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Tried using a 3D printer to fix a broken gear on a 1970s Bridgeport mill
Spent 14 hours modeling and printing a replacement gear for the feed handle. The plastic gear stripped after three minutes of use. Anyone else learn the hard way that some things just need to be machined from steel?
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schmidt.willow1mo agoMost Upvoted
Did you at least check the shear strength on the filament before you committed to 14 hours of printing?
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betty_park621mo ago
Right there with you @schmidt.willow, I learned this one the HARD way last year. Printed a FULL set of gearbox housings over a weekend, 16 hours each, only to have the first one crack under like zero load. PLA just shears apart if you look at it wrong. I spent hours researching before my next run, PETG with some carbon fiber in it made a WORLD of difference for anything that actually moves.
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