Jul.7, 2013
Rich Olson was needing some new gear for his long bike ride in a couple weeks, from Seattle to Portland. Instead of getting one from the bike shop he thought it would be fun to make it himself using 3D printing. He had originally considered a 3D printed belt-drive, but finally he decided to create a shifter, which seems more realistic.
His shifter is actually a friction based shifter - so instead of clicking through the gears you just move it to the position you want.
A slightly bent derailer or worn cables / housings will cause an index shifter to miss shifts (resulting in that click that won't go away). A friction shifter is much more tolerant of minor problems like these. This is why shifters on touring bikes have a friction mode.
My bike is a 1x7 (no front derailer) - so it's been pretty well tested at 7 speeds. This shifter should work for front and/or rear derailers - and pretty much any number of cogs.
The shifter has three parts bottom_assembly, lever and washer. They were printed out on a Makerbot Replicator 2 and total printing time is 1.5 hours. "I've put about 150 miles on this shifter design (about 80 so far on the last version) - with few signs of wear." writes Rich.
Rich has made his files available on Thingiverse so you can also make your own if you find it handy.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
Maybe you also like:
- Iris van Herpen unveiled her first Hybrid 3D printed dress
- 3D printed shoes for Iris van Herpen's new collection hit Paris Fashion Week
- 3D printed drones to monitor illegal operations at sea
- IBM Kiosk creates 3D printed data-driven trophies for Wimbledon 2013
- 3D printed, self-assembled concept car won Pilkington Design Awards
- Octopus inspired underwater propulsion made with 3D printer
- GlassKap: 3D printed lens cover & fun accessories for Google Glass
- Smartphone-Controlled 3D Printed Interactive Robotic Smart Doll
- Making custom mesh screens easily with Slic3r & 3D printer
- A fully 3D printable Pip-Boy 3000
- Danish company says its software will stop you from 3D-printing guns
- Get what's inside Kinder Surprise Eggs using scanning and 3D printing
- Eye-catching 3D-Printed fashion jacket on Royal Ascot Ladies' Day 2013
- Imperia GP: a legendary Belgian marque is back, thanks to 3D printing
- 3D Printed Tardis Prime Transformer Toy
- How to 3D print your brain
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
