Typhon Printing buggy 1/8 TPU tires?

[RC-Dude]

Has anyone tried printing buggy tires out of TPU?

Obviously using any exisiting filament printing the hex and rim - forget it. Not going to hold up. And I talking about normal bashing or street bashing. 6s and geared for fun. Not interested in printing the rim.

Thinking about printing just the tire that gets slipped over an existing rim. Not sure if that's going to be possible or if TPU is just too hard to get on a rim.

Theoretically there are some advantages:

• No foam inside, infill does the job.
• Hardly any ballooning with infill preventing it.
• Very balanced as the material and infill is very evenly distributed.
• No venting necessary. (Probably?)
• Could be very interesting for pavement driving.
• Polyurethane will outlast rubber by a factor of 4 - from what I find on the internet.

I understand that printed tires are interesting for Crawlers and smaller scale cars. Seems many do it. But the stress on those tires is extremly limited. Also not really looking at paddle tires. I think only 1/8 Buggy tires would be practical. Any bigger is probably just too expensive and time intensive.

• Either it's been done before and was not working out as hoped for.
• Or it's simply not really been done.
  
  That's what I'm trying to find out.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:526969/files

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2391071/files
... for those that don't print to see what can be done.

I'm just wondering about the practicality.

 

[SrC]

Yeah for Drifting definitely potential there.

 

[Tex Koder]

If you design and print them for crawlers , Absolutely!


Look up "airless" tires >>

X

 

[RC-Dude]

Nope, not crawlers I am looking at here.
Specifically looking at Buggy tires.
Typhon 6s, Typhon 3s and maybe Senton 3s (get it lower for pavement).

 

[SrC]

PL was experimenting with them also.

 

[RC-Dude]

Ok, I figured it out.
Went out bashing to destroy a rear tire and use the rim. That worked.

But then I tried to get the old tire of the thin buggy rim. That's awful. Not fun. Time intensive. And not really possible. Sorry, not going to cook or heat rims just to pull off the old rubber. And that's where the problem is.

Printing a tire from TPU is no problem. Designed a bit, started printing. Main problem is to get it fitting nicely. That is a matter of starting a few prints and adjusting. But the rim has to be perfectly clean to be able to fit it on. That means buying new rims. Or taking a lot of time to clean them. Just makes too little sense to me. Rims cost nearly as much as a mounted tire on rims.
Nope, not going to happen for a buggy tire. Life cycle too short.

Crawler is a different story. Those tires last very long.

 

[Tex Koder]

Ok, I figured it out.
Went out bashing to destroy a rear tire and use the rim. That worked.

But then I tried to get the old tire of the thin buggy rim. That's awful. Not fun. Time intensive. And not really possible. Sorry, not going to cook or heat rims just to pull off the old rubber. And that's where the problem is.

Printing a tire from TPU is no problem. Designed a bit, started printing. Main problem is to get it fitting nicely. That is a matter of starting a few prints and adjusting. But the rim has to be perfectly clean to be able to fit it on. That means buying new rims. Or taking a lot of time to clean them. Just makes too little sense to me. Rims cost nearly as much as a mounted tire on rims.
Nope, not going to happen for a buggy tire. Life cycle too short.

Crawler is a different story. Those tires last very long.

If you have a stationary grinder or even a drill press..
You can mount those old rims onto a hub and then lock it in the chuck. Turn it on and use a sharp chisel to turn that rim true.
It's a bit redneck method.. but will get the job done.