serveandvolE
Rookie
Anybody successfully 3D print grommets that work? With the multitide of more flexible filament s perhaps somebody has been able to do it?
Anybody successfully 3D print grommets that work?
- Thread starter serveandvolE
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serveandvolE
Rookie
Anyone? Anyone Bueller?
serveandvolE
Rookie
Through experience, I think it's just the opposite. I had a few sets of perfectly 3d printed grommets made but they cracked and split when strung. It's the material/filiment that I question. I tried multijetfusion (using a top 3d printer) using PA12 (nylon) and it's not strong enough. Has anybody else tried using a different method SLS, FFF, SLA and or material?
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RDM
Rookie
If I may be so bold as to ask, where did you find the CAD models to print? Or did you create them yourself?
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serveandvolE
Rookie
3d scanned them
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Exactly. I would be surprised if it worked properly
serveandvolE
Rookie
I did get a section to kind of work using a home FFF 3d printer using Ninja flex filament but the grommet section was pretty dang ugly and I had to do some extra work on it when it was done that took a lot of time. This was a couple of years ago and I thought by now there would be a filament/process that would work. I know that there is carbon fiber and kevlar filaments. Anybody know if those might be strong and flexible enough?
esgee48
G.O.A.T.
I suspect that it may never work. Grommets are presently produced by injection moulding. The plastic is one piece with no weaknesses. 3D printing builds the grommets by layers and pieces like a pile of bricks. The joints are semimolten and weak. It is not a single piece of plastic. You would need to take apart the 3D scan and create significant overlap joints for the material to not split when stressed. And that will be a lot of work unless it can be automated. That is for the flat areas. I can't even begin to guess what to do with grommet tubes. If a material could be used such that it remains soft until hardened by UV, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem.
serveandvolE
Rookie
Also, I have considered injection moulding as an option but then the price jumps significantly as with quantity produced.
serveandvolE
Rookie
esgee48, That makes total sense. However, from what I have experienced, it's not just the hardness of the material that may be the key, the flexibility may be just as important. Grommets are just suppose to basically serve as a cushion for the strings that protects the strings from the rigid and sharp frame. Flexible types of material might work. I got it to somewhat work but the final product was very crude. Somewhere I read that Head or Wilson was 3d printing grommets for custom rackets. If that is true, I wonder which process and material they used.
BlueB
Legend
Why would they use 3d printing, with the quantities they produce?I suspect Wilson uses a mixture mainly PP and some PE. I do bet that they use an industrial 3D printer. Exactly what they do is a trade secret unless some nice person from Wilson Pro Labs is authorized to reply. Not holding my breath.
esgee48
G.O.A.T.
Cuz I was replying to serveandvolE. If they have standard drill patterns, then they probably have the grommets produced with injection moulding. If they have to do a one off as a trial, they would need to design grommets for the frame and make them. That's when I would use a 3D printer since they have the design files. But this is all speculation and we could be all wrong.
Sanglier
Professional
This is completely outside my comfort zone, and I wouldn't even pretend to know what I am talking about here, but many injection-molded racket parts (grommet strip, throat piece, etc) from the 70s and early 80s were made out of Zytel, which is based on Nylon-66, known for its toughness. A casual search turned up this material, which, if I understood the specs correctly, seems a bit stronger and more flexible than PA12? Maybe the nomenclature reflects the fact that it is mechanically the same as (or similar to) Nylon-66, only adapted for 3D printing?
serveandvolE
Rookie
Sanglier, it's definitely stronger than PA12. I talked to some pros in the field and they said 3d material can't be compared with injection moulding material of the same type i.e.- nylon.
brownbearfalling
Hall of Fame
Almost one year later. Anyone have updates on attempting this? With the prices of grommets for certain Wilson racquet models I would imagine it is worthwhile to print and sell grommets. If it is possible
serveandvolE
Rookie
brownbearfalling, I'm hoping that it gets there but I'm not exactly holding my breath. Perhaps there could be an advance in injection molding where we find lower costs using that method.
serveandvolE
Rookie
I don't think that making it into 2 pieces would make a difference. The issue I ran into was with the strength of the finished grommet. Materials (filament) need to advance. I had it done on an expensive multijet fusion printer and it wasn't strong enough to survive the tension of string the job. Printing a grommet with a good home printer that layers would be even more fragile.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Do 3-D printers run at a high temperature so that the different layers of plastic become one continuous piece? If not, then the essential strength of a plastic (long chain polymers that are entangled throughout one continuous body) seems to be missing.
serveandvolE
Rookie
Kind of. This article goes over the two main different types of printing and how the layering approach (fdm) is weaker. Most people have fdm printers which are cheaper.
Different methods 3d printing
Different methods 3d printing
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