High volume Additive manufacturing offers an affordable option for creating industrial components like gears and rollers.
Over the lifetime of Slant 3D, we have had many opportunities to manufacture amazing products for clients. These have ranged from robotics components to Amazon Echo Covers. But there are a group of products that we have a special love for, Wheels and Gears. These fundamental parts are used in every aspect of engineering. They the transistors of the Mechanical world. But they are very expensive to manufacture.
3D Printed Toothed Pullies
The engineering time alone in the creation of good gears and rollers can be a large portion of the budget. But it has to occur in order to create a component that will work for your particular application. Just last year Slant 3D manufactured rollers for machinery handling pears. Pear Rollers are not an off the shelf component. So the engineering had to be done to create a roller with the correct profile. But once that was done 3D printing was a very viable method to produce several hundred rollers affordably and reliably. The alternative was to machine the parts which would have been exceptionally expensive for such a large part or to mold them which also would have been exceptionally expensive. Neither process allows any iteration either. Whereas 3D printing was quick and affordable. And it allows the client to change the design 10 units in without substantial added expense.
Gears for agricultural equipment are also a common need. Large, bulky, sturdy gears for farm equipment are expensive to machine from a block of delrin. And they are nearly impossible to mold in some cases. 3D Printing allows for the creation of strong gears that can take the abuse of the farm. And again, since 3D printing is so material efficient these large gears can be created for the same or less cost than off-the-shelf parts that will not fit the application.
Slant 3D is working on several initiatives to make wheels and gear more accessible and affordable via additive manufacturing. Stay tuned for those in the future. But if you need your rollers, wheels, or gears manufactured today get a quote from Slant 3D and compare production 3D printing to all the other processes available.