Monday, June 19, 2017

3D Print Tractor Speed Control Plate


If you look at the picture above it shows two plastic plates. The top one was the original plate from a lawn tractor that allows 7 different speed setting to be used. The notch broke that let speed #4 to be set. I created a replica of that plate using a 3D printer and ABS plastic. My notch settings are approximate to where the originals are. This object pushed almost to the print size limit of the printer where I had to print it diagonal on the square printing glass plate.

 It took 19 hours printing at 100% fill with 0.1 mm layers. The left side of the object did not print the text "SLOW" or the number 1 correctly, I think because the print plate was not completely level.

This next image shows the bottom plates, as you can see the original plate was hollow thus the teeth were weaker and susceptible to breaking. The 3D print plate has complete solid plastic teeth.


This last image shows a side view of the printed plate. Since it took so long to print and the plate heating is not uniform, left side of the plate started shrinking so it is not the same thickness as the right side. I do not think this will affect the plate mounting on the tractor chassis.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Lichen


Here is a picture of a leafy fuliose lichen growing on tree bark.

Learn more at this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foliose_lichen

Friday, June 09, 2017

Fern

The fern is an ancient plant that has been in existence on the planet for hundreds of millions of year.
Learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Berries on a Mahonia Plant


You have all you basic colors represented in this plant: reds, greens and blues. The genus Mahonia is a named for Irish American horticulturist Bernard McMahon (1775-1816) in 1818 by English botanist Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859). The Mahonia was one of the plants returned by the Lewis and Clark expedition that McMahon cultivated .


Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahonia