Bead buddy for bicycle tire installation

prusaprinters

<p>Saw a post on a facebook bike mechanics' forum about the <a href="https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0388">Motion Pro Trail Bead Buddy</a> which is a motorcycle tool designed to keep the tire bead in place while installing tires. The post mentioned that this was a great tool for installing <a href="https://www.cushcore.com/">Cush Core tire inserts</a> but it could be useful for all manner of difficult tire installations. Just like my recent clone of a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192458">Stan's NoTubes presta valve nut loosening tool</a>, when I saw it, I thought "<em>I bet I could 3D print that</em>".</p> <p>So, a little work in Fusion 360 and here we have it. I went through a couple of iterations and found a design that fit well on any of the wheels I had on hand, and I had one with a tire that was a little tight to fit, and it sure seemed to help make the installation easier. Forgive the rough surface finish on the printed part - that's an issue with my printer I haven't bothered to figure out yet.</p> <p>The knurled nut is just a <a href="https://www.mcmaster.com/92545a183">McMaster 92545a183</a> imported through Fusion, and prints up and fits nicely.</p> <p>This would also work nicely with my <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2642893">Park TL-4 clone tire lever</a></p> <p>I've included the F3D file for import, for more options, see the online version of my <a href="https://a360.co/2Phr1Se">Fusion 360 model</a>.</p> <h3>Print instructions</h3><h3>Category: Hand Tools Summary</h3> <p>Saw a post on a facebook bike mechanics' forum about the <a href="https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0388">Motion Pro Trail Bead Buddy</a> which is a motorcycle tool designed to keep the tire bead in place while installing tires. The post mentioned that this was a great tool for installing <a href="https://www.cushcore.com/">Cush Core tire inserts</a> but it could be useful for all manner of difficult tire installations. Just like my recent clone of a <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192458">Stan's NoTubes presta valve nut loosening tool</a>, when I saw it, I thought "<em>I bet I could 3D print that</em>".</p> <p>So, a little work in Fusion 360 and here we have it. I went through a couple of iterations and found a design that fit well on any of the wheels I had on hand, and I had one with a tire that was a little tight to fit, and it sure seemed to help make the installation easier. Forgive the rough surface finish on the printed part - that's an issue with my printer I haven't bothered to figure out yet.</p> <p>The knurled nut is just a <a href="https://www.mcmaster.com/92545a183">McMaster 92545a183</a> imported through Fusion, and prints up and fits nicely.</p> <p>This would also work nicely with my <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2642893">Park TL-4 clone tire lever</a></p> <p>I've included the F3D file for import, for more options, see the online version of my <a href="https://a360.co/2Phr1Se">Fusion 360 model</a>.</p> <h3> Print Settings</h3> <p><strong>Printer Brand:</strong> Monoprice</p> <p><strong>Printer:</strong> Select Mini</p> <p><strong>Rafts:</strong> No</p> <p><strong>Supports:</strong> Yes</p> <p><strong>Resolution:</strong> 0.131 mm</p> <p><strong>Infill:</strong> 20%</p> <p><strong>Filament:</strong> 3D Solutech PLA green<br/> <strong>Notes:</strong></p> <p>Printed with 5 shells to get decent strength so it doesn't need to be 100% infill, 20% infill seems to have been fine. Honestly, 5 shells is probably overkill, but it worked. Originally printed at 0.087mm to get good results on the threads, but later prints with 0.131mm layer heigh also worked well. I did have one print where the thumb screw was 0.087mm and the body was 0.131mm and that did<em>not</em> want to thread in, so I guess it's important to make sure the layer height matches between the two items.</p>