Silence S01 - an update - 3D printed

[roadster]

Shortly after getting this electric beast it suffered a breakage of the mechanism which automatically deploys the undercarriage which supports the removable battery as it is withdrawn from the side of the scooter. This is an essential for the battery and charger lump which weighs over 40 kgs and has no lifting handles anyway. This was at least partly my fault because I wheeled the battery over a threshold step which caught the support foot and over stressed the plastic hinge part. Obviously I contacted Silence about getting a replacement part but after initially telling me they would do this everything went quiet ( silent?).

Recently I decided to get into 3D printing and what better challenge than trying to engineer a replacement part for the S01. The undercarriage retraction and locking mechanism looks simple at first glance but actually its quite complicated so redesigning the broken part with extra strength was not straightforward. Various prototypes were made and by the seventh one I managed a functional version which I have fitted. There remains a question mark about the strength given that the PLA plus material I have used is the only one which is easy to use in a home environment

Here is the broken and the replacement part.

DSCF2620s.jpg

and the assembly.

DSCF2621s.jpg

The spring attached with zip ties is an extra precaution which ensures that if the hinge breaks again the wheels will still deploy.

So far the scooter has performed reasonably with the only other fault being the rubber stop for the centre stand falling off. The coming riding season will be the real test.

[Funkycowie]

Looks like your bed wasn't completely level and the nozzle not quite close enough, topside looks like it came out alright. What wall thickness did you use and how dense did you do the infill?

[roadster]

Looks like your bed wasn't completely level and the nozzle not quite close enough, topside looks like it came out alright. What wall thickness did you use and how dense did you do the infill?

The flat surface was of course on the bed and I used a raft because with earlier attempts warping was an issue. Now that I have fitted a glass bed plate adhesion is much better and i should have changed to a brim. The poor appearance of the bottom layer is because the raft was difficult to separate and I had to warm it up rather crudely. I am using 100% infill and the filament is Eryone PLA plus. Wall thickness set in Cura was 1.0mm. The Creality printer has automatic bed levelling and manual levelling comes out OK on measurement. My main concern is that this material is not strong enough and I may consider trying ABS if necessary.

[Funkycowie]

ABS is not forgiving at all unless you have the printer in a heated chamber

The raft explains the underside, did you try gluestick on the bed? Some people swear by it.

You might have gotten away with 40-50% infill or less with that wall thickness. I think even regular PLA would have been fine in that position unless its exposed to high temps.

[Normsthename]

did you try gluestick on the bed? Some people swear by it.

I have had 3D printers for many years now.
My first one was homebuilt and worked really well.
I upgraded a few years ago to a Qidi Tech 1 and it has been a great 3D Printer.
Over the years I have tried every method to get prints to stick.
I now use a PEI sheet which is stuck to sheet Glass with 3M sheet to get it flat as possible.
The glass is fitted to the aluminium bed using Computer heat sink pads, it never moves and can easily be removed and replaced if required.
Before the heating pads I used several 3D clamps to hole the g,assuming in place but they constantly came loose with the heat, the Heat Sinks Pads work brilliantly!
There is a 3D printed spacer fitted to cater for the extra thickness.
I never have adhesion problems with PEI, it's not cheap but I wouldn't use any other method.
All I do to start a print is give the PEI a clean with isopropyl alcohol and its good to go.
Hope this helps

Andy

[roadster]

Regarding bed adhesion I have cured this with the Ultrabase Silicon/carbon coated glass buildbase. It has worked well so far with the heated bed at the usual 60 degrees. You have to wait until it has completely cooled then the finished part just pops off without effort. The only proviso is that the bed has to remain heated throughout the entire print so the economy option must be turned off. i now have an enclosure for the printer so I'll try lowering the bed temperature a bit.

[Funkycowie]

I use PEI coated metal plates magnetically held on, one flex and off they pop

[bajo]

Shortly after getting this electric beast it suffered a breakage of the mechanism which automatically deploys the undercarriage which supports the removable battery as it is withdrawn from the side of the scooter. This is an essential for the battery and charger lump which weighs over 40 kgs and has no lifting handles anyway. This was at least partly my fault because I wheeled the battery over a threshold step which caught the support foot and over stressed the plastic hinge part. Obviously I contacted Silence about getting a replacement part but after initially telling me they would do this everything went quiet ( silent?).

Recently I decided to get into 3D printing and what better challenge than trying to engineer a replacement part for the S01. The undercarriage retraction and locking mechanism looks simple at first glance but actually its quite complicated so redesigning the broken part with extra strength was not straightforward. Various prototypes were made and by the seventh one I managed a functional version which I have fitted. There remains a question mark about the strength given that the PLA plus material I have used is the only one which is easy to use in a home environment

Here is the broken and the replacement part.
DSCF2620s.jpg

and the assembly.
DSCF2621s.jpg

The spring attached with zip ties is an extra precaution which ensures that if the hinge breaks again the wheels will still deploy.

So far the scooter has performed reasonably with the only other fault being the rubber stop for the centre stand falling off. The coming riding season will be the real test.

Part of my S01’s battery mechanism broke as well. I wonder if your 3d printed part would fix my problem. Is there any chance you would provide the file tome, so that I could try?
Thanks in advance.

[roadster]

This is an old post and it looks like the images no longer work because of forum changes. I used modelling software which is no longer available but I do have the STL ( stereolithography ) file which worked for me and can be fed into Cura or similar programmes to create printer output gcode. The file is very small but this forum does not allow attachments so I have published it on Thingyverse

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7156397/files

You should be able to download it.

If you want to remodel something similar I would suggest using Autocad Fusion which has a free version for personal/student use.