What is the best material for......
Hello,
I have an older backhoe that I would like to put new control lever hand grips on. I am thinking about printing them possibly out of TPU but I am not sure. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for this that can withstand the outdoor climates and the abuse of a backhoe. I would like them rubbery to the touch for grip but tough. I could print them thick walled to help add toughness to them and thought a bike handle grip might take a bit of abuse. Anyone ever print bike grips before?
Is TPU a good solution for this or should I be looking at something else? Obviously PLA and like material is just to hard for grips??
TPU should be OK, I've printed marine parts that have taken 4 years or more of abuse.
If you are careful with your fill percentages and perimeters, perhaps not as many as you imagine, you should be able to get some useful vibration protection too. Light/white filament will stand up to UV light better than dark - but while it may discolour it should remain structurally sound for a few years.
Cheerio,
RE: What is the best material for......
TPU should work fine!
But it all depends on how thick the pole is for the Backhoe.
I don't really recommend PLA, because it tends to be brittle and not flexible.
RE: What is the best material for......
Thats great. Any thoughts on what % infill you played with? I am thinking that from wall to wall I will have close to .300" infill width.
The shaft is 5/8" and the grip outer diameter is 1-3/8" diameter so there is a lot of meat there. I can easily make adjustments but I think in my mind the thicker the better??
RE: What is the best material for......
I would begin with two perimeters and 15%cubic fill but have perhaps a dozen top layers for safely padding the end of the shaft and to prevent your grasp slipping off.
Begin with a slightly oval shape like this: (Pictured inverted to show shaft entry - in fact, best to print it this way up and have a dozen bottom layers)
Attached is an STL for the above image. I can supply the parametric source if required.
If you print it use *very dry* TPU or you will get an internal mess of strings.
Cheerio,
RE: What is the best material for......
I'd probably not make the handle too big other wise it would feel off when you hold the Backhoe
I think I have a design for a shovel gripper somewhere in my files. I'll modify it to fit your dimensions, and submit it to the forum so you can look at it.
That's the basic idea - my example is a scull grip with @rufus' dimensions edited in.
Cheerio,
RE: What is the best material for......
Thats great stuff. Thank you for the info. Gonna give it a try and see. TPU has been in the SUNLU cooker for several hours so it should be completely dry. Do either of you think BLK TPU would stand up to the sun?
An old name for 3D printing was 'Rapid Prototyping' - your first attempt is a prototype, it's almost certain to benefit from tweaking and reprinting (if so, ask for the source file) but if it's close it usually pays to put up with minor issues whilst giving it an extended test, how does it stand up to weeks or months of use? I would expect black TPU to be ok in daylight for a few years but not for as long as white.
- but I don't believe I've ever printed black TPU so that should be regarded as no more than an educated guess.
Cheerio,
RE: What is the best material for......
Totally understand but it’s a lot of tpu to test with BUT I got it right on the first hit!!
I think a light color is not a good idea as running a backhoe is a dirty job so I am going to do 2 handles yellow and the ones I use a lot will be black to see how it goes. I used about 30% infill with 3 parameters. They seem firm with a little flex so I will try the for a bit and see how it goes.
This is the awesomeness of designing and printing your own stuff. I LOVE IT!!
