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3D printed way wipers

RC99

Diamond
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Location
near Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
I am currently experimenting with 3D printed way wipers for fitting to my machines that are prehistoric and well used, just to test the viability.

I expect they are not going to be anything like the commercially available products, but for smaller home shops it might be an option.

I designed and printed out my first one out of PETG plastic, it is essentially just a rectangular cube with a bevel on one side to do the scraping. It is designed with oval holes for adjustment. I know white is not an ideal colour but it was the closest filament I had at hand. It is a bit stiff so a slightly more fleixble filament might be a better choice as I experiment some more.

This is it fitted to my boring mill.

20180507_151756.jpg 20180507_152234.jpg

That is all I have achieved so far but I plan to experiment further in the future as time permits.
 
Looks super. It's amazing what those 3 D printers can do. Next time you make the wiper print a wedge shaped wiper so the chips move to the side. In Minnesota we call it snow plowing but you could think of road grading. As the part moves on the way the chips roll off the way instead of being pushed straight ahead. Rich
 
Will this guy do other lathes? I could use some.


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There is a gentleman who lives local to me selling 3d printed way wipers for colchesters. I believe he uses a quite rubbery filament

I'm going to try printing some way wipers for the cross slide of my Studer RHU-450 cylindrical grinder. I'd be grateful for advice about a couple of points.

First, what plastic to use. Could you ask your neighbour for advice? What's the rubbery stuff?

Second (for everyone in this forum!) what would be a good profile for an outwards-pointing scraper/wiper? Meaning how much interference, what rake angle and clearance angle, what length and thickness? I can wing it but suspect that lots of people have already found the best solutions, so would be interested to get feedback.
 
I bought some of the colchester printed way wipers, found it difficult to get them to conform to the ways, so I glues a 3/16 thick layer of felt to the business end.....perfect!!
 
3D printed way-covers next?

Print the "structure" in 4-5mm thickness and glue a 0,5-1mm stainless sheet metal on top for protection and also to function as a wear surface for the wipers?

Then use 3D printed wipers as suggested here?
 
TPU is the rubber like filament. It comes in different durometers but I haven’t done any prints with it yet. From what I have read it can be difficult to print if u do not have some key features on your printer.
 








 
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