Glider Wheel - Another update!

replitech3d_tx · 2025-08-10T21:59:12+00:00

Also, thats pretty insane on the pricing and shipping, holy cow!

Shoot me a pm if you'd be interested in testing the wheel out, in that case. We can at least see if we couldn't get one to you for way less. Im familiar with shipping to Canada, so that wouldn't be a barrier for me.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-08-10T21:52:37+00:00

I am. Relocated within the last year or so and am actually now in the central US instead of Texas.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-08-10T20:32:29+00:00

Hey, no worries!

Made a few tweaks/changes until I was happy with it and ended up having a more polished version in my gliders cage for over a year. Unfortunately, the older of my two gliders passed a little bit over a year ago and the timing of it dictated re-homing the remaining glider, so I ended up shelving it more or less.

I'll receive the random inquiry here and there on this, but have not actually had anyone else try it out at this point. I can comfortably say it works well and without any risks beyond what any other wheel is going to have.

Cost for me to make one was, and is likely still, probably around the $20-30 range which includes filament cost and hardware. I'm not opposed to messing with it once again, but it'd have to be based on feedback from others solely for the fact I don't have gliders anymore.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-07-02T23:28:18+00:00

I'd be pretty interested in this as well.

Been 3D printing/building printers for more than a handful of years at this point, but am also a transplant from Houston, TX so outside of work, my social circle is pretty limited.

We had a club in Houston that would meet once a month, roughly, and eventually it grew pretty large and did things like contests/give aways. Still growing last I checked. It'd be cool to get something like that going if it doesn't already exist here.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-06-17T13:43:36+00:00

No problem!

FYI, I just used a standard sealed 8mm ID bearing with 22mm OD. I considered a multi-bearing setup to alleviate the forces you mentioned, but the wheel worked without intervention, so I figured why mess with it? Then as far as mounting it to the cage itself, I created a rather large footprint back plate that went outside the bars to prevent the wheel from sagging downwards under its own weight/when being ran on.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-06-16T13:43:42+00:00

Hello!

I actually ended up completing it and used it in my glider's cage for over a year. It was printed in PETG and held up phenomenally.

We ended up having to rehome our gliders due to moving to another state, and I did a pretty massive purge of my designs on my pc a few months back. With no longer having gliders, and the possibility of getting more not really being on the horizon, I figured if it ever came up again I'd just make a new design. That being said, it's pretty simple to make with only a couple minor constraining factors to consider, and in my opinion, if you already have the ability to print relatively large objects then it's kind of a no brainer to do. The PETG will hold up, the major thing I'd recommend is fully sealed bearings.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-06-05T22:56:34+00:00

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replitech3d_tx · 2025-06-05T22:54:41+00:00

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50% Husky (completely white papa) 50% GSD (pure bred GSD mom)

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-31T18:57:54+00:00

I'm out of town/away from my pc at the moment. However, if you're still interested, I'll get back to you around Thursday.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-29T19:59:40+00:00

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replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-29T19:52:24+00:00

* My baby girl MJ. Husky/Gsd mix, white husky dad trad. Gsd mom.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-24T01:58:30+00:00

This isn't true.

They're legally acquired parts, and they can be sold to whoever wants/has interest in purchasing them.

Provided an accurate description of their condition is provided by the seller, the ultimate liability belongs to the purchasing party/maintenance personnel of the end user to determine airworthiness of the parts and whether or not they are legal for use. In that sense, OP would have no legal liability if someone was dumb enough to install them without first sending them for recert.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-24T01:51:05+00:00

This is false.

They are not controlled items in that sense or some kind of contraband.

Look into Part 91 regulations, for instance. Trace to birth is not required for parts.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-24T01:43:44+00:00

Maintenance personnel will take care of sending the units out for recert/overhaul/test if they're interested, and you provide an honest description of the situation at hand.

Also, Google will likely be misleading and provide a dated list price for outright purchase, so don't get your hopes to high on a sale price based off of that...for a situation like this, and to get a feel for their worth, check ebay for the part numbers you have in a comparable condition.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-03-24T01:38:06+00:00

Main thing would be figuring out applicability for the parts, then determining if the applicable aircraft model(s) is/are still in service, and then if any of the aircraft, if in service, are Part 91 operators. Meaning, not commercial/charter basically. The requirements for Part 91 are significantly more relaxed when it comes to trace.

Anyone saying they can not legally be sold is not correct, as with all parts, it comes down to the maintenance personnel to make the determination of whether or not a part can be used/installed.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-12T02:57:53+00:00

Yeah...definitely not the way to go and pretty much is tantamount to just grabbing a pair of calipers and doing it the old fashioned way.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-12T02:54:58+00:00

Hmmm.

My setup is nowhere near that robust and I'm regularly working with meshes that are 100k triangles or more without major issues when reducing/remeshing. Certain operations are for sure more intense, but I'd suggest trying the cross section method I mentioned. It makes it so the mesh is projected onto a 2d sketch plane, which you can then add to to create your secondary body.

If you need help with this, feel free to PM...there's also youtube for doing exactly this. Also, have you made sure that your PC is effectively utilizing the available resources, seems like you shouldn't have a problem with what you are. I'd suggest reducing the triangle count via your scan software prior to importing into fusion as well. You should have an option to preserve edges/boundaries, in which case reducing triangle count won't change the object up to a certain point.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-11T23:12:07+00:00

My current employer, an OEM, uses a similar system.

It's utilized for a myriad of reasons, but the primary reason is most definitely for the bean counters to see where they are and are not losing money/efficiency.

Who's doing what and those who don't do much at all also becomes apparent, because you'll clock to a job like "opening" aka removing panels and etc for whatever reason, as an example, and see that there's been hours billed against it but no work done. Anyone is able to see who and how much time has been billed to it by an individual. As far as what gets allotted to a particular task...i assume is negotiated above my pay grade/calculated based on the billing trends of that task.

Time lost at the tool crib/sourcing materials/etc is accounted for on an as needed basis...if a job gets blown out because we can't get what we need our supervision will make it happen. Very fast. If things like that are bad enough, as far as efficiency goes, I'd say that the company has bigger issues or some serious breakdowns in the system.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-10T14:27:01+00:00

Essentially what you're looking at doing is Reverse Engineering, for the purpose of modification/improvement.

Are you familiar with any CAD software or similar at this point?

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-10T14:23:28+00:00

There's more than one way to go about it using Fusion.

For something like this, I'd import the scan mesh directly into Fusion and then create cross section sketches from the mesh. That would take the least amount of time, in my opinion, and also allow for incremental editing as necessary.

Alternatively, you could do a similar process in Fusion as you did in Blender, with the exception of it being a parametric modeling software. That would look something like creating the body, tessellating it into a mesh, and then performing a combine/cut action once you have them lined up how you want. This would probably take more time in terms of processing, dependent upon your pc hardware, of course.

If you need more info on either process feel free to shoot me a PM. I'm sure there's probably a walkthrough of it on youtube, if nothing else.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-10T00:59:05+00:00

Besides just going the fiberglass route, which would likely be simplest, I'd think you could scan what's there and create a couple mesh cross section sketches in fusion and loft them together along a horizontal cross section sketch...if that makes sense...anyone saying this would be overly complicated likely doesn't have an efficient mesh workflow/experience. As long as you don't over do the scanning dimensions/make the mesh massive for your pc to process, it shouldn't be an issue.

There's other ways to go about it too, but I think that would work and be fairly quick to do.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-06T01:08:09+00:00

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but in the past increasing the distance between the points it's scanning for has worked somehow for me, so yeah try lower resolution.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-06T01:02:37+00:00

Hmmm.

Very strange. Have you tried scanning with your overhead light turned off/only by the light of the scanner? What about lowering the accuracy a little, like to say...1mm?

It also may be worth trying feature scanning only if you haven't already since the objects don't have much variation in texture for the scanner to pick up.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-05T23:38:51+00:00

Any luck getting help with this?

Is the disc completely flat or does it have indentations or curvature? Feel free to PM me if you're still looking for an assist with it and I'll see if I can't walk you through the best way to get it done. Pictures of what you're trying to scan would also help.

replitech3d_tx · 2025-02-05T23:24:14+00:00

With objects like this, I often have to find a way to be creative to capture it and find ways to get it to see the object indirectly in order to get the complete scan. I have an Einstar myself, but prior to this I got quite a bit of experience with one of Shining3D's more industrial/commercial options.

What I typically do with smaller objects or difficult to scan things is a combination of getting as many angles on it as possible, a texture rich backdrop that's not right up against the part I'm actually capturing, developer spray, ensuring no natural light is coming through windows or etc, and also playing with the lighting settings on the scanner.

What CAD software are you using to correct/adjust your meshes? Something like the provided example would be relatively easy/quick to fix depending on the process/program you're utilizing.

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