I’m not very familiar with Alloy 910 other than knowing it is a strong 3d printed material, but I probably would have designed this a little differently. With 3D printing, you are not limited to 2D lightening patterns in the way a waterjet piece of metal is. You could leave the top and bottom faces solid but thin, while doing your lightening within the material, to make a stronger honeycomb type structure that is more rigid than a traditional webbed lightening pattern like this.
Also I may be superstitious but I would have made the plate 3/8" thick, to be safe. Its not like weight is an issue with this kind of material + infill settings.
I’ve had the idea to try printed side plates for a while now; just now getting around to putting the plan into action. I haven’t been able to find anyone else trying this out (after a cursory search), so I wanted to facilitate some discussion here.
This print is not completely solid (~50% infill, 3 solid top/bottom layers, and 3 perimeter layers). My lightening pattern is solely to reduce print time and material consumption (Alloy 910 is about $35/lb). I chose 1/4" as a thickness to provide full bearing contact with a Vex flanged bearing. The perimeter hole pattern is to accomodate 1/4-20 bolts for some standoffs between side plates. If i run into loading issues with these, I’ll probably embed metallic bushings into the holes rather than increase print thickness.
This print is extremely stiff in-plane. I can’t break it. I’m convinced that one of these could survive a FRC application if coupled with some aluminum structure that limits out of plane shock loading to the printed parts.
Great information, thanks! I’ll definitely be looking into this stuff for sure then. Sure beats the pants off ABS and PLA printing.
You could probably get a bit more strength-to-material ratio by increasing the shell thickness and going down to 33% infill or so, depending on the pattern and how well the print seals up on top and bottom.
I can’t recommend Alloy 910 highly enough. It has much less shrinkage than ABS.
I’m currently using a set of Alloy 910 clamps to hold a ~20lb battery on my electric bike’s frame (there’s some funky loading scenarios so they have 100% infill). They’ve been in use for a year or so now with no issues. I’d be terrified to put any other filament into this service.
Wow, what 3D printer did you use and what did you have to do to get it to print. I’m sure it doesn’t print at the same settings as ABS or PLA!
Thanks
Have you found any issues with nylon filaments in the humid environment? I’d rather avoid having to throw it in my oven to dehumidify it.
Might be worth picking up a roll since it’s a lot cheaper than the PC filament I was looking at.
I use a Lulzbot Taz 5 and its heated PEI bed with some disappearing purple Elmer’s glue stick applied to the print surface beforehand.
Any printer capable of ~250C in its hot end should be OK for printing with Alloy 910. There is some discrepancy between the filament manufacturer (Taulman) and my printer manufacturer’s recommended bed temperature for this material. The Lulzbot profile for this material has a bed set point of 100C, while Taulman calls for 50C. I’ve had good and bad results with both bed temps. One day I’ll isolate that variable and run some tests. I’ve found the Taulman parameters for retraction, print speed and such to be spot on.
I keep my filament in a sealed 5 gallon bucket with a desiccant. Honestly, I’m not convinced it’s that major of a variable with the parts I’ve made. I used to be religious about keeping the nylons dry, but have had great quality prints after forgetting about a spool and leaving it out (in an air conditioned environment) for a week or so. Sometimes i notice bubbling, and sometimes I don’t. If the bubbling gets out of hand and prevents a good first layer, 12-14 hours in the desiccant bucket seems to sort it out. I’m not sure humidity has ever caused a failed print for me, but it can definitely affect print quality. I have yet to throw a spool in my oven.
I haven’t tried it out, but Taulman does have this advice with regard to drying filament (Drying Materials).
Send me a PM when you get the chance - it’s fairly easy and cheap to build a plastic case that keeps your filament dehumidified passively. You can even build it so that your printer draws directly from the box to feed the nozzle.