pic: 3D printed beveled gears

[Metalcrafters]

loading photo ...

[SenorZ]

We use prints for low stress applications. The fact that you powered your intake with bevel gears that were printed AND they held up to two regionals is amazing.

Print specs?

[Chris Endres]

Yeah... We tried this for a week or two, then they got absolutely destroyed after a few days of practice. We switched over to the VP steel bevels and they show little to no wear. I'm glad to see someone being successful in printing and using bevel gears on their intake .

[Eric Scheuing]

Mind if I ask what you're using for a printer/filament? We had a MakerBot donated last year, but the filament we have would never hold up under load.

[Cothron Theiss]

This is awesome that it worked well for you. Did you just take the STEP file of the WCP Bevel Gear and print that unmodified or did you mess with the CAD to optimize for Printing?

[cbale2000]

What rpm do they run at? Also what motor/gearbox combination are you using to drive them (and what ratio)?

[Carolyn_Grace]

Just pointing out how amusing it is that you're the MetalCrafters, and you have plastic gears.

[rsegrest]

Originally Posted by Eric Scheuing

Mind if I ask what you're using for a printer/filament? We had a MakerBot donated last year, but the filament we have would never hold up under load.

*Disclaimer - I am not from OP team.

We have a Makerbot Replicator 2x. Last year we invested in carbon fiber reinforced filament and it is amazing!! Cleaner print than ABS and stronger. Depending on infill can be a little brittle but has held up under lots of applications.

[Pauline Tasci]

I tried printing the same bevel gears for our intake last year, the were constantly being used, they melted within a couple practice matches, so we switched to metal.

Awesome to see it worked for you guys, but make sure to keep your eyes on them!

[Botwoon]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

What rpm do they run at? Also what motor/gearbox combination are you using to drive them (and what ratio)?

The whole collector is driven off of a BAG on a Versaplanetary with..... I believe a 100:1 reduction then a (minor) multiplier with an 18t vex gear on the output of the planetary and a 16t on the input of the collector driveshaft. I actually don't remember what the reduction in the VP gearbox is, I'll check whenever I end up back at the shop.

Lucas should be back here to answer any questions about the printers we use.

Just pointing out how amusing it is that you're the MetalCrafters, and you have plastic gears.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Chris Endres]

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

This is awesome that it worked well for you. Did you just take the STEP file of the WCP Bevel Gear and print that unmodified or did you mess with the CAD to optimize for Printing?

I know you didn't necessarily ask me, but what I did was I changed the regular VEXPro 15t 20DP bevel gear file to be a 5/16" hex instead of a 3/8" hex. I also removed the bottom step-in on the bevel for a better print. The 5/16" hex allowed us to run hex inside of a 9mm ID 17mm OD ball bearing from McMaster (7804K148).

[Metalcrafters]

It is funny that we are the metalcrafters and print a great deal of parts. We have been printing parts for load applications for years. We have learned how to design for the machine.

This is what our list of printed parts looks like for this year:

2 pcs wheels with 1/2 hex for the pneumatic tires. Started with 6 spoke reduced them to 4. We feel from the tower while lifting bent the axles all the wheels were perfect.

Bearing holders and drive plugs for all of the intake rollers.

Spools for constant force springs

CIM adaptor for a 18 tooth hex sprocket

Pitching Wheel hex adaptors



All of our parts we print are from a Uprint running ABS. I am sure these gears had solid infill. We are lucky enough to have 2 Uprints. We are currently hooking up a large format machine Fortus 400MC, let see what we come up for next year.

I hate to say it, but we downloaded the step file from VexPro and hit print(no modifications). Our original intent was to use the steel gears, but being over weight this year we were digging deep. We thought we were going to have to replace them every so many matches, never happened. I am sure they would last all season if it wasn't for hitting the wall.