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WTD: Someone to 3D print a small plastic gear wheel

Mike P

Mike P

Trade: Pickwell Audio
Can anyone here 3D print a small plastic component for me?

The part I need is a toothed gear wheel about 30mm in diameter, which forms part of the tray loading mechanism in an Esoteric SA-10 SACD player.

I have already tried to source the part from the UK Esoteric service agent and got this spectacularly unhelpful reply:


Dear Mike,

Thank you for your mail.

Esoteric parts are not supplied to end users.
You will need to return the unit to us for test and assessment.

Individual components of the loading mechanism for the SA-10 are not available- the complete loading mechanism will have to be replaced.

Kind regards

Jo Fialho
ESOTERIC UK SUPPORT

This isn't the exact part I need but is very similar and gives you a good idea of what is needed:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEAC-VRD...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Esoteric is posh Teac and the Teac VRDS mechs are known for having gears that turn to playdough and throw there teeth off.

Have a look on ebay at Teac spares, I think the VRDS mechs went upto 9. Ive done repairs twice with parts from a seller called silicone mind.

Hope that helps.
 
No guarantee at all, but if you hunt not too hard, an amazing array of plastic gears are available for hobby project builds, or at least used to be prior to 3D printers.......
 
Yes, I hate the 'send it to us so we can charge you over the odds' attitude, esp when it comes to junking an entire mechanism for the sake of 1 component. Thought there'd been a breakthrough on the right to repair this week. Maybe they need a 'stiff reply'. Of course, the trouble with little plastic gears is matching the size and the teeth accurately. Otherwise they wear rapidly. Hope you get lucky Mike.
 
hp1 said:
Esoteric is posh Teac and the Teac VRDS mechs are known for having gears that turn to playdough and throw there teeth off.

Have a look on ebay at Teac spares, I think the VRDS mechs went upto 9. Ive done repairs twice with parts from a seller called silicone mind.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Yes I repaired a VRDS with broken gears last year. Sadly the gear I need to replace in the Esoteric doesn't match any that I can find on ebay. It's an SACD player and has a different mech to the VRDS CD players.
 
a.palfreyman said:
Yes, I hate the 'send it to us so we can charge you over the odds' attitude, esp when it comes to junking an entire mechanism for the sake of 1 component. Thought there'd been a breakthrough on the right to repair this week. Maybe they need a 'stiff reply'. Of course, the trouble with little plastic gears is matching the size and the teeth accurately. Otherwise they wear rapidly. Hope you get lucky Mike.
Click to expand...

Yup, really sh*tty service from Esoteric. I've emailed a dealer to see if they can order the part for me.
 
a.palfreyman said:
the trouble with little plastic gears is matching the size and the teeth accurately. Otherwise they wear rapidly. Hope you get lucky Mike.
Click to expand...

An engineer friend of mine actually designs gears for the aerospace industry. I'm going to ask him if he'd be up for modelling the gear in a CAD programme. I'm thinking that I can then ask someone with a 3D printer to make it for me.
 
I know I keep banging on about this but the quality of the mech in this thing is really poor. If you want a CD player with a high quality mech buy something from the 1980's!
 
Oh that would be good but suspect it'd be complex but nice to see some proper engineering. From doing tech drawing many years ago the one that sticks in my mind is the way an involute curve is simply the path that the end of a piece of sting follows when you unwind it from a cylinder. This is a good link which shows the basics of involute gears:
https://khkgears.net/new/gear_knowledge/abcs_of_gears-b/gear_tooth_profile.htm
looks simple enough but I'd imagine would be a bugger to make the profile accurately, esp as you have 2 concentric gears
gear_tooth_profile.html
 
You could determine the specs of the gear (DP/mod etc) and have a part machined in various types of metal - although that might cause other parts to wear more quickly. I have used HPC gears for some *very* specialist gears in a past life, they are superb. Maybe a bit pricey but it's a proper gear you get, i'm not convinced that a 3D printed one would be any good at all given the fine resolution required, unless you know someone with access to the very best 3D printer (unlikely). Job worth doing properly and all that. Maybe have 10 sets made and sell as spares/upgrades...
 
Mike P said:
Can anyone here 3D print a small plastic component for me?
Click to expand...

Far better to create a mould and cast than 3d print...


Randi Rain has a YouTube channel where she refurbishes old plastic robot toys etc, which are full of plastic gears. She’s got casting gears down to a fine art with moulds etc. In the above video she shows how to make a complete gear mould from one missing teeth etc.

3d printing just isn’t strong or clean enough. When she makes bigger parts, e.g. missing battery doors etc, she’ll 3d print the part, sand and finish it, then cast it to make a higher quality part.

PS You can get away without the degassing stage, though it may take a few goes to get a good result.
 
Is it possible measure the OD of the 14 tooth part? Then you could maybe drill this out and epoxy a gear of the appropriate size with 14T in its place. Wouldnt be easy to get accurate, although you can get pinions with an extended plain shank that might make alignment easier.
 
Hmm, teeth actually torn off, so too much torque applied for the material/design of the gear. So no chance that glue alone would hold a replacement inner gear.

How much time and effort do you want to spend on it?
It should be possible to use an end mill to take the worn gear out (measured before doing so, and hopefully a new one obtained too), and then pin and glue a new one into place. Fiddly but perfectly possible if the correct replacment inner gear can be found. Because the well between the moulded ring (presumably actually a guide??), and the small gear is doing nothing, you could even fill that with something like epoxy.
 
Vinny said:
Hmm, teeth actually torn off, so too much torque applied for the material/design of the gear.
Click to expand...

The combination of some plastics and some lubricants are now well known to age and become brittle. It’s an aging thing, not a design flaw as such. Very common in all manner of old kit with plastic gears.
 
Hopefully the lessons have now been learned and certain combinations of plastics and lubricants are now avoided. As an example pretty much every Sony DD Walkman ever made has a cracked drive gear by now, even NOS ones sitting unused for all this time. It’s a materials thing, not wear.
 
IIRC, injection moulded nylon, which is typical for stuff like this needs a few % water in it. If it 'dries out' it becomes brittle; oily compounds can have the same effect. Boiling in water for a few minutes can restore the lost moisture but nothing can be done if embrittled with oil.
 
I have a document shredder which has recently become scrap due to a single plastic gear wheel stripping it's teeth... driven by a metal gear wheel! It is "only" about £25-30 for another machine but most annoying that the whole thing is scrap for the sake of that gear wheel valued maybe 10p. As expected google revealed that spare parts are only available at all for expensive office grade professional shredders.
 
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