Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Project-Zero: 3D printed hub centering rings

The Short Story

After figuring out the bore and hub diameters, I printed hub centering rings for my car. They should be adequately durable if printed in ABS, ASA, or PETG with 100% infill.

I printed mine with Shaxon ABS at .28mm layer hight. Pumpkin orange. Because October.

Link to the parametric Thingiverse model I'm using: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40516

Link to the custom models I remixed from this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4617312

Fin.

NOTE: I've since ordered a set of injection molded ABS plastic centering rings.


The Long Story

Needing to keep the wheels concentric to the spindles, hub centering rings are a requirement and my kit didn't come with them.  Some simple searches revealed the ring sizes I'd need aren't unobtainium but since the the car has two different center bores and hub diameters, one full set in each size are required if purchasing commercial sets.

Since I own a 3D printer I spent 5 minutes in Fusion360 modeling up two test rings to make sure I had my measurements correct before slapping down fat stacks of cash on commercial sets.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=154_LWOIDDaEz332ogJVHU3EyXHu-Dm5i

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1CWYMXljsrmbOQc0KSngbZX644kbCBVSi

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1W9Jy84cdiB30CvW2nvEqOP7mESQJnfZ3

The front ring was spot-on. (54.1 ID, 57.1 OD) The rear ring was too tight on the inside diameter by exactly one perimeter shell. (~.08mm) I adjusted the model to an ID of 64.1mm (the next standard hub diameter up, also ~0.8mm wider) for a second test, which also fit spot-on.

And then I thought, "Other people have to have printed their own centering rings."

A subsequent search of Thingiverse turned up a better parametric model than what I'd crapped out as a test. There were some pretty good reviews, including form somebody who'd done a track day with a set printed in PLA without any negative effect from heat on the rings. Thus, I'm not bothering to buy them, I'm just going to print them. Because I have the technology.

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