Follow up to this thread: [forums.macresource.com]

Found a guy locally who printed two of the gears for me for $10. I had to do a little x-acto clean up of the raft and then ream out the hole on the back side (yikes!) a bit. Once that was done, the gear I modeled fit perfectly...smooth motion in both directions. I popped the cover on the motor and re-assembled the ice maker. It's been running for close to a week now without any problems. The replacement part was ABS and the original was nylon so longevity is going to be the big question. But so far, so good.

First time I've had anything 3D printed and gonna call it a success!


Top photo: busted gear at the lower left. New gear in assembly and backup new gear still attached to raft on right.

Bottom photo: Protruding gear engages with larger gear in ice maker in background and rotates the armature that scoops the cubes out of the tray into the bin.

See? I love it when things get REPAIRED by people who want to REPAIR things rather than just junk them!

Let us know if it turns out to be a "temporary" fix, or a permanent one!

---

Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

Quote
Paul F.
See? I love it when things get REPAIRED by people who want to REPAIR things rather than just junk them!

Let us know if it turns out to be a "temporary" fix, or a permanent one!

Replaced a gear in a speedometer/odometer ( with a better made part ). Suspect the seller may have used 3d printer.

Very cool!

---

[www.zeemaps.com]

Awesome !

This is _exactly_ what 3D printers were created for (or should have been created for, IMHO).

Glad your experience was so positive (and inexpensive!) Wish this was just as possible and inexpensive to "print" a metal part. It seems to me it would revolutionize the replacement parts industry (ie nothing in "inventory" but CAD files; just print replacement parts as needed)

Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

......most do but like to keep it on the DL......usually say their job is bigger than it really is.......

---

_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Quote
pqrst
Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

Or stored.

And how often does a much used tool just tossed because it's too old to get parts for?

Great job! Might have been worth buying a back up. A sure way to ensure that the first one won't break.

Quote
macphanatic
Great job! Might have been worth buying a back up. A sure way to ensure that the first one won't break.

Yep...did that! It's the gear on the right in the pictures still attached to the printing raft

Quote
pdq

Quote
pqrst
Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

Or stored.

And how often does a much used tool just tossed because it's too old to get parts for?

All of the above. Ive been saying it for years.

Although maybe not enough to make trucking and storage obsolete, I could certainly make many other things go buh-bye.

---

Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Quote
jdc

Quote
pdq

Quote
pqrst
Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

Or stored.

And how often does a much used tool just tossed because it's too old to get parts for?

All of the above. Ive been saying it for years...

This is the problem that the IoT (Internet of Things) solves.

Your icemaker needs a $5.00 part? Forget about it. Your old fridge had Siri, but all the new ones will do your taxes...

---

Quote
pqrst
Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

Now imagine being on a ship on the middle of the ocean

Replacement parts on demand from standard stock... It's been sort of true for 20 years -- a muffler place recreated an exhaust pipe for a 1985 Volvo (then 10 years old) starting with a straight pipe and using a bending machine tied to a computer to put all the appropriate bends in (multiple planes; it was scary fun to watch the machine moving the pipe all over in the air)...

Quote
Mike Johnson

Quote
pqrst
Just in time repair parts. The possibilities are mind boggling. Imagine how the trucking industry is effected when a significant number of parts do not need to be transported from point A to point B.

Now imagine being on a ship on the middle of the ocean

Or on a space station.

[www.nasa.gov]

I was skeptical but I think this is a very cool outcome.

I'm still skeptical that 3D plastic printing will revolutionize all our lives. Some elements of manufacturing and repair, sure. But I can only think of one time in the last 10 years or so when I needed a part like that, and Brother sent it to me for five bucks, which I considered a bargain anyway.

I don't think everybody is going to want to own a 3D printer any more than they want to own a welding rig or a set of woodworking power tools today. I could imagine that the machine-shop industry broadens to include the technology.

Quote
tenders
I was skeptical but I think this is a very cool outcome.

I'm still skeptical that 3D plastic printing will revolutionize all our lives. Some elements of manufacturing and repair, sure. But I can only think of one time in the last 10 years or so when I needed a part like that, and Brother sent it to me for five bucks, which I considered a bargain anyway.

I don't think everybody is going to want to own a 3D printer any more than they want to own a welding rig or a set of woodworking power tools today. I could imagine that the machine-shop industry broadens to include the technology.

Nobody will be owning TODAYS 3D printers... Todays require too much skill to draw and "program" the part. 10 years from now? We'll be that much closer to a Star Trek replicator.

And 3D printers are being used to make SpaceX's Merlin rocket engines... printing in powdered metal which is then sintered in a furnace... and there are other printers that DIRECTLY print metal parts. Are they suitable for "home models" today? No. Are they RAPIDLY improving, and on the trajectory to one day BECOME something that could conceivably be used by a non-technical home user? Yes... and in 10-20-30 years, it's going to be very, very interesting to see what happens to "small" manufacturing.

---

Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

You did print MORE THAN ONE of them right? After going through the trouble of designing and printing it, might as well have a back-up to the replacement in case it fails again.

Bo has already answered that earlier in the thread, a second copy of the gear is shown in the pictures still attached to the printing platform. Look towards the bottom right of the images.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2016 11:33AM by JoeH.