One of members ran into a problem replacing parts for a noseleg on a trainer. The solution was with some 3D printing. Here's his story.
Last year I converted my 16 years old Tutor 40 to VTOL for it's final and unplanned landing . That shortened it considerably and what could be saved was consigned to the spares store.
I always like to have a trainer to play with I so sought a replacement, which courtesy of a seller on Ebay I now have. Though it's hardly been flown it did have it's noseleg "locked off", which is an absolute pain.
I've had a 3D printer for some time now and recent printing of face shields for the NHS using PLA has renewed my confidence in using it. The problem is that the steering arm and mount would need to be highly durable so the usual PLA was not even worth considering at all. ABS would be better but nylon better still. Nylon can be very difficult to print with.
I did some research and found an assembly that was close to the one I needed but not quite. I had to resize the mount and move the steering arm so that it came off it's boss at a tangent rather than at right angles. I made test prints in PLA before committing to nylon
The first nylon print failed due to a filament snag and then success came at the second attempt. This is going to be a game changer for my future modelling needs.
So here is the completed assembly:
