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i want to print a worm gear for a robot. This robot will work every day for at least 10 hours. The gears size is about the half of a sheet paper.

I searched the internet for example in industrial use. I can not find much about the life span of 3d printed gears. The only thing is that abs is good.

Are 3d printed parts applicable for industrial use?

What can i except for the life span?

Thank you.

  • I seem to remember that gears like that were made of Delrin... for precision and good wear properties. – Solar Mike Dec 16 '17 at 21:21
  • I googled it. I think they are not printed. Today i saw a lot of videos with nylon printed gears. They are strong and flexible. Maybe i can find more about nylon. –  Dec 16 '17 at 22:14
  • What 3D printing process?? FDM? SLS? Etc – GisMofx Dec 17 '17 at 18:58
  • There are 3D printed parts that are suitable for industrial use (see 'Markforged Carbon Filamet'), but it's unlikely to be more cost effective in this application. Gears can be readily machined (unlike some other more complex 3D forms); why wouldn't you machine your gears in this case? – Jonathan R Swift Dec 18 '17 at 10:16

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Ask these questions: What is the industrial application High/lo speed? Hi torque? Is it a continuous load? Shock loading? Direction changes? Actual gear teeth amount? What gear tooth size standard?

Those are needed to provide an actual estimate to gear life.

What 3D printing process?? FDM? SLS? Etc.

Is it feasible? Possibly, with a SLS printed gear set, relatively low speed and low torque with a continuous load.. also, assuming you can get the center holes in the right position and get your gear center-to-center properly aligned. Use some standard gear life calculations and maybe de-rate it to 50%. 3D printed materials behave differently than conventional "equivalent" material.

Off the cuff, for an industrial application, I would find a readily available molded plastic gear set rather than print a set. You need something reliable and readily available.

GisMofx
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