3D printing out of production parts
 

Has anyone looked into this? I thinking specifically brake hoods. The last generation suntour superbe pro brake hoods are impossible to find and there is no substitute. Aero gran compes work but not great. I have an old hood that split down the side but is relatively intact to use as a model. I would love to get some replicas made.

Any ideas on cost?

You'd be best to use a decent condition hood as a guide to make a mold (possibly 3d printed), then cast the hoods out of rubber or another suitable material.
I've made the ever elusive Huret Duopar dropout washer in 3d printed form. Works great.

The best 3D printed rubbery parts are made by Carbon right now. The hoods would be really expensive ($250+) and would take some relatively complicated CAD and a few iterations to get right. The finish would not be as nice as the originals and they would probably wear out faster.

https://www.carbon3d.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTpx28CH7PI

As a Formlabs engineer, I disagree ;-)

But the best way would certainly be to 3d print a mold and cast them. Smooth-on makes relatively affordable materials that would work well for this.

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Wow! There's gotta be a market for those as nothing else works.

I should have qualified that post with something like "the best elastomeric components I have used are from carbon". Formlabs parts look great as well.

I have had really bad luck casting from 3d printed molds but the resolution on the molds components was pretty low.

The best online documentation of how to do it I have viewed, have a look! https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ria-hoods.html

People out there are making passable replicas of Campy Nuovo Record and Super Record brake hoods, so, obviously, primitive and effective technology is available. I suggest you reach out to the folks making/selling Campy repros and ask them whether they'd be willing to take on the Suntour project.

I gave David a NOS Galli hood (black rubber, not gum) to reproduce. Alas, there must have been something in the original piece which reacted with his casting stuff which kept it from curing. I still have the hoods if someone is up for a challenge.

There is a shop in Loveland, CO (Love City Cycles) which has 3D printed a couple small parts. I bought a set of their reproduction Simplex skewer nuts for my PX-10.

WOW! That was amazing. Not sure I have the set up . . .

Prep the surface to get them smooth. 3d printing is often times just a tool, not a fix all, IMHO.

I'm currently brewing up a group buy for the BF guys. I'll keep you posted. The beta unit is still being tested on my Cannondale. So far so good. For a part that's pretty much hidden from view when installed, the part looks just fine.

True, some surface prep will most likely be needed to get good results with a printed mold. Especially if you are after a smooth rubber component.

A project I work on decided to forgo tooling costs for a low volume part similar in size and flexibility to a brake lever hood. Instead, we use urethane casting-- basically create a master part (3D printed or otherwise), create a silicone mold around it, and then cast the part in urethane. https://support.xometry.com/hc/en-us...thane-Casting-

The silicone molds are good for ~200 parts before needing replacement-- sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

You would need to get the part you want copied 3d scanned so you can print a pattern or CNC machine a mold. We machine a lot of acrylic molds for casting silicone or you could make an RTV mold for casting urethane. We print soft durometer parts on our Objet machines and they are not nearly as durable as urethane or silicone.