3D printing rear derailleur hanger

[ChristianB]

Hi,

I have an old Look frame, that has a rather unique hanger design. I am in need of a new hanger, but they are hard to find and rather expensive. I was thinking of 3D printing one in aluminium, but worried about functionality, stiffness, etc. Anybody has experience with this?

Thanks,

[latman]

i did not know you could 3D print alloy , but I imagine it would be way more dearer than buying a cast one , and due to the very poor "grain structure"of printed items I would suggest it's not as good either

[PhilippCX]

Yes, you could print all kinds of metals, including aluminium and titanium, using selective laser melting (SLM). The result has a rough surface but internally, it's fairly homegeneous. For a derailleur hanger it's more than sufficient.

Printing costs at the moment are prohibitively expensive. This company for example charges 155€ for a 5 cm^3 part: https://www.rapidobject.com/de/Wissenswertes/3D-Druck-Preise-Kosten_1249.html (scroll down).

[maquisard]

Why on earth would you 3D print it when you could get someone to CAD/CAM machine it for you for a fraction of the cost?

[jerrybrabus]

HEHE, Good question

Why on earth would you 3D print it when you could get someone to CAD/CAM machine it for you for a fraction of the cost?

[Camilo]

.... they are hard to find and rather expensive. ...

Interesting topic and worth asking about for sure. I live in a small town so access to either 3D printing or custom milling is way beyond a good use of my time, but maybe in a large urban area.

But even then it boils down to spending the time finding a source for the 3D printing - or the CAD milling as someone suggested - and then paying for the custom work. Probably not as critical as other applications, but the hanger does have designed "bend/break" features, which I don't know how much thought or expertise is needed to match adequatey. Are you ahead of just finding one actually designed for the frame and paying for it? Now, if you'd said "I can't find one" rather than "they are hard to find", that's a different story. If they're just hard to find, buy two when you find them.