Sick of Paying Tractor Part Prices.... Make Your Own....(3D Printed)

[LittleBill21]

I bought a QiDiTech1 about 3 years ago now I think. Started making all kinds of useful things with it. I use Tinkercad to design things, and Simplify3D to slice them and generate the g-code files. I have tried using Fusion360 for sketching new parts, but it has a pretty steep learning curve, and I don't use it all that often.
I wanted to print a few things that were too big for the QiDiTech, so I build a Hypercube with 300mm cubed build space. I used a Duet ethernet board to power it, which allows me to send files to print to it over the network. I also put two RaspberryPi powered IP cameras on it so I can watch it while it's printing. Plugged it into a remote control outlet, like for outdoor Xmas llghts, so I can turn it on when I'm ready to send a file to it. I also connected it's power through a controller that shuts it down after the print is done, which is sometimes in the wee hours when I'm in bed.
I 3d printed a box I mounted on my BX that holds a TinyTach digital tach. I have made a lot of custom items for friends and family members. I even made a trolling motor mount to replace a crappy broken one for a friend of a friend, and another one for one of his friends that had the same trolling motor.

Its interesting, I struggled to make more then basic shapes in Thinkercad, lack of displayed dimension bothered me. within 2 days of using it, I said it wasn't going to work for me, and switched to 360, although I agree it took me 12 hours to make my first rectangle. I am now doing pretty good with it. I also didn't care that it was internet based only. sometimes I work with no internet.

 

[CoyPatton]

So, you write what you want to print on some kind of post card? Where did the card come from?
You can see where this is going.


Yeah. And what were you doing up until it printed? I'll tell ya--You spent the previous month learning to use CAD, writing (drawing) your design, debugging and changing and rewriting that "post card" you have to feed the printer.

I've got 20+ years in the mainframe computer industry and still can't figure out CAD or CAM.

Yes there is a learning curve. But their was one to learn the tractor also. Also one to learn to walk and poop in a pot!
Bottom line is any new skill has a learning curve for the normal human.
The OP stated he purchased for a different special project. So he should have know by the time he purchased there was a learning curve.
Side note, some cad projects are readily available for reasonable cost—no learning curve! Also there are CAD programs that are much simpler to learn than more advanced programs—less learning curve.
So your rant just shows you do not wish to learn any new tricks—ok your choice! But fortunately for the world of humans, you are god! They get to decide for themselves how they spend their hours on this earth!

 

[LittleBill21]

If you print them in nylon they should hold up. I have a nylon lathe change gear for metric threading that I printed nearly 10 years ago and it still works just fine. It comes out of an oily drawer, goes onto an oily machine where it's meshed with other oily gears, subjected to more torque than a 3D printed part should be, then put back in the oily drawer more oily than when it went in.

If you're just getting into 3D printing and you want to print something other than nick-nacks, I suppose my best tips would be:
1. Carefully consider which in axis your parts will receive the most forces, and print them oriented in such a way that that is their strongest axis. Remember that the parts have a "grain" like wood and are bound to split if subjected to the wrong forces in the wrong axis.
2. Know your polymers and use the right tool for the right job. They all have different strengths and weaknesses and there are tradeoffs for all of them, no one-size-fits-all filament is available.

I got into 3D printing in 2013, with a bold and naive plan to build a 3D printed prosthetic hand for my dad and make it open source because bespoke prosthetics are incredibly expensive and not universally available. I quickly learned that 3D printing was not up to the task. Nobody then, and (my impression) nobody now, was interested in performing collaborative repeatable and qantifiable strength testing to come up with best practices to make functional parts. Everyone was content to print chess rooks and smash them in a vise saying "wow I got 3 good handle cranks out of that one before it exploded. Very strong part!" It's disappointing that little progress has been made on this front. I developed a test object and a testing procedure that I hoped could unify at least some small corner of the 3D printing community and get a few people going the same direction toward strong parts. There was zero interest.

Anyway, here's a sample of what my unending failures looked like; something suitable only for Mr. Glass:

View attachment 696589

So I abandoned 3D printing and went after CNC milling. The prosthetic hand project fizzled out after a few years, not because i lost interest but because my dad did. Well, maybe I did too a bit, but mainly because I could tell he wasn't crazy about it. He went without a hand for 40 years and was pretty used to it. But, I still wanted a CNC mill so eventually I saved up enough to get one. I'm quite happy with it and only rarely do I clear the pile of debris off my 3D printer and put it to work. Every time I do, I have to put my filaments in the oven overnight because they sit so long.

3D printing is fun and exciting, and the cost of admission has come down so far that I would encourage almost anyone to give it a shot. But with a realistic understanding of its limitations. I am glad to see that you found a practical thing to make. Sadly, ideas for things like that no longer come to me as the 3D printing thought process has all but left the building.

again, basic level printer. I can't do nylon. PETG is where I need to be, and where I am struggling.

 

[BravoXray]

Some say you can make a firearm using a 3D printer. Is that true?

MoKelly

Not one that's more dangerous to the user than it is to the target.

 

[strantor]

again, basic level printer. I can't do nylon. PETG is where I need to be, and where I am struggling.

Basic level printer? My 2013 "basic level printer" can do nylon and I don't see how anything on the market today could/would be any more basic than that. Why can't you do nylon?

 

[lslarry86]

@LittleBill21, What filament did you use for the caps in the OP (5 pages ago!)? They look nice and flexible. My PLA prints are all brittle.

My JGAurora A5s printer mostly makes brackets and shells for electronics, with PLA, so high strength is not important to me. If holes need to be precise I drill them out. My toolchain is TurboCad (~$100), then the gcode slicer (don't faint, @Tinhack that came with the printer ($300).

 

[sickcycles]

Awesome job. I love designing and printing replacement parts. Did you use a flexible filament? What type did you use? I have had great luck with TPU from Sain Smart. I'm amazed at how flexible yet strong the prints come out.

I use onshape.com for CAD. It's basically the same as Solidworks but it's free as long as you don't mind your designs being publicly viewable.

 

[StickMonkey]

I bought a 3d printer out of interest, and for a specific project. Coming to find out I have a million uses for this thing.


All of my dust covers were ripped or removed from my mahindra backhoe /3pt. and they are ALL different sizes, plus some of them appear to be like 13-14 bucks a piece for a 3 cent piece of rubber.

So I made my own. and they came out pretty decent. Thought some of you might get a kick out of this.



View attachment 696368View attachment 696367View attachment 696366

Those look great! None of the ridges and artifacts that used to plague 3D printed stuff in the past.

 

[John Dear]

I don't have a 3D printer, but I have fabbed up and repaired things with my welder that some thought stupid too. But there is a sense of pride in making up something that is hard to buy or repairing something that most would toss in the trash can. The point is he can fabricate about any kind of small plastic part his brain can think up. It is kind of like having a Star Trek replicator. Not quite there yet, and it works differently but it is still pretty cool to watch a small plastic part take shape and be built up right before you eyes. I say cool.

So true k0ua !!! My favorite items around the shop and my tractors are "farmered up" by a welder and some scrap metal. My favorite (and most useful), auction items to purchase were made by farmers / ranchers the same way. Nothing surpasses homemade Agricultural Ingenuity imho. Little Bill, Thank You for sharing. Great idea!!! Question for you (or anyone else), who has one of these 3D doohickeys, are they difficult to program? Do you need special computer skills or software? Would you please share the manufacturers and places online you purchased? Any thoughts on what to watch out for or "must have's" to include when purchasing one? I'd be real interested to hear how your thought process was to purchase one of these. I too am far away from my dealer (who is overpriced for every little part and piece), and would love to learn more about making whatever I could on my own. In my case, I have 4 tractors, each with 10 ports. Take those times $2.50 each (minimum) and I'm over $100 bucks. Thanks Again Bill, Greatly Appreciated !!!

 

[sunandsand]

3D printing is still just barely out of diapers, but it IS growing up. Some years ago this stuff was hugely expensive, it has come down greatly. Capabilities are up, too. NASA has a 3D printer on the ISS, they now make some of the stuff they need right there instead of waiting for Elon's next resupply rocket. Of course NASA has more money than we do, and it would probably be impolite to point out that it is actually OUR money, but whatever . . .

Modern cars (and lots of other stuff) have a gazillion plastic parts in them, many of which could be 3D printed quite handily. Suppose the dealer had the CAD files for all those parts and simply printed them out when needed? No more "out of stock", no more "unavailable", no more "obsolete, forget it", no more shipping, storage, freight, (or import duties), spoilage, shrinkage, just a bunch of digital files on a hard drive, referenced to the parts catalog, a 3D printer, and spools of filament. "I need a part for my 1962 Waxahatchie GTS V8." "No problem sir." Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt "Here you go, please pay at the register . . . "

Alternatively, when 3D printers have the same market penetration as cell phones do, you could rent a one-time-use CAD file and print the part out yourself, at home.

The nice thing is that NOTHING has to be invented to do this, we already have all the stuff we need.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida