3D Printed Bike Components | MatterHackers

Cal Poly Pomona’s Human Powered Automobile crew is a membership that designs and builds a recumbent bicycle and competes with it towards different schools. This yr, we made a “tadpole” which makes use of two entrance wheels and one rear wheel. We used 3d printing to construct important elements of the bike.

Cal Poly Pomona’s Human Powered Automobile Crew

As with all automobile, getting the proper geometry is important for good dealing with. This yr we used a brand new technique of fixing tubes in place for tack welding. We modeled 3d printable tube fixtures in strong works to carry the tubes on the excellent angles. Their baseplates had been sq., so we might use a straight edge to align them with different jigs and the tubes themselves. They had been printed in ABS filament because it has a excessive glass temperature. With ABS, there’s a excessive probability of warping, so the fixtures had been additionally designed to have holes within the vertical helps to reduce warping. 

Welding jigs 3D printed in ABS filament

Extra welding jigs 3D printed in ABS filament

For the reason that components didn’t need to look fairly, they had been printed with a 0.8mm nozzle at 0.4mm layer heights. The fats extrusion width additionally gave the half numerous thermal mass, which helped when tack welding the tubes within the fixtures. The jigs didn’t soften in any respect. All our components had been printed on a closely modified Kossel Professional 3D Printer with a temperature managed heated chamber, an e3d v6 HotEnd mounted to an finish effector that I designed, and managed by and Azteeg x5 mini v3. 

Printing PRO Sequence Nylon on the Kossel Professional

One other place we used 3d printing on the bike was in our chain routing system. That is usually an enormous downside for recumbent bikes, as a result of the chain is extraordinarily lengthy, having to go from the entrance of the bike the place the pedals are, to the rear wheel. After going to a few competitions, we’ve seen numerous different groups have issues with chain administration. Usually the chain turns into too slack and comes off the pulleys or gears.

Chain routing system 3D printed in PRO Sequence Nylon

We knew we needed to provide you with a dependable system, so we designed and 3D printed our personal pulleys out of MatterHackers PRO Sequence Nylon. We used inexperienced nylon from their colourful choice to match our bike. We went by way of a few iterations to seek out the optimum design that mounted to the bike cleanly, had sufficient energy, and was simply printable with out helps. Along with pulleys, we designed and made a series information, that saved the chain from coming off the crankset. Nylon was an ideal materials for this due to its low coefficient of friction. Every time the chain touched the chain information, it could slide simply. It paid off as a result of we haven’t had a single derailment of the chain. Though the pulleys confirmed put on after the occasion, they survived the excessive pedaling forces.

Chain routing system 3D printed in PRO Sequence Nylon

This yr the competitors was in Las Vegas, Nevada. There’s a design presentation, a velocity competitors round a brief course, and a two-and-a-half-hour endurance occasion. Our crew continued to rise in rankings, inserting 10^th out of 25 groups. A spotlight for us was inserting 4^th within the endurance occasion. It is a very troublesome race for many groups because it assessments the efficiency, reliability, and ease of use of the automobile.

Subsequent yr, we plan on iterating on our tadpole design and enhance the manufacturing of the body with extra 3d printed fixtures and an excellent higher chain administration system.

Need to be our subsequent Hacker of the Month? E-mail rhonda.grandy@matterhackers.com, and inform us about your 3D printed creation – you might be featured in our subsequent publication. Hacker of the Month wins 3 free spools of PRO Sequence PLA or ABS filament to additional their pursuit of 3D printing greatness.