DIY MBS all terrain Wheels (3D printed)

[ramon]

Hi, I’m Ramon, from spain, and I’ve been thinking of designing and printing 3D printed all terrain wheels for my electric board (similar to the MBS wheels, but more afordable) and upload the STL files for free (I’m planning to do this during the next two monthes cause I’m also passing my university exams and I dont have time to test all the iterations in a short period of time cause I will have to study). My plan is to print the a 10-30mm thick tire with a flexible filament, and an abs hub. The wheel would be arround 100mm in diameter so it would fit most wheel cutout longboard decks and arround 50mm of width.

First of all I would like to know if anyone has already tried this, and has succeed or failed (I haven’t found anything about it online but it would be annoying if I finish everything and then I discover that someone had done the same 2 years ago hahaha).

And in case anyone has tried before, I would like to hear your sugestions (about the sizes, the materials, the shapes…). I will be uploading pics of the progresion so you can tell me what you think about it.

UPDATE 29/11/2017 01:46 UTC +1: I’ve done a quick sketch so you can check the route I’m heading to. Because flexible filament will not behave the same way an air tire would, I’m planning on doing a thin a tire so it does not result too squeezee (I dont know if thats the right word, so it doesnt deform too much). I’m also planing to add some indents to the tire and the negatives of those indents to the hub, so the friction between the tire and the hub will easily overcome the one between the tire and the floor, this way I can be sure the hub will not spin inside the tire. And finally, because the tire has dents to have more grip and that would probably not be very confortable for street rides, I’m planing on also designing some flat street tires so they can be swapable without tools needed.

UPDATE 29/11/2017 08:46 UTC +1:

First of all, please dont blame me for using sketchup ahhaha. This is what I’ve done so far. I’ve done two versions for the hub a “regular”, and a “twisted” one. And even if I think, the twisted one looks way cooler, I think I’m gonna go with the regular because it seems it will be more sturdy. I’ve also added some mouting holes as sugested. They are 31 apart in diameter and are ment to be used with 4M screws. The hole has two heights and diameters so the screw can be shorter by making the head rest deeper in the hub. I’ve also added the holes for the bearings which is the only part which can result “dificult to print” because it needs supports, but I think most printers will handle that with ease.

I would like to know if you would prefer the holes to be in more “standard” layout (if there is one) and any other suggestions. I’m also planing to make a 3/5mm bevel in the edge of the hub, and the negative of it on the tire, so the tire has a more robust fit when placed over the hub.

UPDATE 29/11/2017 15:13 UTC +1:

This will probably be the last iteration of the wheel for the moment, I will try the tolerances for all the holes on a sample piece this weekend and if I have time I will start printing.

UPDATE 30/11/2017 23:56 UTC +1:

Already tested the tolerances, I will start printing a hub tomorrow (4/5 hours) and a tire on saturday (10/11 hours). Everything fits nicely I will print the whole set.

I’ve also quickly designed a flat version of the tires. The idea is to be able to swap the tires depending on the situation without the need of any tools.

I’ve also changed a couple other things so everything can be printed without supports.

UPDATE 02/12/2017 11:30 UTC +1:

I’ve already printed the first pair of tires and they have the expexted hardness:

Right now I’m printing the hubs and I’m so hiped I think I’m gonna try the setup with just two wheels ahahah

UPDATE 02/12/2017 11:30 UTC +1:

Already printed two hubs and 3 tires and everything fits perfectly. Its quite hard to remove the tire once its over the hub but its posible without the need of tools:

I’ve runned out of plastic for the hubs so I will have to wait until monday to print the two other ones. So my guess is that on tuesday or wednesday you will have the final veredict on this experiment (I’m so hyped about it ahahaha).

[monkey32]

It’s been done dude… I’m in Madrid and just printed a set. See here:

3D Printed Hub for 6inch pneumatics on caliber trucks

The whole thread.

[monkey32]

That came out more dickish than I ment it to…I mean read up. It can work and we all would welcome cool new designs.

[FredrikHems]

Yea, someone have printed the hubs, but AS far AS i know no one have printed the tire itself

[Maxid]

There has been a dude - but I don’t remember where I found it. He printed hub and wheel with abs - not flexible filament AFAIK. He had a design similar to the airless 6" wheels we have seen

[PredatorBoards]

Curious of the durability of a 3D printed component. Assuming it is relatively durable, it would be nice to have the proper pulley adapters already printed on the hubs.

[krloz]

Ive seen a few videos were people print whole tires for rc cars. If the filament layers adhere to it self good enough it could be done. Or at lest tried, you know, for science…

De qué zona de España?

[ramon]

Hi, thanks for the info, I haven’t saw that. Even if its pretty similar to what I’m planning to do, my idea was to make the whole wheel by making not just the hub but also the tire. I know that flexible filament will not behave at all like an air tire, thats why I’m planning to do a thin tire arround the hub which will grant enought grip so you can ride on more “agresive” urban areas, like parks for example. When I said all terrain, I didn’t meant like a mountain board, but more like an all “urban” terrain wheels. But thank you anyway.

[ramon]

That seems interesting, but because diferent pithc and width pulleys are being used, I think it would be better to just add some holes to mount a pulley on it. Thanks anyway

[PredatorBoards]

That’s what I’m getting at. Add some mounting holes for popular pulleys.

[ramon]

Sorry, I’ve misread, your first coment.

[ramon]

I think we’ve seen the same videos ahaha, at first it seems like that would not be appliable on longboards but I think if I make those tires dense and thin enought, it could maybe work.

Soy de Barcelona

[krloz]

If you have a dual extruder. It could be interesting to try printing both hub and tire at the same with different filaments. That way you could have a perfect fit and grip of both parts of you design them keyed

[ramon]

Thats a very good Idea! I think I’m gonna make two versions, one for single extruder printers and a dual extruder one which will have more “agressive” indents, so the tire cant come off the hub if both materials dont bond together properly (like some kind of hooks which go into the tire or something like that).

[monkey32]

This dude…

3d printed wheels?

Look awesome.

[ramon]

Whoops… Yes, that’s pretty much what I was trying to do ahahaha. I think I will try anyway cause even if a nylon tire seems to hold perfectly, I wonder how a flexible filament one would behave. Thank you so much for posting the thread!

[Maxid]

That’s the one - still can’t believe the riser he was using

[ramon]

Hi,

Sorry for not posting any update for a while. I just remembered I didn’t posted the final veredict.

The conclusion is: It doesn’t work

At least for my design.

I’ve tried both the flat wheels design and the offroad one and both run over the paviment without getting enough grip. You have to do a very very gentle acceleration in order to have some grip. Maybe its the plastic, which wasn’t the best. I’m gonna try a different brand and tweaking a bit the 3d model, but this seems a fail to me

[Rutherford]

Maybe try a wider contact patch? I like the idea of regular thane wheels up front and some super wide (and slippy) wheels at the back for ridiculous drifting! Maybe front wheel drive like a drift trike so you can still accelerate.

[ramon]

I will try those: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Gqwqf2An0

They seem to work great