plastic gear brainstorm

karl f · Apr 3, 2013

after seeing some youtube videos about 3d printers where they praise the strength of the "plastic" pieces they made (e.g. "this wrench is as strong as steel"), I was wondering about making some plastic idler gears for a John Deere Van Brunt grain drill. it's a 10 foot early B on steel.
I have a friend with a small less sophisticated 3d printer and the idler gears on the grain drill would be near maximum size for his machine's work table, and a good durability field test for his widgetry.

do you think plastic gears could drive a grain drill (plus grass seeder attachment) reliably for occaisional use? would they hold up in a serious farming situation? keep in mind the B drills have the drive mechanism gears exposed--comments on that environment for plastic parts?

has plastic really come that far?

karl f

Fritz Maurer · Apr 3, 2013

Obviously it depends on what kind of plastic. I took apart a Ford starter and was surprised to see the ring gear for the planetary drive was plastic. You may be on to something.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 3, 2013

Newer seed drill gears are nylon, I believe. Nylon against nylon is self lubricating. Good for seed end, but I don't think it would match the friction, in them old fertilizer boxes!

Indiana Ken · Apr 3, 2013

Before I would go to the effort of actually making gears I would have your friend make several test bars or rods for you. Then you can compare the test samples to known materials such as nylon, delrin etc.. Just bending a 0.5" diameter rod in your hands will tell alot about it's strength. As far as outside use exposure to the sun can be a problem with some plastics.

www.mcmaster.com is a good source for plastics.

Oliver662011 · Apr 3, 2013

I would like you to please make me some drive gears for my 494A planter units. I would pay you for making them and I will let you know how they perform.
Mike

karl f · Apr 3, 2013

thanks for all the replys. I installed new original gears on one side last year, so I would have a good model to copy with only 20 acres of wear. considering the limited use of antique machines, 3d printed parts might solve some obsolete part disappointments.

karl f

karl f · Apr 3, 2013

Mike, I'll check into just what we are capable of. I haven't asked my friend about my idea yet, either. I have access to a 494 and 1240 as well.
you should be able to email me via this site.

karl f

Hendrik · Apr 4, 2013

Joe(TX) · Apr 4, 2013

Anyone that says the platic gears are as stong as steel is an idiot. Aluminum is stronger than any plastic. What happened to the plastic cam gears in Chevrolets?
They may be strong enough to do the job. It depends on what kind of plastic it is.
The 3D printer are used mainly to make patterns for castin metal parts.
Think about this;
I have seen the shaft on a drill turned into a corkscrew. Do you think a platic gear could survive that?

Tx Jim · Apr 5, 2013

Way back when I worked for a JD dealer I remember selling quite a few sets of those gears. Man they've sure gone up in price a lot but are still available from JD
H207M 18T INTERMEDIATE GEAR ADD 52.66 USD
M10113 18 TOOTH INTERMEDIATE GEAR ADD 60.02 USD

karl f · Apr 10, 2013

Mike/Oliver662011, please email me if you want me to see if we could make you gears.

karl f

T in NE · Apr 18, 2013

For the cost I'd give it a try. Might be prudent to have a set of regular ones o hand just in case.

Might even be able to use them as a shear point to save some of those corkscrewed shafts.

plastic gear brainstorm

karl f

Well-known Member

Fritz Maurer

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Indiana Ken

Well-known Member

Oliver662011

Member

karl f

Well-known Member

karl f

Well-known Member

Hendrik

Member

Joe(TX)

Well-known Member

Tx Jim

Well-known Member

karl f

Well-known Member

T in NE

Well-known Member

Similar threads