 1950, Atlas bought Clausing. There are essentially no records or information surviving but it appears that in about the mid 1960's, former Clausing employees got the upper hand and changed the company name to Clausing. They also forced the Atlas contingent to change their part numbering system to the Clausing version. Fortunately, it was only applied to new parts, not existing ones. Unfortunately, it was applied to revisions of existing parts.

Back to the subject at hand, the current Clausing prices on gears reflect current or recent manufacturing costs. The gears (and half nuts) are relatively new, not NOS. The price of the change gears is competitive with Boston if you include the cost of tooling and labor to modify the Boston blanks so that they can be used.
 
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