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Unread 05-14-2015, 10:27 PM
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thefro526 thefro526 is offline
Mentor for Hire.
AKA: Dustin Benedict
no team (EWCP, MAR, FRC 708)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: New Jersey
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Re: Experience with 3D Printed Gears

In 2013, I printed a couple of gears to drive encoders and they were a non issue. If anything, they made a lot of issues go away. Specs on those were 20dp, 60T, material was ABS.

One of the tricks I picked up was to print the gears a bit oversized, something like .002/.003" over and run them against a metal gear. The plastic gear has a tendency to wear into shape when driven by an aluminum or steel gear, and you suddenly have a relatively low backlash interface.

For the most part, if you're printing gears to interface with a sensor, you'll be fine. If you're putting enough power into the gear to break it, odds are you've destroyed your sensor in the process.
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-Dustin Benedict
2005-2012 - Student & Mentor FRC 816
2012-2014 - Technical Mentor, 2014 Drive Coach FRC 341
Current - Mentor FRC 2729, FRC 708