Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?  

RE: Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?

I found this paper a while ago. I don't have the knowledge needed to translate what it says into an answer to your question, but it might help. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/724/1/012022

Regarding filaments designed to resist friction and wear, you could look at iglide from igus, especially i150 and i180, see https://www.igus.com/3d-print-material/3d-print-filament. I tried to get a sample from them recently, but all they had available was i151, and my experiences with it were not very satisfactory, see https://moosteria.blogspot.com/2024/08/some-notes-on-igus-i151-filament.html.

RE: Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?

My personal opinion is different horses for different courses.

My 60 years of engineering experience has taught me to lean on the side of caution in material selection.

For bearings which you seem focused on, I would first look at the original material used if replacing parts, 

certainly Phosphor bronze is a good choice for high loads or shafts running at high speed.

I have used for many years DELRIN as a choice of bearing materials for normal load and reasonable speeds of shafts.

I am assuming you have a lathe and or a milling machine to produce parts other than a 3D printer.

Also you wrote that you are willing to replace parts after 100 hours, sadly this is not for me.

If the components or parts run 24 hours a day, after 4 days you are swapping out the bearings again, not good if you

manufacture for a group of customers.

3D printing has an important part of the ever changing industry, and certainly injection moulded parts can be very precise.

To be very honest I do not like the plastic parts used in the new Prusa series of printers, but I am confident for "form fit and function"

they do the job. One of my earliest 3D printers, I have 4 printers, was a clone Mk3 Geeetech with the aluminium frame and after 10 years works well, I live in a 

sub tropical country with temperatures from -10 C to 45C , the acrylic frame printers have let me down over the years with fatigue cracks.

Secondly, I do not like the colour schemes of the Prusa printers, they look plastically cheap for a first time buyer and which they are not, 

but for quality they rate as one of the best printers to buy.

Call me old fashioned, but if I was to buy a new lathe for example, I certainly would not buy one with a plastic headstock or bed.

The old aluminium frame 3D printers looked the part of being a well built engineering machine.
This is just my take.

John

Spain.

RE:

Thank you both for your replies.

• @Venice3D: The paper by Marie's et al is very interesting. The load values are well outside those for my application but they give an indication. The links to Igus did not work for me but I will see if I can resolve.
• @John Lindo: I see where you are coming from and I would normally agree but circumstances are particular herr. Funny that you refer to a plastic lathe because the project at hand happens to be a lathe. It is a rather special one though: a 'rose engine' a.k.a ornamental lathe. The headstock is mounted on a 'rocker' so it can move forward and aft. Typical speed is 5-10 rpm, and 4-20 motions/revolution, and cutting work is done by a router rather than a gouge. Forces are very low and I  therefore aim at a headstock assembly with minimal mass. For the spindle I intend a chromed thin-walled steel tube, 25 mm diameter.  The mount, chuck, and pulley and the rocker itself would be 3D printed.  The actual cutting work is done by a router, carefully applied, and not by a gouge. Cutting forces therefore are very small. The main load on the system is the dynamics.

RE: Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?

An extra dot crept in to the URL. Try https://www.igus.com/3d-print-material/3d-print-filament

RE:

Thanks for the updated link. Interesting indeed. It seems though Igus ships these materials only within the US and I am in EU.

Ah. Skip that. They have a settlement in the Netherlands:  https://www.igus.nl/product/12404?artNr=I150-PF-0175-0750

RE: Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?

I think there is a different site for the EU. A google search should find it or you can go the igus.com, and select the country in the top right corner (if it already shows USA, click X next to it to remove the selection - very confusing!). I think they are a German company and the US office is just a sales office.

RE: Printed materials: information on friction and wear of bearing surfaces?

"igus", thanks for the interesting details of what is available for the 3D professionals , but the cost is well out of my budget.

I will stick with the 3D carbon impregnated filament and or Delrin using a lathe or a milling machine.

Attached for interest is a photo of my the Fractral vice (vise) ex Printables download, using carbon impregnated PLA. I personally rate this material for 

extra strength and print consistency.

The vice (vise) works well, and it even lifts the adjustable wrench (spanner).  Well done the original 3D designer using the early steel vice principles and adapting for 3D printing.

Warning, there are many pieces to print in this project, and even by filling the printer bed to capacity it took many hours to accomplish making the parts.

I used an 8 mm x 1 mm metal screw rod and nut with internal bearings/ sliders, all  as per the original Printables instructions. 

Also built a purpose size box and lid see attached photo , but needed to print in 4 pieces (2 parts for the lid, 2 parts for the box) due to the lack of  printer bed capacity, and by applying the trusted wood male/female tenon and the jig saw principles to join the parts together.

Hope of interest.