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Scrolling wheel on steering wheel easily breaks. Is the part available separately?

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Great design... are you planning to make a few available for sale to TMC members?
I’ll definitely post the files to Thingaverse. I’m willing to give some away with the understanding that I don’t have any way of testing/knowing it’s durability. It’s the curse of 3D printing right now - materials are new and mostly untested.

I started to play with the idea of leaving a .020” to .032” hole down the center to epoxy a steel wire for strength. If that prints ok, I think it would be much more durable.
 
The version with a 0.020 hole down the center didn't print (well, it printed, but the hole closed up). The solid version looks great. Pics attached. Will try to run another one overnight with a 0.032 hole and see how that goes. I really prefer the idea of having a steel pin down the center. I think I got the look as close as I can. Its hard black plastic, not rubbery, but has the same grooves. I put the broken one next to the printed one for comparison. And clicked on it as long as my attention held - hasn't broken yet...

Looking at them side by side, I think the radius on the ends should be a bit larger.
 

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I’ll definitely post the files to Thingaverse. I’m willing to give some away with the understanding that I don’t have any way of testing/knowing it’s durability. It’s the curse of 3D printing right now - materials are new and mostly untested.

I started to play with the idea of leaving a .020” to .032” hole down the center to epoxy a steel wire for strength. If that prints ok, I think it would be much more durable.
Nice work with your prototype. I'm happy to be a tester and pay for materials and postage... its hard to live without volume control. ;)
 
curious, how would you get epoxy evenly filled into a .032" hole? I can envision a tiny little pastry bag or syringe, but not sure how well epoxy would flow through that. Would definitely be a one-time use. Agree that's a good idea - that or have a hex-shaped hole through the center, and use a hex bit that runs the full length of the knob plus whatever needs to engage the encoder? Could get plenty of epoxy in there. Either way, I am really enjoying this thread!
 
curious, how would you get epoxy evenly filled into a .032" hole? I can envision a tiny little pastry bag or syringe, but not sure how well epoxy would flow through that. Would definitely be a one-time use. Agree that's a good idea - that or have a hex-shaped hole through the center, and use a hex bit that runs the full length of the knob plus whatever needs to engage the encoder? Could get plenty of epoxy in there. Either way, I am really enjoying this thread!
Hi. I would have used a metal hex bit if anyone can find one that’s 1.7mm.
I tried and couldn’t.

custom machining is ok at a certain part volume. (I could get 25 custom hex made from aluminum for $170 ($7 each). 100 would be $230. $2.30 each…

in terms of getting epoxy in. I generally would leave .005 clearance (.027” pin in a .032” hole) and then coat the pin with epoxy before sliding it in.

The 0.032” hole did print so I think I’m on the right track there…
 
Here it is with the .032" 3D printed hole and a steel wire. This should be better. Have one volunteer for testing already - anyone else want to try it out? Can't promise anything except I've given it the ol' college try... I just love that I can print a part like this. Good luck figuring out how to injection mold a plastic part with a straight sided, 1" deep, .032" hole...


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Here it is with the .032" 3D printed hole and a steel wire. This should be better. Have one volunteer for testing already - anyone else want to try it out? Can't promise anything except I've given it the ol' college try... I just love that I can print a part like this. Good luck figuring out how to injection mold a plastic part with a straight sided, 1" deep, .032" hole...


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You Sir, are a hero.
 
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I posted it to Thingiverse if you have access to a good printer. I used a Formlabs Form 2. The one I've been playing with is still holding up... I've got nine more sitting on my desk that I printed in the first test batch, so feel free to PM me if you want to be a beta tester (isn't every Tesla owner a beta tester...)

 
Here it is with the .032" 3D printed hole and a steel wire. This should be better. Have one volunteer for testing already - anyone else want to try it out? Can't promise anything except I've given it the ol' college try... I just love that I can print a part like this. Good luck figuring out how to injection mold a plastic part with a straight sided, 1" deep, .032" hole...

After I broke my scroll wheel I reached out to David, who kindly sent me a couple of 3D printed scroll wheels to test. I replaced my volume scroll wheel this evening. It was a straight forward process, and the 3D printed scroll wheel works perfectly. Thank you David! I'll report back on durability if/when it fails.
 
My volume wheel just broke as well, looked the same as what @Pedro.Tx posted a while back. I ended up using the end of the 1.5mm bit (measured 1.7 across the flats) from my mini-screwdriver set (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AL7600A). It pained me to take the bit, but for $14 it's a lot cheaper than buying the parts from Tesla.

Steps I took after disassembling the assembly with the wheel in it:
1. Drilled out the broken hex with a 3/32" bit. I went deeper than necessary to give excess epoxy a place to go.
View attachment 706637
2. Cut the end off the bit where it starts to taper down to the 1.5mm end
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3. Coated the inside of the scroll wheel with epoxy and inserted the bit.
4. After the epoxy started to gel up (I used a 30 minute work life epoxy) I carefully aligned it to make sure it was perpendicular to the face of the wheel.
5. Cured overnight and reassembled.

View attachment 706636

Nice BIT of work ;)