Looks really nice! By looking the model, I guess it will be fixed installation. So in other words the gear wheels are all the time connected or am I right?
Out of curiosity, how do you fit the printed parts to different tractor models? Meaning the steering wheel mounting in relation to the gear wheels attached to the steering wheel differ a lot. Is there any other way than print the parts and design an adapter piece attached to the rest? Converting the stl models to solid models doesn’t always work, but it would be nice to do the fitting on screen first.
I came a cross with a gear wheel solution where the big gearwheel was done with segments, which enabled to attach it without removing the steering wheel. Unfortunately I don’t remember anymore if it was on Cerea forum or where. There was a separate printed holder also instead of zipties, which might bring some added stiffnes when the gearwheel is made from segments.
Yes the gears will be connected all the time! There is a modification to the Cytron that lets the motor freewheel so no need to disconnect gears during operation. But if you pull the single pin in the location of the hexagon, the steering motor and tension assembly can be removed and taken to another machine with the operator.
All that needs to be reprinted is the side adapter block for each new machine install. But mating that adapter block to an arm would be the only custom fabrication left for the farmer. I think most farmers can fabricate one metal bracket 90 degrees to the steering column very easily. If they are on this forum extremely easily. But adapting and getting spring tension on a motor is tricky multiple times starting from scratch.
The motor holder will also work with a quick swap to a steering wheel tire as it does not require a set screw on the phidgets for the small gear.
Not sure what you mean by this? Put an .stl in Cura Slicer and the magic happens. The adapter has two 1/4"(M6) bolt holes and tilt adjustment. It just bolts to what ever arm you can fab up, but the motor removes with a single pin.
Zip ties make it more universal that’s the beauty, six of them on a tri spoke wheel and the gear self centres and is very firmly in place. The gear you show looks like it will only work with one wheel, if its to fat or skinny or the wrong angle you need a complete redesign. Zip ties mould around the spokes and your done, look at the first picture in this thread custom fit in seconds. Its given me many hours of hassle free use without shifting. This is the second zip tie version tested, the first was @Math fiat gears that where altered with a buffer wheel and they worked great too.
Segmented gears loose a lot of strength are not my first choice, but I will be making one in future. Some steering wheels are harder to get off than others. I have a Combine in my life that requires a set.
Think once I am done oats, I will make a video to show how this setup works. I am converting my friends farm to AOG he has 9 machines and 3 operators. This will save him buying 6 motors, and many hours of motor installation.
With the comment regarding the conversion from stl to solid I was more thinking, if I would like to create a special holder for my tractor without the need to drill holes to the steering column or other ways stripping it down to be able to connect the mount. I could design it in e.g. Onshape or similar and ensure that it fits. Stl doesn’t bend that easily back to modelling…but anything else than stl creates a lot bigger files also. BTW which printer you use for these?
I’m still in a middle of setting up my second AOG setup, which will have the Cytron modification, so hoping it will be nearly zero resistance.
The video you mentioned is very nice idea. One picture is more than 1000 words and video is even better
Is printing in PETG pretty easy? I’ve got some on hand, but only have printed PLA until now. I understand it can destroy glass beds if you’re not careful and put down a releasing agent like gluestick. Any tips?
Your dreams will come true, the only resistance you get is if you are mashing the gears together way too tightly. I could just about kiss @d1ken for figuring it out.
The printer is a creality Sermoon D1. Its a direct drive, and has a descending bed kinda like an ultimaker. I really like it its a 9.5/10. Already had the thermistor go, and It really needs a filament handling upgrade to the direct drive.
Once you start using PETG you will just stop buying PLA all together. Its a way better material for functional objects. It prints a little hotter than PLA. I am a 3D novice, have had the printer a little over a month, and had no issues switching.
My favourite filament is 3D printing canada’s house brand, Its cheap, and prints very well. Also they ship by Canada Post very fast and have and order over $125 is free shipping policy. Great for living on a rural route. If you have a hardened or jewelled nozzle their carbon fibre PETG is superb.
The printer has a heated glass bed. It just prints directly on it, after the bed cools to room temp just pick up the parts no fighting. After two or three prints it gets rubbed down with isopropyl alcohol and regular paper towels, it leaves a dusty white surface. I give the nozzle two white paper thicknesses of clearance for the first layer. Put the folded paper under the nozzle and lower the bed until it still drags when pulled but has minimal resistance, not ripping the paper.
Here is a video explaining zip tie installation, review of the 3D printed gears, showing why quick tach motor is a good idea, and one last look at the old install.
I have installed it and of course found a few more small tweaks to do. But overall I was impressed by the results. Just need to run it around a few more times in the light and I can release the .stl’s into the wild.
This is what I am trying to prevent that is a pile of work for every tractor, It worked but it did not make her think my tractor is sexy by any means. Also ties up the motor permanently.
Here is the new holder, It takes a lot less space than the old one and is much easier on the eyes. Still needs an optional finger guard. The big gear got an upgrade due to the tywrap head clearance issue, I really like the green PETG.
Sorry for the dim pictures started ripping out the old holder at 5pm and it was dark by 8pm when I finished the install. Will have another video once I get these dialed in.
That looks great, great job! I just have a question, how do you attach the motor holder to the steering column? It is not very clear from the pictures.
The quick tach block is attached to a metal bracket that’s welded together, I will get some better views of it. All it needs is an arm 90 degrees to the steering wheel to bolt to, some much easier flat bar fabrication. The arm is custom to each tractor because the steering columns all are very different.
But once it is in place the motor can be removed and moved to another tractor easily without extra tools.
The V1 quick attach .stl files have finally been added, other than maybe cosmetics I am not touching this design for a year until I can get more hours on them. Here is the final holder with finger guard, I also added an inset hex to each side of the brackets as it allows for reversible pin placement. I found installing as a wheel motor unit in a Steiger the block needs to be reversed for wheel motor.
Here the system is in action, I am almost fully happy with AOG steer tuning for the tractor.
If you do use this gear system please let me know if you are having any major issues, the whole system is obvious to me but its because i have been spending a lot of time with it.
I need to come up with a split gear for this for hard to remove steering wheels, and a better tpu steer tire.
Thanks for posting the videos, it looks so clean. I am gonna print them as soon as getting the 3D printer that I ordered. I checked online to get the parts printed at an online printing service and they were more expensive than buying the machine so I ordered one and I will have one more toy to play with .
And I thank the potato farmer for showing us and sharing the final products, my friend ammonia; The 3d world is such a world that if you fully master it, it adds a dimension to your life, you want to print everything you see or imagine, but remember that the most important thing is the first layer, watch lots of videos and master it, learning the fine settings of the printer is yours. it makes you friendly with your printer otherwise you want to smash it. If it comes disassembled and you are going to assemble it, be careful and slow, square, metal ruler, etc. be with you. respects.
Could not of said it better. I only recently got the 3D printer, after my friend who had one, and taught me about them, moved to the city. But now my imagination appears in reality after 12hrs or so, very precisely and repeatably.
@Ammonius there of tons of .stl’s floating around, some hardware sellers now have them on there order pages so you can size metal parts before you buy. 3d printers are also like used cars, they run great for a month or two, then the maintenance starts. Its fun and you can print your own 3D printer upgrades.
The first layer is the hardest, have been having really good luck with the heated glass bed. Its all about getting the nozzle to bed clearances dialed in. Use two paper thickness for 0.4mm nozzle, and four paper thicknesses for a 0.6mm nozzle.
There was interest in a segmented gear so you do not have to remove the steering wheel for installation. Was able to modify the existing gear and use 1/4" bolts as fasteners. Its just as rigid or more and round as the original solid large gear.
Did my test print in some clear PETG I am not really that crazy about, and of course it came out without having to revise it at all. So I guess this ones ready for a White, Agco, or Gleaner. Usually a few prints go in the trash before getting all the bugs out. They even printed not too bad with a chipped nozzle.
Assembled it with two segments already fully tightened, had to stretch open the gear a little but nothing major. Think its best to leave it all a little loose until all the bolts and washers are in, the bolts can only be assembled in one direction from the small end to the big end.
I am sure there is someone near your town that has a 3D printer. The printers cost less than a trimble ez steer motor.
So far this design is pretty new only a couple months old, so selling them at the moment would not be a good idea. They may get revised with structural but non dimensional changes after next season. Material cost is pretty low if you have access to a printer.
Have not had any reports back yet about them. Still writing a proper manual. Only have two installs complete currently, with more planned next spring.
I just bought a 3d printed off amazon and printed my TPU gear, apparently my PETG is lost in the mail… I noticed in the google drive instructions you state 60% fill and on the forum you mention 80%
Probably wont make much difference with such a large wall thickness though, but I wont be able to test them until I need them so ill print a couple spares.
The main thing is to get solid teeth, hollow teeth become very sad, very quickly. The strength gains after 60% are minimal, but these are functional parts. Trying to find a happy medium between component reliability and material waste.
The forum post is not very updated anymore other than the date on major revisions, the google drive gets more incremental updates. Thank you for giving these gears a shot, hopefully they make AOG a bit easier. Please post pictures when installed.
I also keep one extra small gear on hand, but so far still using the same one. Its tempting to print lots, but no need to keep much stock when replacements are made in half a day.
I haven’t tried printing much with gears, but with a lot of mechanical applications the shell takes the vast majority of the load and increasing perimeter layers can add a lot more strength than increasing fill % for the amount of material used. It’s possible to get very technical with applying more layers and in fill to key parts of a model and save material in others areas that are not so stressed, though with one off prints it’s better to use a bit more material than necessary than not quiet enough.
It’s not often I use over 20% infill on mechanical parts, but I haven’t tried gears yet on steering wheel motors and have use friction drive onto a “ring gear” instead.
When I started by modifying the fiat gears with both petg gears at 20%, they were flexy. Then they started to chip, crack, then shred. The hollow teeth cracked at their bases.
The small gear being TPU helps tons preventing shredding. The springs in the holder also let them decouple if the worst is happening. I decided it was better to be at a point of reliability, and work backwards to material savings.
But really the printer and time is the expensive part, the plastic is really cheap. Might as well make it a brick.
The current gear setup I used to test new code for the acs712 disengagement system. So they have taken a fair bit of abuse more than most would experience. Still no damage.
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I think that was the only one having printed thread.