3D Gear Printing

Hi All,

I'm super green when it comes to 3d printing but have extensive training in solidworks as well as an EE degree. I am looking for a way to create gears and am looking at silicone molds or 3d printing however have leaned towards 3d printing since I have over 100 different sizes that I would like to make and only need a few at a time.

My question: Is 3d printing a viable option for printing gears with an approximate 1" diameter (I have attached a sample pic). If this is a viable option, is there anything specific I should look for when purchasing the machine?

Any additional input would be fantastic. (Sorry if this is the wrong location for this question, let me know and I'll gladly post elsewhere). Thanks in advance.
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I would say Yes and No. You can print the gears you like assuming your printer has the resolution if they are really small gears. You need to watch out for the application though, you don't want to put a plastic printed gear in place of a metal gear or it might shave the teeth off :)

Be sure to add a decent brim when you print your gear so the teeth don't lift during the print

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Originally Posted by truehybridx

I would say Yes and No. You can print the gears you like assuming your printer has the resolution if they are really small gears. You need to watch out for the application though, you don't want to put a plastic printed gear in place of a metal gear or it might shave the teeth off :)

Be sure to add a decent brim when you print your gear so the teeth don't lift during the print

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Thanks so much for the reply Hybridx. These are going in place of other plastic gears so hopefully that is covered. Would you have a general resolution requirement I should be looking for in the machine? Thanks again for your reply!

My understanding is the resolution is based on how fine your axis movements are AND the diameter your extruder puts out.

Mine puts out .5mm from a 3mm filament and I've noticed there is a limit to how small of things are i can make (Plus the really tiny parts can melt into blobs if they don't have enough time to cool too)

Maybe someone more experienced can throw in tips, but you should be good for what you need to get done

I have been printing with a reprap prusa mendel now for a couple years and perhaps my opinion is a tad bias, but I would have to say that even on a smaller 3d printer like mine you could still print atleast 30-60 of those a day..although at 30$ for a 2kg spool of filament, im not exactly sure how many you would get..I'm sure it would still be worth it though if you did the math.

brickford5, post or PM an .stl file, I'll see what I can do.

Nylon? ABS?

In my experience, you will have trouble printing small gears like in your picture with any 3D printer costing less than $10K or so. A commercial unit like the Objet could do it, but the required resolution is beyond something like a MakerBot. I'd love to see someone prove me wrong.

That said, you can print lots of larger plastic gears that work great; just can't do the little bitty stuff.