This is a 3D Printed brake or gear cable stop designed for use on a bamboo, wooden
or carbon fibre bicycle where fittings such as these need to be glued
and screwed on, rather than welded.
This cable stop has two countersunk
screw holes with 3mm diameter to allow for a M3 screw to be used to
affix to the bicycle frame. The bottom of this cable stop is curved for
tubing 35mm in diameter, so it’s suitable for use on down, top and
seat-tubes. See my other smaller diameter design for use on seat and
chain stays.
Is this safe?
Seems to me that 3d printed material has very poor strength. And having a brake line dependent on that material seems dangerous.
That said, I don’t quite understand how the cable operated brake works. Does the tension in the cable act against the printed part or is it all internal?
Thanks.
Hi Jonh,
I’ve tested both the “strong & flexible” plastic and the Aluminium materials and both do the job wonderfully. There is a fair bit of tension in a brake cable (when pulled) but the design of the cable stop means that all that tension runs along the length of the piece, through to the “stop” which I made extra thick (around 3-4mm). So far none of them have shown any signs of breaking, but braking performance is great!
Cheers,
Mik Efford
Okay cool. Good to hear the strength is enough. I have done a lot of 3d printing myself, but only for models. I never used it in an application where strength is critical.
When 3D printing becomes more commonplace (which it already sort of is), it will really make society more efficient.
Because in the old days when you had something that broke, you would buy spare parts. But today that is very often too expensive to do, but 3D once again makes that possible. So that we don’t have to through things away, just because we don’t have the spare parts.