3D printed bike mods

[Goosifer]

Tomfoolering around with 3D printing I made up a few parts for the bike. The idea was to see what could be done, what shouldn't be done and how long it will all last.

This is a very basic breakdown of the procedure I used, for those who may be interested.

I started with a slightly munted sprocket cover I had spare, stripped off the coating and bodged it together.



A series of photo's were taken from various angles. The photos are imported into an application called Photoscan, which constructs a 3D model of the object.
Highest quality setting and good lighting help a lot, but using a flash is not a good idea.



The Photoscan model is taken into a modeling package where it is used as a base. The additional parts I designed for the 3D print, are modeled to conform to the base to ensure a good fit.



Once the model is 3D printed in ABS plastic, it's sanded, treated with acetone for additional strength, primed and painted. (Added some metal mesh and bolts to finish it off)



And finally fitted.








Another printed part: The only difference here is the parts were simple enough to measure so no need for multiple photographs.

Headlight proxy model.



Cover modeled to fit the proxy.



A few CG renders to give a better idea how it will look finished.




The mesh is divided up and laid out before printing



3D Printed and painted.



Fitted to the headlight

[Akzle]

technology eh.

Some interesting shit.

[AllanB]

Bloody good work mate. What's the lifespan of that stuff?

[F5 Dave]

That's just a little bit more than impressive. Bet the ink cost a pretty penny for the cover.

[tigertim20]

that is fantastic.

what sort out outlay is required to be able to make that kind of stuff?

I had wondered what the limitations were with 3d printing parts for spaces like engine bays etc where they might be subjected to heat etc

[bogan]

That looks like a fantastic print job. What model printer is that? and did you have any issues with part cooling warping, etc. I've dabbled with a few, but the print quality is just nowhere near what is required for a useable part.

[Ocean1]

Very nice. There's a bit more work there than just tomfoolering around.

How accurate is that photoscan?

And is it the standard or pro version?

[jonbuoy]

That's bloody amazing- you had to manually enter in critical dimensions to the photo scan?

[Paul in NZ]

Like everyone else I was kinda dismissive of 3D printers when I first heard about them. I mentally put them into the ‘Interesting toy’ sort of thing. Fact is they are a lot more than that. We use them at work a lot now. Custom built enclosures for electronics etc.

Biggest breakthrough for me was when I purchased a new mountain bike helmet. It has a break away mount for a gopro but no adaptor for a light mount. 5 mins on the internet and I found a guy that had already designed one and put it up on a free for use site. Sent the file to the printer and in a few minutes I had it in my hand and its perfect…

These things are awesome….

[Goosifer]

Bloody good work mate. What's the lifespan of that stuff?

Thanks!

So far, it's 15 months on and everything is still in one piece.

There are some signs of stress and de-lamination on the first few items I printed, but I am not at all surprised considering I was still getting the hang of it, and the free software I used was terrible (i.e no temperature, speed or wall thickness controls)

My later prints are much better as I've gotten my head around which print settings work best, what the material limitations are and ways to design around them, these prints are still looking good.

[Goosifer]

that is fantastic.

what sort out outlay is required to be able to make that kind of stuff?

I had wondered what the limitations were with 3d printing parts for spaces like engine bays etc where they might be subjected to heat etc

The outlay required isn't too bad

Hardware:
A mid range PC would work just fine,

3D Modeling:
For Modeling there is free 3D software like Blender3D, FreeCAD, Sketchup and 123DApp, they are more than adequate and there is a lot of free training material on Youtube.

Slicers:
3D slicers, these programs handle the printer setup, there are a lot of free ones about that work really well, so long as your printer is compatible.

Printers:
For the FDM (plastic filament) printers, you can get a $400 printer kit off Aliexpress or anything up to $4000+ for a slick out the box unit. Its pretty much down to marketing, component quality and and how much time you are willing to spend tinkering

FDM printers have pretty much hit their development ceiling, time to start looking at the alternatives like these http://www.gizmo3dprinters.com.au/

If you don't want to shell out for a 3D printer, use a service like https://www.3dhubs.com/

I'm not sure what you intend to make or what temperatures it will be exposed to, but keep in mind that while the melting point of ABS is around 225C to 250C, it will start to soften from about 60C, so prolonged exposure to temperatures well below the melting point can still result in warping. Printed parts generally have strength issues, I'd be hesitant to use it for critical components.

[Goosifer]

That looks like a fantastic print job. What model printer is that? and did you have any issues with part cooling warping, etc. I've dabbled with a few, but the print quality is just nowhere near what is required for a useable part.

I'm using a cheapo XYZ Davinci, while I have done a few mods to get better prints and ditched their proprietary software in favor of Simplify3D, the prints still need a lot of sanding and prep work to get a good finish

I haven't had much issue with warping or shrinking, using a heated print bed helps. To be on the safe side I also print a large raft base for items that look like they'll be a problem.

[Goosifer]

Very nice. There's a bit more work there than just tomfoolering around.

How accurate is that photoscan?

And is it the standard or pro version?

I use the Standard version, the Pro features would be lost on me, also the price difference is huge.

It can be hit and miss, it mostly depends on the quality of photos and subject matter. If the subject is shiny or reflective you aren't going to have much luck unless you can find some way of removing the shine (masking tape, plastidip etc). If you are looking to reproduce a part, the best that photoscan can do is provide you with an accurate model for reference which you can build a clean model over, I wouldn't print a scanned model.

[Goosifer]

That's bloody amazing- you had to manually enter in critical dimensions to the photo scan?

Thanks....Photoscan will only give you a proportionately correct model, you will have to scale it size in a modeling application.

[Goosifer]

That's just a little bit more than impressive. Bet the ink cost a pretty penny for the cover.

Thanks...The cover is still the bike's original cover, just with a hole cut in it and the newly printed piece bolted to it (the green mesh in the 3D viewport). I think the print used around 20m of filament, so about $3.