Encoder Gear Homing Pin

In rotator V3.1, the Encoder Gear (C1040-1) has a slot which receives the Homing Pin (C1041-1). Does anyone know why these are printed as two separate parts; i.e. why not combine the two pieces?

The reason I’m asking, is that I want to design & print a variant that has no teeth, just the homing pin. So, since I’m making a new model, why not put the homing pin on it?

My guess is it wasn’t possible (or easy) to get good results with that shape on a single print… you’d end up having to build support for the homing pin across the gears, or flip the part and print the other way, but then you’d have to worry about beveling or supporting the start of the gear teeth to print properly?

I’m pretty new to 3d printing and modeling. I saw your post in my other thread about not being able to ‘close the face’ … Have you tried using Meshmixer? I think I’d be really easy to slice and close the face in that program… then you could print both the homing pin and the ‘ring’ as one part because the teeth aren’t there anymore to cause any printing complexity.

FYI – I went back to Sketchup (which I sorta know how to use) and designed a part with an integral homing pin, and without teeth. I made the homing pin flush to the collar shape, so I didn’t need to worry about supports. It printed fine, but it’s a bit tight on the 40mm tube.

1 Like

@eejake52, nice!! Feel free to share the source and .stl file with community. Maybe other users want to use it.

:beers: