Printing your own timing belts As an interesting exercise, I tried printing my own timing belts. These certainly wouldn't work for driving a printer, but they could come in handy for making toys or prototypes. I was having trouble slicing a complete model of the belt, so instead, I just modeled the teeth all standing on end. I then set Slic3r to use a single perimeter the same height as the width of the belt, and with an offset of -0.3mm so that the perimeter overlapped all of the teeth. The first photo shows a timing belt printed in PET+. The second photo shows one in nylon (Taulman Bridge) on a test jig I made. I also tried ones in ABS and PLA for grins. I tested each while running my jig at about 1000 RPM. As I expected, the PLA and ABS failed very quickly. Oddly, I expected the PET+ to do pretty well but it didn't last much longer. (I've just started playing with PET+, so I may not be using the right settings.) The Taulman Bridge nylon, however, ran for about an hour before I had to go to dinner and turned it off. belt_pet.jpg mod_embed_images_loadimage('2b85fb5d131e476a9610cc7401800ae6', '/forum/thumbcache/dce/9c0/003/eae/5c5/d2e/c88/090/268/e2e/db_800x400.png', 'http://lobocnc.com/photos/belt_pet.jpg', 'https://reprap.org/forum/addon.php?1,module=embed_images,check_scaling=1,url=http%3A%2F%2Flobocnc.com%2Fphotos%2Fbelt_pet.jpg', '', 365295, 800, 400, 'Loading image ...', false); belt_nylon.jpg mod_embed_images_loadimage('8d246a73134696fe1e6ddd4ee94849a9', '/forum/thumbcache/4e2/76c/6fd/193/97b/84d/737/de6/665/0e8/75_800x400.png', 'http://lobocnc.com/photos/belt_nylon.jpg', 'https://reprap.org/forum/addon.php?1,module=embed_images,check_scaling=1,url=http%3A%2F%2Flobocnc.com%2Fphotos%2Fbelt_nylon.jpg', '', 365295, 800, 400, 'Loading image ...', false); https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365295#msg-365295 Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:36:55 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365354#msg-365354 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365354#msg-365354 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqscOkfifoE&feature=youtu.be]]> Lechonquinto General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 22:55:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365350#msg-365350 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365350#msg-365350 OttoBunge General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 22:21:29 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365344#msg-365344 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365344#msg-365344
Quote
A2
To improve the tensile properties coextrude glass, or carbon fibers with Nylon, or maybe igus bearing material, (if it's flexible) with Bas de Bruijn strand embedding tool:

Fiber reinforcing would actually make printed belts quite useful. I wonder if it's possible to embed a coil of glass or kevlar fiber right in the filament - kind of like a wire-wound guitar string but with the coiled fiber embedded in the filament. It would then stretch out to its full length as it's extruded. Might need kind of a large nozzle diameter to get the flow started properly without clogging, and I guess you'd also some sort of cutoff mechanism.]]> LoboCNC General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:59:17 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365341#msg-365341 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365341#msg-365341
Quote
OttoBunge
Can you show de X-Y movement?

There are a couple of video links in this crowdsourcing post.]]> LoboCNC General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:50:30 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365335#msg-365335 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365335#msg-365335 OttoBunge General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 21:10:07 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365326#msg-365326 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365326#msg-365326
Additive wire laying
[forums.reprap.org]

Additive Wire Laying with Machinekit
[www.youtube.com]

basdebruijn blog
[basdebruijn.com]

igus Bearing Material Filament for 3D Printers
[www.igus.com]

igusTribo plastic - Polymer bearings material
[www.youtube.com]]]> A2 General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 20:02:53 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365321#msg-365321 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365321#msg-365321 this crowdsource forum post). I did some design work for them and it has ended up being my current printer.]]> LoboCNC General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 19:46:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365316#msg-365316 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365316#msg-365316 OttoBunge General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 19:31:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365307#msg-365307 Re: Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365307#msg-365307 MrDoctorDIV General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 19:09:25 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365295#msg-365295 Printing your own timing belts https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,365295,365295#msg-365295
I was having trouble slicing a complete model of the belt, so instead, I just modeled the teeth all standing on end. I then set Slic3r to use a single perimeter the same height as the width of the belt, and with an offset of -0.3mm so that the perimeter overlapped all of the teeth.

The first photo shows a timing belt printed in PET+. The second photo shows one in nylon (Taulman Bridge) on a test jig I made. I also tried ones in ABS and PLA for grins. I tested each while running my jig at about 1000 RPM. As I expected, the PLA and ABS failed very quickly. Oddly, I expected the PET+ to do pretty well but it didn't last much longer. (I've just started playing with PET+, so I may not be using the right settings.) The Taulman Bridge nylon, however, ran for about an hour before I had to go to dinner and turned it off.

]]> LoboCNC General Wed, 04 Jun 2014 18:37:21 -0400