I am restoring an old Triumph TR6 and while pulling out the gas linkage,

3D Printing
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I am restoring an old Triumph TR6 and while pulling out the gas linkage, I needed to replace the bushings that held the rod in place. The ones that were supposed to work did not fit and my first thought was to print a set. They would only need to essentially have a rod rotate in them. Do you all think they would last if made with PLA?

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I would think about using either ABS or maybe Nylon, if it’s going to be around any heat.

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I would second the nylon. I imagine just leaving the bike outside on a hot day might warp the pla.

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What happens if it fails? PLA WILL fail eventually. Whether via wear, or creep, or getting too hot and turning to mush.

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@Ross_Bagley lol… So True!

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If I can get a local sample of nylon I’ll try. I just hate the design of the parts and can see much room for improvement with just a couple minutes on CAD.

Electrical took months to figure out on the car. And I wouldn’t consider myself electrically incompetent… It’s just poor engineering in some cases.

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@Ross_Bagley lol…sorry, was thinking Triumph Motorcycles.

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@Ross_Bagley http://www4.ncsu.edu/~mtmorris/index3.html

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@Griffin_Paquette as above.

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I have a Triumph as well. I haven’t had much luck with 3d printed parts that need to contact metal. They don’t wear well. What I end up doing is printing parts oversize, then hot-pressing in bronze bushings for pivots. (The door cam, that interconnects the outer door handle, the inner handle, and the latch mechanism, for instance, which cracked on mine.)

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I wish I have a 3D printer when I restore my zundapp…I miss my workshop… I’d go with taulman 910Alloy, fits perfect for the job, and good chemical/heat resistant, I’d prefer to go with milled/lathe delrin parts for it

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If silicone could work in that application, you might consider printing a mold and “cast” the part with regular silicon caulking + glycerol. Maybe the friction of silicone would be too high though.

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I would second the casting idea but would suggest you cast in metal either using the ‘lost plastic’ method or design the part so that you can use it as a master. I am just thinking that heat, fuel, oil and other contaminants may degrade anything that comes out of a printer.

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Thanks for all the comments guys. I’m ordering a 50g sample of nylon to print them. If it goes well I might make some more

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Just ordered a 50g sample of Taulman Nylon Bridge from Printrbot. Was $6 shipped and should do the trick fine! I’ll print a test in PLA before it arrives

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@Griffin_Paquette don’t forget to dry it up 1st

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@Aria_C_Bramanta yup! It’s going right to my silica gel box until I’m ready for printing.