Category: 3D Printing

DIY: Triathlon Product Idea

paschmann

Using elastics to keep your bike shoes attached to your pedals during T1 is standard practice in triathlon racing. It saves you from running in cleats, which is slippery and slow. The catch: setting up elastics at 4 AM on race morning is fiddly and cumbersome. They snap, they break, and the whole process is finicky right when you want stress-free prep. It’s an unnecessary stressor.

My idea: replace the elastics with a magnetically retractable cord. Think retractable key or badge reel, paired with magnets. Setup becomes nearly instant, and you can practice T1 transitions repeatably without rebuilding the rig every time.

After a few iterations, here’s the design I landed on. A small plastic enclosure mounts to the rear chainstay on either side of the bike. Inside is a retractable string with a magnet on the end, and your bike shoes carry a matching magnet on the heel. A torsion spring (with variable tension and string length depending on setup) holds the shoe in position parallel to the ground. As soon as you start pedaling, the magnet releases, and the string retracts back into the case. read more

DIY: More Canyon Computer Mounts …

paschmann

One benefit of owning multiple Canyon bikes is that the majority of them have had the same style/shape of stem caps. From my very first one until now, I have printed, CNC’ed, laser cut, and layed up over a dozen, each with some unique design or nuanced variation depending on the manufacturing method. This version was no different 🙂 I have been waiting to streamline the design to have it fit closer to the bar profile on my MTB. So this time I set out to CNC a mold, wet lay carbon into the mold, and then CNC the shape.

Variant 1: Failed 🙁 the shape worked quite well but the finish was ugly and would be a nightmare to CNC accurately.

Variant 2: Failed 🙁 I CNC’ed the shape using Aluminum, wet layed the carbon, but it cured into the mold and was unable to demold it successfully with delaminating/damaging the part. read more

Revopoint Inspire 2 – 3D Scanner

paschmann

3D scanner has intrigued me for a couple of years. The lure of being able to quickly and easily recreate something from a physical scan seems like the holy grail of self sufficiency and reducing your reliance on manufacturing or availability. 1.) With a couple of bike related projects that I want to tackle, 2.) the prices of the devices falling easily with the reach of consumers and 3.) the reasonable accuracy you get thanks to the underlying technology – it seems like it was the right time to get started.

Firstly – the device has been awesome, doing exactly what I anticipated and expected. Albeit a slightly cumbersome and slow learning process to understand the nuances of these devices. It is not the technology but rather the workflows involved to turn a “simple” scan, into a “simple” digital representation. There are a variety of steps in different tools and software, and the reality is that, as always, the devil is in the details. read more

DIY: Carbon Cockpit for Speedmax

paschmann

My next foray into Carbon fiber design, tooling and development came with this project. Overall, a reasonable success. Still not perfect, and probably will not be used due to the catastrophic risk associated with riding a bike at 50mph and these breaking, but in theory and practice, a great learning opportunity.

Inspiration

Part 1: Prototyping

Part 2: Design

Fusion 360 for the design work.

Part 3: Tooling/Plug

This consisted of 4 3D printed cubes glued together and then finished with lots of sanding, and an epoxy coat.

Part 4: Version 1

The first version didnt go according to plan, I ran out of Carbon fiber material, and also recognized some layup issues. I decided to finish it anyway, but it was a dud 🙁 read more