3D printing is pretty neat. I've printed some functional widgets that work well. I can just download the things and then print them, and that's awesome.
I don't know if I'd to be printing a replacement gear for a washing machine, though. The original was probably injection-molded nylon, which is a quite good combination of accurate repeatability and robustness, and presumably had good material compatibility with the other gears.
But despite those advantages, this original part already failed.
Whatever I can print is going to be sloppier and weaker, with a less-compatible material and in a less-compatible shape. If the first part failed because it was underspecified, then this printed part is going to be even less reliable.
Someone with appropriate skills could use that as a set of constraints to design an entirely new (probably physically larger) gearbox that is superior to the original, but that's sounding like Real Design Work. And iterating on design and in-situ testing means taking apart and reassembling a washing machine -- again.
I hate taking apart washing machines. It's awful work.
It seems like it'd more fun to spend $150 on a new gearbox that will probably fail every few years than to iterate on 3D printed washing machine parts at home, but perhaps my proclivities are poorly aligned. :)
I don't know if I'd to be printing a replacement gear for a washing machine, though. The original was probably injection-molded nylon, which is a quite good combination of accurate repeatability and robustness, and presumably had good material compatibility with the other gears.
But despite those advantages, this original part already failed.
Whatever I can print is going to be sloppier and weaker, with a less-compatible material and in a less-compatible shape. If the first part failed because it was underspecified, then this printed part is going to be even less reliable.
Someone with appropriate skills could use that as a set of constraints to design an entirely new (probably physically larger) gearbox that is superior to the original, but that's sounding like Real Design Work. And iterating on design and in-situ testing means taking apart and reassembling a washing machine -- again.
I hate taking apart washing machines. It's awful work.
It seems like it'd more fun to spend $150 on a new gearbox that will probably fail every few years than to iterate on 3D printed washing machine parts at home, but perhaps my proclivities are poorly aligned. :)