Anyone 3D print an odometer gear?

r-mm · 01-22-2014, 05:46 PM

I used shapeways.com to 3D print plastic positives to have my wedding rings cast. Cost almost nothing, as they bill by weight. Was thinking about using them to 3D print a replacement odometer gear. I know nothing about gear design but grabbed a rhino plugin and did my best reverse engineer of my crumbling Carrera gear.

Anyone try this?

Will I be banned from PP for spreading the knowledge and damaging the market for $25 dime sized plastic objects?

jpnovak · 01-22-2014, 06:40 PM

What are the dimensions? I could print one but I have found that high resolution areas like the inner gear teeth are difficult. I am not sure the wall thickness on the "shaft" section would work.

Rhino plug in? As in the CAD program Rhinoceros? send me the CAD file and I can try to print it.

r-mm · 01-22-2014, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpnovak

What are the dimensions? I could print one but I have found that high resolution areas like the inner gear teeth are difficult. I am not sure the wall thickness on the "shaft" section would work.

Rhino plug in? As in the CAD program Rhinoceros? send me the CAD file and I can try to print it.

I thickened up the wall at the shaft, more than doubled it in fact. The diameter is about .7" It is very small. What type of equipment do you have? We have a makerbot and I think a dimension ABS printer at my office. I think but am not sure that the shapeways printers have a better resolution. If you PM me your email I'll send you the file. STL?

r-mm · 01-22-2014, 06:44 PM

Revised model.

neilschelly · 01-23-2014, 02:47 AM

I've printed stuff on MakerBots before that I don't think would have the resolution necessary to keep this gear too accurate. I'd also question the ability of the gear to withstand heat deformation if it's printed with PLA. I've got a few parts printed via Shapeways in my car that don't absorb heat as well as I'd like, but well enough to serve my needs. I think their products probably can be high enough resolution, but might be too brittle in the cold and too flexible in the heat.

Can't hurt to try though.
-N

CHICKS · 01-23-2014, 06:41 AM

It's only $19.50, so why do all that work? 911 Odometer Gears

euro911sc · euro911sc's Garage

^^^ What he said...

If you want to do it for fun that's one thing... but if you want to save/make $$ find a NLA part to duplicate! There are going to be more and more of these things and we're going to need them to keep our cars in order

r-mm · 01-23-2014, 11:00 AM

Its a mix of curiosity and just to see if I can do it. Plus on Shapeways you can leave the model posted and free of copyrights (at least as far as I am concerned, not sure if VDO's lawyers will come knocking) so that the next guy who hits 106,000 miles can have their gear for $3 instead of $20. Willing to contribute my 3D modeling know how as a barter for people here who have given me hours of valuable advice that resulted in a successfully rebuilt motor.

DCinVA · 01-23-2014, 02:35 PM

If you want to do the community a real service, make some of those bumper mounted plastic headlight washers that seem to sell for $1000 a pair.

BTW, I never knew you could mail order 3d printing. That is very cool and good to know.

Housemarkee · 11-18-2025, 07:26 AM

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7203508

Never found a good one online.
Easy designed with SpurGear (plugin in Fusion360) printed the 20/23 version for my 930 and 3.2 carrera "row".
Printed 0.08mm fine print ,PC Filament 1.75,Bambu Lab P1S. worked well.

Regards AJ

bigel · bigel's Garage

Agree with those who ask why bother...understand it might be to overcome a challenge or just 'cause.

Bucketlist · Bucketlist's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigel

Agree with those who ask why bother...understand it might be to overcome a challenge or just 'cause.

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro911sc

^^^ What he said...
If you want to do it for fun that's one thing... but if you want to save/make $$ find a NLA part to duplicate! There are going to be more and more of these things and we're going to need them to keep our cars in order

Owning a 3d printer is a hobby within itself. It is not important how much money you can save, its about the challenge of designing, working through the problems with materials and coming out on the other end with an item that works ....or not.

PeteKz · PeteKz's Garage

It's a technology I want to try, but have been avoiding it so far, because I don't need any more hobbies. An olde 911 is enough of a time suck already.

ant7 · ant7's Garage

I think IMO it would be a worthwhile project, not just for the speedo gear, but there are many old bits of equipment out there [especially in the Audio world ie; tape machines etc] that have disintegrating plastic gears that are getting very hard to find replacements for these days, [I know from experience of repairing this old kit] and who knows' the OP might want to turn his attention to such things once he's gotten the hang of it.
Just a thought.

Ant.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

A big issue will be the fact that most 3D Printing plastic is not very heat tolerant. If the car sits in full sun on a hot summer day the interior can get to 140 degrees. Those parts may not like that.

914efi · 11-20-2025, 06:42 AM

I agree, if you can buy the gear for short money, do that. I have printed gears [~0.5" dia] and racks in high performance resins and they don't come out very well, went back to commercial items-this is for a real product so we need it to be robust.

Regarding the headlight washers, seems feasible, need a donor to measure, etc. There must be internal features that add to the cost? I printed a Carrera badge for a ducktail using a nylon from Markforged. It has been on the car for a few years with no trouble. Light duty, I don't leave it out in direct sun too much. This nylon material has relatively coarse layers, about 0.004" so it will appear rough. The badge is printed so the layers are on the edges, the flat outer surface looks nice since it is a single layer.