Filament of choice for printing wheels

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Paul_in_Ricky
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Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by Paul_in_Ricky » Mon Sep 02, 2024 8:41 am

What filament do you choose for printing wheels ?
Self coloured and not bothered about the material ? Something strong like PET-G or PLA+ ? or just what happens to be on the machine ?

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philipy
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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by philipy » Mon Sep 02, 2024 9:15 am

One of the things that always slightly bugs me with 3D printed wheels is that they are always all black (or white, brown or grey), whereas wheels that are in service always have shiny treads and at least some shine on the flanges. You can of course paint them, but the paint soon wears and also seems to attract all the track muck. Sooo, I bought some Sunlu "Silk PLA+" in silver and used that to print the wheels. It isn't perfect but to my mind looks a lot closer to the real thing.
As an aside, I used the wheel drawing to create a mask for painting the centres and backs, which worked really well. All I did was to put a 6mm thick 3D box around the wheel drawing and then delete the wheel, leaving a correct size and shape hole in the slab. This fits over the wheel and allows spraying from both sides without getting wobbly edges.
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If you look at my Quarry Hunslet thread, thats what I've used on that. https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 0&start=60
Philip

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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by Paul_in_Ricky » Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:13 am

philipy wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 9:15 amwhereas wheels that are in service always have shiny treads and at least some shine on the flanges.
I think that can only be said of standard gauge rolling stock in regular heavy use.

Narrow gauge and industrial stock rarely gets the sort of use that would polish the running surfaces of it's wheels. In actual use it often is much duller and can even be rusty for low mileage stock. Even the FR locos in intensive use don't have the sort of shine you see on mainline stock.
Looking back through my own 100s of photos of narrow gauge prototypes, it's actually quite rare to be able to see the running surfaces of wheels. Those that do suggest black or brown would be a more realistic colour to aim for.

I have tried black PLA metal, but it actually just looks black when used for wheels. As a complete tease Bambu supply a sample set with their printers that include a PLA Tough material that looks just like wheel steel, but they've discontinued it :(

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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by drewzero1 » Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:38 am

I think my favorites that I've done were in grey PETG, which has a dull shine like unpolished metal. I might have to try Philip's silver material trick though; the mask idea is clever. :thumbup:

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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by Paul_in_Ricky » Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:30 am

drewzero1 wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:38 amgrey PETG, which has a dull shine like unpolished metal
Can you remember which brand ? or is that a characteristic of PETG ?*

*I've only used PLA variants so far.

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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by drewzero1 » Mon Sep 02, 2024 4:59 pm

Paul_in_Ricky wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:30 am
drewzero1 wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:38 amgrey PETG, which has a dull shine like unpolished metal
Can you remember which brand ? or is that a characteristic of PETG ?*

*I've only used PLA variants so far.
I looked it up, it was JAYO, 'grey' color PETG. I mostly chose it because it was cheap and I wanted to try something other than PLA. It's pretty stringy but overall I was happy with it; for the most part, the layers adhere a lot better than any PLA I've used.
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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by Paul_in_Ricky » Mon Sep 02, 2024 5:30 pm

drewzero1 wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 4:59 pmI looked it up, it was JAYO, 'grey' color PETG. I mostly chose it because it was cheap and I wanted to try something other than PLA. It's pretty stringy but overall I was happy with it; for the most part, the layers adhere a lot better than any PLA I've used.
Thanks for that.
I can't say I've had any layer adhesion issues so far with the various PLAs I've tried.
The only time parts have broken is when I've failed to consider layer direction when laying out parts on the bed. So novice engineer issue rather than printing failure ;)

From what I've read PETG needs to be thoroughly dried before use to avoid stringing issues.

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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by Paul_in_Ricky » Sat Oct 05, 2024 9:49 am

Finally found a filament that fits the bill for me; CC3D Iron gray PLA silk https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C33QBT73

Not too shiny and silvery, a good dark steel colour. Printed well with a 0.4mm nozzle on default PLA silk settings on my Bambu A1.
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Sorry about the image quality, just a quick grab with my phone.

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philipy
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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by philipy » Sat Oct 05, 2024 10:08 am

That does look good Paul. It's kind of what I was trying to achieve with the silver silk, but this 'duller but still polished' effect is much better.
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Re: Filament of choice for printing wheels

Post by ge_rik » Sat Oct 05, 2024 12:57 pm

philipy wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2024 10:08 am That does look good Paul. ........ this 'duller but still polished' effect is much better.
My thoughts exactly.

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