American 3D Printing Cruiser Parts

[PabloCruise]

My pinion seal was leaking so I replaced it. I couldn't get a regular seal driver to work because the pinion was in the way, so I used a hub socket. I ended up driving it in crooked and it is still leaking!

So I designed and built an SST specially made for driving in the pinion seal while the pinion is still sticking out. This one is made of Taulman 3D's Bridge nylon, which has a tensile strength of about 4,800 pounds.

That is nice!

 

[Rzeppa]

I was talking to C-Dan the other day, and discovered that Toyota uses the exact same pinion seal in almost all their 4x4 differentials, from land Cruisers (practically all years that he had knowledge of), 4Runners, Mini Trucks, even some of their passenger cars! So I decided to make several of these to give away at the Cruise Moab Raffle. They are an 18 hour build and use about 250 grams of nylon. List price if someone just had me build one for them would be about $371.23/ea.

 

[MDH33]

Hi Jeff, What would you say is the best 3D printer under $5000?

 

[Rzeppa]

Hi Jeff, What would you say is the best 3D printer under $5000?

We have machines we sell that run between $599 to over $50k. The one that made the seal driver (Lulzbot TAZ 6) is $2,500 and is a damn good machine, large build volume, very versatile, very reliable and with with excellent tech support.

Ask for the "best" (and get customers who ask that all the time) is like asking "What's the best car?"

Well, they each have their pros and cons. If you want to haul a bunch of stuff you want a pickup truck. If you want to take the kids to soccer practice a mini van might be the best. If you want to go fast, a sports car would be the best, and of course if you want to drive off road then a Land Cruiser would be best.

The Makerbot Rep 2s are blazing fast, really reliable (unlike the newer 5th Gen versions) easy to use, decent build volume and reasonably versatile. The TAZs are slower, more versatile, more expensive, typically lower build quality (depends on slicing software). The Lulzbot Mini is really easy for first timers, but has a smallish build volume and needs to be tethered to a computer to run.

One of the cool things about owning your own 3D printer is that once you have one, all kinds of personal uses come up that you hadn't thought of until you had that thing in with your tool set. For example, my wife and I came home one night to a pile of broken glass on the kitchen floor and a missing ceiling light diffuser. Home Depot doesn't carry the lenses, just entire fixtures. Well I didn't want to buy and install an entire fixture so I just 3D designed and printed a replacement.

Making SSTs is another obvious one too

 

[MDH33]

Good info, thanks Jeff. My wife Kim is interested in one for her medical/biological illustration program at ISU. They would be making scietific models, organic forms etc. I think Luzbot and cube pro were 2 they were considering. So are speed and quality the two main factors? I assume there are a lot of different materials and computer system requirements as well?

 

[Rzeppa]

In addition to speed and quality, build volume, software and material versatility are very important. The Cube pro (which we sell) uses proprietary software and you are stuck with 3D Systems' proprietary materials, limited to ABS and nylon. The Lulzbot uses open source, industry-standard software available from many different sources and can build with just about any FDM material from any supplier. We build with over 2 dozen different materials.

We sell more Lulzbots than all the rest of makes and models put together.

 

[Cocarlisle]

My pinion seal was leaking so I replaced it. I couldn't get a regular seal driver to work because the pinion was in the way, so I used a hub socket. I ended up driving it in crooked and it is still leaking!

So I designed and built an SST specially made for driving in the pinion seal while the pinion is still sticking out. This one is made of Taulman 3D's Bridge nylon, which has a tensile strength of about 4,800 pounds.

Very slick Jeff!!!!!

 

[nnnnnate]

Jeff, do you have or know of an .stl of a 40 series lc? I've wanted to print a matchbox size 40 for a while and would love to print some and stick them in the WC geocache.

I got my first printer a couple Christmases ago from my wife, a printrbot play that I've fiddled with and then bought a Taz6 in January. The Taz6 prints much better and I'm very happy with it but both have treated me well.

 

[Rzeppa]

Jeff, do you have or know of an .stl of a 40 series lc? I've wanted to print a matchbox size 40 for a while and would love to print some and stick them in the WC geocache.

I got my first printer a couple Christmases ago from my wife, a printrbot play that I've fiddled with and then bought a Taz6 in January. The Taz6 prints much better and I'm very happy with it but both have treated me well.

Short answer, no I don't. Wish I did!

We sell Printrbots and Lulzbots. Well we did sell Printrbots until they discontinued the Simple Metal (which sells for $599) and the new one is $999. What does that extra $400 buy you? WiFi and a touch screen. Big whoopdee ding! Actually the Simple Metal is a pretty good machine, I have no experience with the Play. But the TAZ is an awesome machine. Did you know we were Aleph Object's very first Lulzbot reseller?

Let me know if you need any toolheads or parts. We also stock stuff like replacement PEI sheets for the bed. And of course we carry hundreds of SKUs of different filament in around 28 or 29 different materials and a rainbow of colors.

 

[nnnnnate]

I'll need a replacement PEI at some point, I've got a ding in mine but I've been able to work around it well enough. I have also considered getting a flexistruder to be able to print TPU and whatnot but haven't felt like spending the coin for one yet. (I do print TPU on my printrbot play already...)

I managed to buy a whole slew of filament right after Christmas so I think I'll be good for a while but I'll keep you guys in mind when I'm ready for more.

 

[RockOn]

Any chance you'd rent that pinion seal driver out? It's been sitting on my to do list for some time, but pushed back until I solved the dilemma of what to drive it in with.

 

[Rzeppa]

Any chance you'd rent that pinion seal driver out? It's been sitting on my to do list for some time, but pushed back until I solved the dilemma of what to drive it in with.

I'll be more than happy to loan it to any Rising Sun member for free, although some is always appreciated!

 

[RockOn]

10-4. I'll get parts on order and shoot you a message when they arrive, thanks.

 

[RockOn]

Looks like your PM storage is at its max. Just got a pinion seal in the mail, let me know if there's a way I could swing by this weekend.

Thanks

 

[Rzeppa]

Just got a pinion seal in the mail, let me know if there's a way I could swing by this weekend.

Thanks

Sure that would be fine! In fact I was planning on some major wrenching tomorrow, installing OME springs on the front of my 60. All my contact info is in the Rising Sun roster in the member's section.

 

[Rzeppa]

Had a cool project for one of our own. Kurtnkegger has a power wheels 40, but it came with a goofy chrome bezel with a strip running across the middle where it doesn't belong. Now it would be one thing to have a square bezel ('79-'84) or even a chrome one like the Japanese dearly love, but really? So I made him a proper round one, and of course the thick side will go on the top. Right Kurt?

He has these plastic headlight lenses that mount on the bezel so that's why it isn't like a regular bezel with a through hole where the headlight holes are.

In the second photo, notice the mounting bosses to mount it to the bib of the power wheel.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That's very cool Jeff.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Everything matched to the bib holes like they should Jeff! The "hooks" behind the headlight areas were a little short, but with minor modifications, it fits, and looks VERY COOL!

 

[Rzeppa]

Everything matched to the bib holes like they should Jeff! The "hooks" behind the headlight areas were a little short, but with minor modifications, it fits, and looks VERY COOL!

Glad it fit properly, I had my fingers crossed. Take a picture of the 40 for us, let's see what it looks like with a proper bezel!

 

[Hulk]

Super cool! I'm continually in awe of this technology.