Making replacement parts

[Bobesmo]

I saw a post from slawnski on replacement parts and a product called Smooth-on and thought I would give it a try.

I have made some replacement "fingers" using Smooth-on's mold product Oomoo 30, The casting resin is Smooth cast 305.The final product came out really good, but the plastic is not as "ridgid" as original pieces.That being said they still work quite well.
I have about 60 dollars invested and have enough material to make another mold(not sure what yet) and mold many parts. I am going to contact Smooth-on and see if they can suggest a resin that is more ridgid.

[mudfud]

I am still waiting for 3D printers to come down in price, then we could "print" out any part we want

[OneBigTuna]

MudFud, I think you are onto something. If we could only figure out a way...

The mold is a great idea. For the printers to be affordable, I have an idea of my own. One could make a few molds of commonly broken parts, fingers, trays, covers etc, and make repro parts for sale. "Raise your hand if you have a machine with at least one broken part"

Once enough capitol is built up from the sale of molded parts, the money made will offset the cost of a 3D printer. Just my idea, but as always, I'm open to other suggestions.

[mudfud]

say, a pachitalk 3D printer coop? I like the idea.

I have seen some of the newer printers designed for schools and partially assembled, for 1K to 3K, with the more expensive one allowing bigger parts and more than one injector head.

maybe my new job at Exponent will get one? I keep hinting that that need one

[Bobesmo]

I like the idea of a co op,...something this big is WAY to big for one person to take on...

[mudfud]

another option is to try one of the online parts makers. some can take drawings and produce the part, others might be able to take yours and reproduce it.

I think that vintage pachinko has some place they use to reproduce their parts.

all this stuff will come down in price and be affordable to the home user soon.

in the meantime, we pachi folks keep bending and cutting other scraps to make our pachi's work, which is half the fun anyway, right?

[mudfud]

hey, I just found some free CAD software at eMachineShop.com

it lets you draw things out, add a 3rd dimension, then get a price to make it.

the samples aren't too pricey, so maybe we could at least have set of parts files as we draw them up gradually, to use these for occasional replacement part production?

the vintage pachinko parts database?

what's the quickest way to take a photo and convert it to a CAD drawing for CNC milling or injection molding?

[OneBigTuna]

Well as far as taking a photo and transferring it to CAD software screams pricey to me. That is like things I have read online or seen on discovery channel.

I don't think that my CAD skills will improve to the point of creating files from physical pieces or pictures anytime soon. I would have to check on some local places that could possibly manufacture the parts from plastic or be willing to make a mold of some current parts.

Regardless of what is going on, I think this thread is worth keeping track of, because I know that someone will stop by and know some way to solve this dilema. I think as many people that are out there, we will get some good ideas!!

[mudfud]

say, I noticed that eMachineShop has a way that you can make extra of your part and put them up for sale, so if there was a relatively common part, like that nishijinB track cover that one person drew up, there could be a dozen made to save money and then that person would recoup a bit of the prototyping.

soon, we will be able to make anything at home...

[mudfud]

Well as far as taking a photo and transferring it to CAD software screams pricey to me. That is like things I have read online or seen on discovery channel.

I don't think that my CAD skills will improve to the point of creating files from physical pieces or pictures anytime soon. I would have to check on some local places that could possibly manufacture the parts from plastic or be willing to make a mold of some current parts.

Regardless of what is going on, I think this thread is worth keeping track of, because I know that someone will stop by and know some way to solve this dilema. I think as many people that are out there, we will get some good ideas!!

say, the rep from eMachineShop emailed me and offered to help me get started with their software. I will ask him how to go from a picture to CAD and see about the price to make a few missing pachinko parts. will let you know...

[emmadog]

Just saw a video were a 3D printer made a ball bearing complete with both races and all the balls. Amazing. Now I want one.

[mudfud]

it's the future... then, any of us can make all kinds of cool things

where's the vid? I'd like to see that.

[subdude]

I'm working on casting a ball lifter gear. I think that may be the most important piece in the DIY ball lifters from previous threads I read. I tryin to find a way to index the gear in the mold so you can drill it out to the size of the shaft it will be attached to.

[Drunkenclam]

I cheated and brought a gear, But for noise reasons, A nylon gear would be alot better. Best use a lathe

[emmadog]

Chewy- I emailed you the link.

[subdude]

I cheated and brought a gear, But for noise reasons, A nylon gear would be alot better. Best use a lathe

noise You are kidding right?

[Drunkenclam]

Well I can't compare it to a proper one as never seen one, But my homemade one does make a bit of a raquet. Give me a heck of a jump when it starts. I'm going to put a resistor in to slow the motor down and hopefully slow it down abit. maybe down to 100 balls per minute.

[mudfud]

I'm working on casting a ball lifter gear. I think that may be the most important piece in the DIY ball lifters from previous threads I read. I tryin to find a way to index the gear in the mold so you can drill it out to the size of the shaft it will be attached to.

maybe you can get someone to lend you one off the real thing and have a bunch of gears made? I figure the Japanese engineers probably took years to get the tolerances just so.

maybe I could take some good pictures of my gear with dimensions and we can send it off to eMachineShop... until I buy my own 3D printer... they're under 5K now

[subdude]

I have an original one I'm going to make the mold tonight.

[Bobesmo]

I tryin to find a way to index the gear in the mold so you can drill it out to the size of the shaft it will be attached to.

I am not sure what your gear looks like, but I was able to mold a 1/8 inch pin into my mold so that the "finger" was cast with the hole in it, no need to drill the casting.It works really good and the part comes off the pin with no problems.