3D printing?

[Pro Reel]

Do we have a tech junkies here who have invested in a 3d printer yet? I saw that they have some mini units now for around $350.00 I'm wondering if they could be used to replicate nylon and hard plastic parts for discontinued reel parts. I still get a lot of old shimano curado and chronarch reels in for service. They have a common problem of the brake hub being cracked. I wonder if you could make a 3D printed version to replace the old cracked brake hub? Also, the pinion gear yoke on a lot of older shimano reels is a part that's no longer available. I think that should be an easy part to replicate if you knew how to set it up. Heck, you might even be able to make new side covers and nose cones for older reels.

[Bryan Young]

My brother has a 3-D printer.  We would need the part to design or design file to print it up though.  I'm not sure of the resolution needed and if his printer has the sufficient resolution.

[Southernsharker]

I was just telling shark hunter that I'm gonna look into one because they fixed the some of the problems  with reusable substrate last summer for metal. I've seen them use stainless  and aluminum parts in race cars and aerospace and think the possibility to make some parts for our reels is there. One in particular is a reel stand and spool for a 16/0.

[sdlehr]

Can they come out of the 3D printer chrome plated? That would solve some of my problems 

[Southernsharker]

Just fully read your post and you could definitely use abs or pla to make penn parts I wager you could easily make even side plates. All you pay for when you go to a shop is the scan and kg of material usually 

[oc1]

You might be better off investing in a CNC router.  An inexpensive 3D printer cannot handle much other than soft plastic.  An inexpensive CNC can work high density plastics, brass and aluminum.  If you invest a little more money or are very patient it will work stainless. 
-steve

[Bryan Young]

You might be better off investing in a CNC router.  An inexpensive 3D printer cannot handle much other than soft plastic.  An inexpensive CNC can work high density plastics, brass and aluminum.  If you invest a little more money or are very patient it will work stainless. 
-steve

They do have metal 3D printers too. I don't know the prices but it would definitely be out of ones reach.

[Tiddlerbasher]

3D printing (in plastic) is primarily for prototyping. I can't (yet) see it being cost effective for producing 50 or 100 off. The prices I've been quoted (for small plastic parts), in the UK, just don't compare to CNC costs

[jurelometer]

Mostly agree with Tiddlebasher.

I have done a bit  of 3D printing with the extruder type units.  Typical price for a decent one will be closer to $1000 USD.  They require a lot of maintanence.   Great for prototypes and functional parts that do not need to be strong,  but the parts made will not be super accurate.   My favorite use is to make master parts  for RTV molds for casting plastic prototypes.   I have made a couple freshwater reel parts for grins.

The printed parts are not that strong, regardless of the material.  ABS is the best combo of strength and ease of printing.  Nylon is stronger, but wants to warp while printing.   PLA is easy to print, but finished parts will warp with any kind of heat. Since extruded printed parts are built layer fused on layer, they are not very strong in the vertical printing direction.    Printed parts typically require some additional finishing.

There are other 3D printer technologies  capable of making more functional parts from plastics to titanium, but these require expensive industrial printers.   There are companies with these printers  that provide printing services.  You send them the file and lots of money, and they send you back a part.  A little expensive for replacement parts, but much cheaper than having an injection mold made to get a prototype.

And what most folks don't think about-  you need CAD/CAM software to design and make parts.   If you haven't done this before, there is quite a bit  to learn.   Until recently, this software was prohibitively expensive, but there are some decent cheap /free options available now.    The printer you buy will probably have the CAM software, but you wil need to acquire and learn the CAD stuff. If you are making replacement parts, you might need tools to measure or scan the originals, or pay for a scan service.

There are tricks of the trade to design parts for 3D printing, not nearly as difficult as for machining, or injection molding.

Most of the above holds true for CNC machining as well, except that machining requires a much higher skill level (ideally, solid experience with manual machining). 

I would still encourage anyone interested, to check this stuff out.  It is pretty cool.  There are 3D printing clubs all over the world.  These clubs  often build their own printers with 3D printed parts.  Many have meetings open to the public.

But IMHO not a great technology at this point for making most reel parts.

-J

[Pro Reel]

This has been very informative. I had already figured you would need a cad file of the part, plus I also figured it would take a few trial runs of measuring and drawing and then checking that actual part. I don't have access to that, so would need someone else to do all that. I was wondering about the scanning, I expect that sometime in the future there will be units that you can set a small part inside or between some clamps, and the unit will scan it and produce a copy. That's the unit I need, but even then, the copy would be of a worn part so I would need to be able to adjust the dimensions slightly to make it close to original. This probably isn't feasible yet but I wonder if it will be.

I guess for now there still isn't any cost effective way to replicate nylon parts unless someone with a machine shop wants to set up and crank out a large amount of them.