Yo-clone-oh Dogfighter

[Dadio]

I just had a breakthrough in printing consistent well shaped gears in nylon , I've tried a few things but the shrinkage has been a problem , even when getting them to stay flat adhered to the bed they have ended up partially conical as the higher layers shrink but I've just found that printing them on a raft works perfectly , a raft is a sacrificial base that gets printed first then the part is printed onto it , its larger than the part so has a lot of surface to stick well to the bed , its maybe 1 mm thick ,takes time to print and waste plastic so you always try to avoid using them but they do overcome the two problems with printing gears in nylon , elephants foot and shrinkage , elephants foot is where the bottom layers spread out a little as the surface is heated so the plastic runs more and effects the first two or three lawyers at the bottom , and nylon shrinks when cooling so the higher up layers shrink , between the two your almost printing bevel gears sometimes !

[Dadio]

Grrrrr new one way bearings arrived today , 8mm wide rather than the 6 mm wide ones I tried and one is DOA ! And these were a lot more expensive !
I took the time to open up one of the 6mm wide ones that had failed and I measured the actual rollers and they were only 3mm wide , so 3mm of them is casing and cage , if the 8mm ones are the same then the rollers should be 5mm wide so 66% bigger ,I'm hoping that should make them a lot stronger , if I eventually find some that work at all that is
A new roll of CF fill Nylon filament should arrive tomorrow , I'm hoping it will be stiff enough for rear trailing arms , the plain nylon ones I printed are virtually indestructible but a bit too flexible .

[Dadio]

The first few carbon fiber fill nylon parts are rolling off , the first prints were not so good as even out of the sealed bag brand new the filament was damp and needed drying , after drying the results are stunning .
these front arms were printed before i dried the filament and needed a lot of clean up .


this rear arm is after drying and as it came off the print bed with no clean up , its stunning !

[Dadio]

I'm getting very close to finishing this project , large amounts of it are already complete , now I'm starting to really think about what to do with it , a number of people have asked if I'm going to market it in some way , now "A" I'd don't know how much interest there would be and "B" how would they like the parts made , initially I was just doing it for myself and didn't really think of marketing it , then Shapeways was suggested to me as an easy option as they produce and distribute a consistent quality product for you but they can be expensive , or if there was only moderate interest I could make the parts myself , the other option's are to sell the files so people can print them themselves , I'm not so keen on this as people could just share the file and I loose control , lastly I could put some of the files on Thingiverse for free file download , the front steering knuckles are already there but not all of it as I've put a lot of work into this I think I deserve something back .
So what do you think ?
1 all on Shapeways
2 make and sell myself
3 sell the files ( my least favourite )

[matt1ptkn]

If I had the time and patience, and depending on the demand, my first choice would be to do it all myself. But, at this crazy point in my life, I'd probably lean more towards having Shapeways handle it. Either way, great work!!

[jwscab]

I would have shapeways handle it, but be aware(I'm sure you are) that you will likely have some iteration to get a quality print out of shapeways, ie, you might have to adjust some things for their specific printers, part stackups etc. Niki would be a phenomenal guy to chat up regarding this..

[XLR8]

If it were mine, I guess I would try to print the parts myself -- at least until I could no longer handle the demand then move it to Shapeways or some other printing service.
I definitely would not sell the files -- for the reasons you've already mentioned.

[Dadio]

If the scale is small I'd be happy to keep it in house , next question is how to sell them , I could put them in the BST section here and on eBay I guess .

[XLR8]

If the scale is small I'd be happy to keep it in house , next question is how to sell them , I could put them in the BST section here and on eBay I guess .

Yeah, I'd reckon those are the best options.
Probably should think about pricing and a name - so we'll know what to call it.

[Dadio]

A name is something I never considered "Yo-Clone-Oh " was a good tongue in cheek pun but not really right , I'll have to think about it ,
Gladiator 834BC maybe ?

[Dadio]

I'm really homing in on getting a set of gears that come off the printer and need minimal post print process to be useable , the plain nylon was a little too soft so I went to the CF nylon but the mesh is very different and all 4 gears needed remodeling , they are a touch tight at first as the fibres make the surface kind of flocked but loosen well after a little running , now I just have to run s few packs through them to make sure they last.

[Hcp22]

I would make it my selves, I don’t think the market will be that big. At least to start with, but if "Dadio’s 3D-parts" is growing, you can always reinvest your hard earned money in more 3D-printers

[Lonestar]

this stuff is really impressive

re setting up a business for this... why don't hit you hit up our friend @mk-zero (why isn't the pinging function working anymore) to get a feel for what getting into a small 3dp business is like? Maybe he can share some insights

Keep up the good work

[Dadio]

To begin with I think I'm going to make parts myself , if I went the shapeways route I'd have another 6 months development and countless test pieces that I'd have to pay for , then modify the design and get printed again ....... Don't know if I can face that and I do know I can't afford it so "in house " for now .
I'll soon set up selling in the BST section to judge demand , I honestly don't know if I'll sell one piece a year or fifty a day ,then probably eBay , various parts are ready now , just a few are still getting minor refinement , the gears are taking a huge amount of time to get perfected and I think will be most useful so I really want them right .
Stuff like rear suspension arms , rear suspension mounts , gearbox case , top deck , front bulkhead etc are ready to go its really just put your money where your mouth is time .

[Dadio]

I think my C hub design is going on Thingiverse , I've had another failure at the hole where they pin goes through to join them to the suspension arm , I just can't beef them up in that position and have them fit the stock arms , in any case Pargu store sell ally ones that are always going to be a better option so there is another supply for them .
I thought I had another gear failure as well but it was the metal axle that had moved and slipped through the gear and out of the bearing on one side allowing it to slip , amazingly it did very little damage and with the axle fixed back in place its still working ! that's five battery packs and counting ! It does mean that I'm going to have to make the axles a good tight fit though !