How To 3D Print Gears Like a Boss

3D printing has revolutionized the way we think about gears and gearboxes. With the right knowledge, you can now 3D print gears and 3D print gear mechanisms that are functional and reliable. One of the best things about 3D printing gears is the ability to adjust the gear ratio to match the specific needs of your project.

When it comes to the strength of 3D printed gears, there have been many concerns in the past. However, the strength of 3D printed gears has significantly improved with the advancements in materials and printing technology. With the right combination of material and printing process, 3D printed gears can be just as strong as traditional gears.

If you're looking to get started with understanding gears and mechanical principles, 3D printing gears is a good place to start. You can learn how to design 3D printed gears using popular CAD software like Fusion 360, which has a gear generator tool available as a plugin called ‘GF Gear Generator’. Alternatively, you can use FreeCAD to design 3D printable gears.

When it comes to materials, Polymaker Polymax PC is a popular choice for those looking to 3D print gears. Polymax PC, with its high strength and durability, is perfect for printing gears with 3D printer.

In this video I talk to you about how to design and 3D print gears that are optimised for strength and durability. This is based on my experience with 3D printed gears during my Raptor 2 project. I discuss the various types of gears available such as spur, helical and herringbone. I also discuss the importance of print orientation when 3D printing gears. This video is sponsored by Polymaker. I used PolyMax Polycarbonate to 3D print the gears shown in this video.

To summarise, with the correct tools and materials, you can easily 3D print a gearbox or 3D print a planetary gearbox that is functional and reliable. Whether you're just starting out or looking to improve your existing designs, the options for 3D printing gears are endless. In addition to the advice that I provide in this video, don't hesitate to experiment with different materials, like ‘Polymaker's Polymax PC Max’ and ‘PolyMaker PolyMide’.

00:00 Intro
00:45 Why I Designed and 3D Printed Gears
02:10 How To Design Gears
02:33 Different Types of Gears
04:04 Importance of Print Orientation
05:48 Re-enforcing Smaller Gears
06:06 Full set of Printed Gears
06:28 Which material should you use?
06:53 PolyMax Polycarbonate
07:26 Sponsor - Thank you!
07:56 Bearings and Lubricant
08:12 Outro
08:35 Support Me

#3dprinting #CAD #gears

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[lio]

Also, if you plan on driving offroad, I would definitely recommend swapping the herringbone gears for some doublehelix gears. Any dirt or substance that gets into the gears gets dragged into the centre and quickly binds up the gears, the double helix solves this because there is a gap for the dirt/grime to be pushed into. :)

[imonseii]

I would recommend going 95% in stead of 100. reason being that if you have a tiny bit of overextrusion in your printer, this will compensate, and avoid outer layer blobbing, as this will make the gear teeth nearly unusable, or at least time consuming to clean up. Another reason is that when force is applied to the structure there is nowhere for the force to distribute if it's all solid, but with tiny gaps the material has a tiny space to deform slightly, mitigating some of the force running through it.

[TomBertalan]

I really like this format. Not so much a "tutorial" that focuses on one project (just one point in a design space), but an attempt to report on how to generalize a particular technique. It would be nice if other maker-focused youtubers adopted such a format, so we could have a library of such hard-won info, organized not by integrated project but by technique.

[TheKrzyh]

Excellent delivery:
- calm, but not boring
- informative, but not overwhelmingly
Thank you for the video! Really enjoyed it.

[steveneltringham]

Love your content - no egocentric b.s. Just the interesing stuff. Coming up for reirement I bought a 3D printer and Wow! You don't even have to leave the house to go on a big adventure. Been subbed for a while and come to you first when I want facts. Please keep it up, you're a terrific teacher.

[skyshadow]

*Engineer here* You're mods for strength and print clarity are next level. If you are not already a CAD drafter, you should consider it. Some companies do not require a FE to draft.

[Ibian]

I learned that there are different types of gears and why some of them are stronger than others. Good to include this sort of thing.

[williambyrnes]

I like the fact that you are using roller bearings for your gears that are in direct contact with the motor. There is no need to use ball bearings because the forces acting on the gears in radial not axial. Plus like you said you will get less wear.

[dzee]

One thing I like is how you go from the drawing board to design the part and going to the manufacturing, where you describe how you went through the analysis of on printing the part and provide details around each of the components needed to be reviewed and looked at having the proper parameters to print the parts that would be under a large amount of stress. Typical most people would just print the parts and slap it on the RC vehicle and do not understand why the plastic part broke. I like to see how you would design a part and go through the process of printing that part on a 3D printer and what methods you use to make sense to print the part so that it would print as you would expect it to be.

[rivergranniss]

Build an enclosure for your printer, upgrade hot end as needed, put in a direct drive, and print in PC (Polycarbonate). When tuned right the results are genuinely incredible. Extremely strong.

[shahederharoutunian]

Wonderful video! Might I suggest a solution your axel strength issue? Add fillet between your axel and the gear face if you have enough room, even a small 2-3mm fillet can exponentially reduce the stress riser created by that shoulder. Excellent work!

[DerFingerJo]

Great Video! I`ve also landed on Polymaker PC Max after experimenting with Taulman Alloy 910 before, but i never put as much care into it as you. But i can vouch for their durability - i made a inner gear ring design that transferred the power of 3, 5kW motors on an electric mountainboard and the gears never failed!

[JPLashOriginals]

Very informative, I learned more about 3D printed gears in ten minutes here than in my entire mechanical design program at school.

[NullHyp]

Having experimented with 3D printed gears playing with the OpenRC F1 car (by D. Norée), I have to say, Herringbones are definitely way to go for 3D printing. They’re substantially quieter too.

[paulcrabb]

Really impressed by the engineering detail packed into this video - learned a lot.

[GBCobber]

Nice build. Good advice.
Just a note Herringbone gears are actually quite a bit stronger than helical, because the teeth have that corner in the middle.

[Thee_Sinner]

During the 2:33-4:03 explanation, the first set that you talk about are whats used in race cars. Automotive folks like myself know these as "straight-cut" gears. Theyrs not used in road cars because of the noise they produce, but they are the best at transferring power from the engine to the wheels.. The second set, helical, are used in most road cars because the smoother meshing is significantly quieter, but at the cost of power transfer. Because the gears are cut diagonally, a measurable amount of power is lost to friction as the gears try to push themselves apart.

[ArChA]

I am not even close to expirianced in printing gears, but in my little experience I found it is a good idea to use rafts. This way you do not risk warps at the edges.

[errorgd]

was having problems with axles as well, but my solution was using nylon. less hassle than glueing them together ;)

[piscanc]

Cool project!
Regarding improvements, look into "beaking PETG". Basically printing 100% infill and baking it in an oven (inside of salt powder), to get solid plastic part.