3d printing motorcycle parts

Domon

Domon

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Hey everyone I started 3d printed some small parts for my 05 06 cbr600rr. I was wondering if there are peeps are there looking for some parts printed. My biggest challenge right now is printed a set of ram air intakes for my cbr like the one piece carbon fiber ones out there. By trade I am a vfx artist to i know 3d apps to model and modify parts.
 
I might be interested in some non-motorcycle parts printed.
Would you be open to a discussion?
 
People have very successful online stores selling hard to source parts. Once you have the ram air ducts designed, throw them in an etsy store with 7 day delivery. Print them as orders come in. If something is popular, print some for stock and drop the lead time to make happier customers.
 
100%. I have a couple pdf documents as items you can buy online, so when my girl build her own mail box, I told her to put the plans she made on Etsy. She did. It makes her a couple hundred bucks a year for that one product, which is really just instructions. It's nice because other than the odd question she gets from people who apparently were expecting to mail them a hundred pounds worth of wood for their $5, she has a simple product that she doesn't need to store any inventory, deal with shipping, or too many customer questions.
 
I haven't sold anything yet but will look into it. Jampy00 I pm'ed you. I like printing things that are useful and not toys. I have printed some things for my kids tho. One thing I was looking at doing was Printing motorcycle helmet Mounts and bring them to trackdays and see if anyone would buy them.
 
I did a few parts for my electric bike. New fork seal caps, bezel to fit amazon speedo into v-star tank, etc.

I find 3d printed parts to be pretty brittle so try to stay away from anything that requires strength.
 
I have printed with like 35% infill with pla and its pretty strong. have you tried gyro infill?
 
Domon said:
I have printed with like 35% infill with pla and its pretty strong. have you tried gyro infill?
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I'm usually printing 65-90% infill with PETG.

If you are doing something solid its like strong, but there is no flex, so if you press on your air intake, that is hollow, it will snap not bend. Also, if you are going to take the time to print something like that, I would move on from PLA as it is the most brittle.
 
woot said:
I'm usually printing 65-90% infill with PETG.

If you are doing something solid its like strong, but there is no flex, so if you press on your air intake, that is hollow, it will snap not bend. Also, if you are going to take the time to print something like that, I would move on from PLA as it is the most brittle.
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I mostly agree. I have some some luck with PLA in applications where collective wisdom said it would fail quickly. For his ram air ducts, I assume there is little force on them (unless you crash in which case everything is broken). I would consider a few TPU collars to allow them some isolation if they could experience some forces. They are upstream of air filters so minimal risk to bike if part fails.

@tricky printed lots of parts for his vintage restoration projects. Pretty amazing and that was the first I had seen 3d printed parts go into personal bike projects.
 
I was thinking wants i get the airducts print and fitted and thing i can do a mold of it by making a negative and or cutting the 3d print in half and fiberglassing the inside.
 
I friend of mine is also building his own cnc machine and we both do 3d vfx in film and tv he is tired and i am still chugging along. I was thinking of doing rearsets for old bikes using measurements from the bikes and creating adapter plates and so on. I dont use cad or anything but i do use Autodesk Maya; which can get you pretty accurate models.
 
Part of my job involves designing components for use in robotics in space. We have onsite fabrication capabilities. I have prototyped parts that were 3D printed and machined in metal.

Interestingly, we have been machining more and more than we were in recent years. If you consider the print time with 3D printing, the pre and post processing like generating supports for the print over a void, then solventing the supports out, dry times, etc. The fabricators are increasingly suggesting and going with machining if the desire is to get the prototype part produced ASAP.

Also, the final part is often to be produced in metal. With the properties of polymers being so different, we end up having to add material to the 3D printed version. And depending on the application this may not be appropriate.

I have a prototype in development now. At the last revision for a milestone, my fabricator people informed me that the round of parts to be produced would be something like 48 of actual print time, not including things like reloading fill, setting up supports, soak time, etc. All in it would have been about a day plus shorter to machine. I found the production rate interesting considering the common thought is 3D printing is faster.

Out of curiosity, what modeling software do you use? And what format of file do you accept?
 
Paulo M. said:
Part of my job involves designing components for use in robotics in space. We have onsite fabrication capabilities. I have prototyped parts that were 3D printed and machined in metal.

Interestingly, we have been machining more and more than we were in recent years. If you consider the print time with 3D printing, the pre and post processing like generating supports for the print over a void, then solventing the supports out, dry times, etc. The fabricators are increasingly suggesting and going with machining if the desire is to get the prototype part produced ASAP.

Also, the final part is often to be produced in metal. With the properties of polymers being so different, we end up having to add material to the 3D printed version. And depending on the application this may not be appropriate.

I have a prototype in development now. At the last revision for a milestone, my fabricator people informed me that the round of parts to be produced would be something like 48 of actual print time, not including things like reloading fill, setting up supports, soak time, etc. All in it would have been about a day plus shorter to machine. I found the production rate interesting considering the common thought is 3D printing is faster.

Out of curiosity, what modeling software do you use? And what format of file do you accept?
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3D printers have been focused on improving quality and affordability. Time to print has been second string criteria for most imo. As your situation occurs more and more, I expect to see speed improving. I am slightly surprised that a small volume, high speed printer isn't a readily available option already. Reducing the volume can increase stiffness and/or decrease moving mass to allow easy higher speeds. Most people rarely approach the volume of their printer (I can print over 300mm high and very very rarely print more than 75 mm high)
 
they have crazy fast printers now but I dont feel the need to pay 1000 and up for that. its not needed. I am looking at printers that print in a taller volume. 400mm is a good start as each section of the ram airs are roughly in that volume. mine now i would have to print in parts and make them fit like a puzzle and abs clue them. pvc plumbers glue works well with pla filament.
 
I background is in tv and film Visual effects. Working with programs like Autodesk Maya and so on.
I work in a vfx studio in toronto.
 
Domon said:
carbon fiber filament it is.
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I havent seen a slicer that would do it well, but for that type of shape, it would be interesting to vary the pattern every layer. Make it like plywood. Ideally also include some controlled Z wobble to lock the layers together better.
 
GreyGhost said:
I havent seen a slicer that would do it well, but for that type of shape, it would be interesting to vary the pattern every layer. Make it like plywood. Ideally also include some controlled Z wobble to lock the layers together better.
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The problem is that there are still layers. The layers just separate. Sometimes you can print something on it's side to get the layers facing in a direction that they won't shear as easy but it's always going to be weaker then solid molded plastic.
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