PTO Lever Dust boot

[mad4hws]

Hello everyone,
So, this weekend a few of the minions and I are going to be disassembling the PTO and winch that we salvaged. As I'm thinking about this and ordering seals/bearings. I would like to not have a gaping hole in the transmission hump. I would really like to put a dust boot on this new lever that will soon appear in the cab. I don't expect that anyone has a spare lying around (but if you do, let me know!). I was thinking about how to solve this dilema when I looked across the desk. There's a 3D printer just begging to be turned on for this task. There are some flexible filaments out there that may work for printing a boot. with that in mind, does anyone have a picture of what the actual boot looks like? if they do, we can mock up a digital file and see if we can print one out. Thanks in advance.

Don.

[faux40]

Hello everyone,
So, this weekend a few of the minions and I are going to be disassembling the PTO and winch that we salvaged. As I'm thinking about this and ordering seals/bearings. I would like to not have a gaping hole in the transmission hump. I would really like to put a dust boot on this new lever that will soon appear in the cab. I don't expect that anyone has a spare lying around (but if you do, let me know!). I was thinking about how to solve this dilema when I looked across the desk. There's a 3D printer just begging to be turned on for this task. There are some flexible filaments out there that may work for printing a boot. with that in mind, does anyone have a picture of what the actual boot looks like? if they do, we can mock up a digital file and see if we can print one out. Thanks in advance.

Don.

That would be super cool! What model printer do you have? We've wanted to get one... someday maybe!

John

[mad4hws]

we have a makerbot replicator 2. We've done a couple of upgrades, heated build plate and enclosed it so that we can print different materials. ABS is what most people use, but with the modifications, we've been able to print polycarbonate and nylon.. I'm anxious to see if this flexible stuff works at all. It's not the same as pressed rubber parts as you can see the print lines, but if it's function you're after, we might be onto something.

[faux40]

I'm suffering from complete jealously right now! That is cool. I'd never get any work done and would have a house full of 3d printed things! Need a fork with dinner... let me print you one!

[Mattbob53]

Is it a cad program you use mad4hws?


Matt

[mad4hws]

Hey Matt,
You can use any CAD program out there and save your design down as an STL file. Once in that form, the 3d printer can read it. We use solid works, but you can use any program out there really. we're not too good with it, but it's fun to play around with.

Don.

[mad4hws]

Here's a quick update. I still need an photo or image of the factory boot, if someone has one I'd be grateful.

So, I ordered two rolls of 'rubber' filament. The stuff I ordered is called NinjaFlex from Fenner Drives. Fenner makes very high quality conveyor belts and has developed a filament that uses its advanced composite. The stuff is a bit on the expensive side, about 4x the cost of normal ABS or PLA filament ($50 per 0.5kg). If it works though, it will be worth it. a roll of filament goes a very long way. I ordered 2 rolls. One black and one orange. The reviews i read indicated that the black filament was spotty in printing wheras the orange was more smooth.

It came in the mail today and #3 minion and I were very excited to try it out. After dinner, we set it up on the printer. My first observation is that this stuff is pretty flexible. not quite rubber, but pretty flexible. We tried to "tear" off a piece from the spool, but couldn't do it. it's only 1.7mm thick, so I was surprised we couldn't do it. So, we went to thingiverse and picked a design to print. We decided on a carburetor gasket and upsized it 3x so that it would be bigger. This resulted in it being thicker too. It's okay, we're not intending on using it as a gasket. we just wanted to get an idea of what its properties are.

Surprisingly, we got a pretty descent print on the first go. the extruder temp was 220c, the build plate temp was 110c. the print speed is 50mm. it took about 20 minutes to print out the piece. Once the build plate cooled, we pulled it off. this stuff is surprisingly strong. Our print has some defects. I think the temperature setting for the build plate is a bit too hot, so next time I'll take it down to 80c and see how it does. Still, the result was impressive for what it was. Minion #3 tried to tear it and was unsuccessful. it returned to it's original shape with no deflection. This stuff is going to work out great for my dust boot. It may have other uses as well. I would be hesitant to use it for heavy applications like bump stops, but I think it would work well for lighter duty applications.

The stl file is created in Makerware (my preference, there are other programs available)


Here's the filament on th e spool before being loaded into the printer by Minion #3 (ann)


Here's the printer in action. 20 or so minutes for this part.


The printed part on the build plate. Looks pink, but it's actually orange.


a short video demonstrating the properties of this oh so cool filament.

[RiverPatrol]

Very cool.

I have never seen a factory boot for a PTO lever. The only boots I have seen used were something that someone found and made it work. It would be impossible to make a universal boot, because the hole made in the floor for the lever is hacked out different every time. The PTO's were dealer installed, so the hole for the lever was up to the mechanic installing it. Every one I've seen is quite ugly. See if you can find a design that might work and try it.