printable chain

thingiverse

Overview Printable chain was designed for effortless printing and rapid assembly, as well as seamless integration into any project that requires a drive chain. This remarkable chain is surprisingly strong, withstanding an impressive 20 pounds of pull force before breaking, yet it's fast and easy to print. All you need is 3mm or 1.75mm filament to act as the pin, and a round file in case the holes turn out a little misshapen. Printing Printing the chain is relatively straightforward. I slowed my speeds by about 25% and first-layer speeds by 50%. Printing at 200 microns, the chain may not look as good, but it's mechanically sound and much faster. Printing at 100 microns required a 250% first-layer height for the print to stick. Printed the chain with ABS @ 245°C on 100°C PEI. Testing While testing the strength of the chain, I was able to safely suspend a 15-pound weight with one strand of chain without any bending or cracking. Pulling 20 pounds with one strand after about five seconds resulted in failure. The safe working load is around 10-15 pounds with one strand of chain. Hooking the chain into a loop resulted in more strength, breaking at 40 pounds. The safe load with a loop of chain is around 20-30 pounds. Surprisingly, the 1.75mm chain held up better in terms of strength but not as smoothly. Sprockets I have designed the sprockets to be a universal fit for most small motors with shafts ranging from ~3-8mm. The sprockets use M3 screws and nuts. Simply glue the nut in place and drill out the center hole to fit your motor shaft. The sprockets print to fit a 3mm shaft but can be drilled larger. If drilling is required, set your slicer to five or more outline shells so no infill is exposed. The sprockets are six, ten, fifteen, and twenty teeth, but I will be uploading more sizes. Any suggestions are welcome. Happy printing!