I need two tiny gears

[Tonyj]

Hi,

At this time I am not sure if a 3D printer can print a gear this small, seen in the picture below. I say this because I already talk to three 3D printer people and they all said that their printer can not print a quality looking gear that small. Could it be that they do not have a good enough printer or is it impossible for a 3D printer to print something this small?

tiremotor.jpg

I need a gear that just fits inside that black tire and another gear that fits on the silver motor that is big enough to touch the tire gear. Note that I need the teeth of these gears to be deeper than a servo gear or the gears will pop out when the motor runs. In other words, I need a little play for the wheel axle.

I hope someone can answer my question above or be able to put these two gears together for me. If someone is able to make two gears to work on my product, I will then need more of those gears made up afterwards.

I can take more pictures if this can be done and someone is willing to take this project on.

Thanks,
Tony

[curious aardvark]

got a millimetre scale - I don't do inches :-)

And you'll need someone with a resin based sla type printer.

They will be able to make the gears - but I don't know how strong they will be.

Okay after guesstimateing it at about 5/16 of an inch it's around 8mm in real numbers.

I actually just see wheels, no gears. 8mm wheels - no problem.

8mm gears with many teeth - you will need sla machine.

[Tonyj]

Thank you curious aardvark for your quick reply and answering my question!

Now I need to find a person with a sla 3D printing machine to make this happen. Anyone out there have one and is willing to help me with this? I have Paypal.

Note that I do not need many teeth. Just not small teeth like a servo gear teeth. Here is an image of the closest gear I seen made to make this work. I like the size of these teeth.

smallgear.jpg

When the 3D person tried to make this gear smaller, it messed up. I need this made at a smaller size and a smaller middle hole of course. If teeth are going to be a problem, then maybe even a custom paddle setup.

Thanks,
Tony

[Mjolinor]

I think you may have more luck with a laser cutter though it does depend what strength you need.

[Tonyj]

I was hoping for plastic gears. It is for a micro RC car.

[Mjolinor]

I was hoping for plastic gears. It is for a micro RC car.

Not really understanding your reply. Do you think that laser cutters will not cut plastic?

My opinion is that you could cut what you want out of acrylic sheet with a laser cutter more easily than you could print what you need with a 3d printer.

[Tonyj]

Yeah, I read your reply wrong. I see where you are coming from now. Yeah, custom laser cutting could be another way to go to make these gears.

I just watch a laser cutting machine on youtube. That is awesome!

Thanks for the tip! But will it cost me more going this way? I just look at a website about this and they said they charge $60.00 hour to make your design to laser cut. Ouch! Of course I can look at other Laser cutting services to see what they charge. That was just my first one I look at so far.

Thanks,
Tony

[curious aardvark]

how long do you think it will take to laser cut a couple tiny gears ?
seconds.

And you're still in inches. You haven't even lined the rule up with the tip of the bottom gear.

Aaarrggh.

Do you have a set of digital calipers ?

If so give me overall diameter, thickness and the diameter of the central hole.
With fewer teeth I don't actually see a huge problem.
I've printed smaller things.
The trick is to print several at once.

I can knock out a parametric gear file in openscad, no probllem.
But not without proper measurements.

[Tonyj]

I do not have any digital calipers. My job has some. Give me a few days to get the sizes for you.

Do you live in the USA?

Thanks,
Tony

[Tonyj]

Here are two more pictures. This time it is in MM size. Will this help any? The shaft hole can just be a tiny hole in the middle. I can drill the right size hole as long as I have a hole to work off of to get the middle of it. The thickness of the gear would be thin. Maybe the second image can help the thickness.

mm1.jpg

mm2.jpg