Spoke reflector - Type R

thingiverse

I've often pondered why these orange spoke reflectors on our bikes seem to hang so crookedly in the wheels. It must also work properly and symmetrically. So, I quickly built a spoke reflector, printed it (test_print_012), and instantly realized that no reflection was occurring! You can't produce cat's eyes on an FDM printer; it just doesn't work. Then, I discovered several cat's eyes from broken bicycle pedals in the bicycle parts box. I chose the ones I had the most of - those were the 50 x 12 x 5 mm ones. "In no time at all," I succeeded in inventing this excellent cat's eye holder. (Rev. 5-6?) The four parts have been used on this unique bike for half a year now, and they've proven to be very fast, very soft, with little brake - and they enhance the whole thing enormously! Three things have come to my attention: 1. The tension of the printed parts is not enough to fix them in the spokes; you have to glue them. 2. The golden PLA discolours quickly and becomes increasingly translucent. 3. The printed parts get dirty relatively quickly because their surfaces are not as dense as we know it from serial products. I've learned something from this, which is why the 2nd version of my Spoke-Reflector-Odyssey will be shown here soon... So long!