Originally Posted by
WheresWaldo
Ask away, there are plenty of people her who have personal 3D printers. You are pretty brave printing a derailleur hanger with the Ender 3. I don't even offer anything like that printed on the professional HP MultiJetFusion printers, never will either. But it would prevent any real damage to a derailleur in the event of a crash as the plastic would likely give way long before an aluminum hanger would. I would be skeptical of the printed threads for the derailleur mounting bolt, as printed threads are just not very strong.
I do have a question about its use and practicality. Did you notice any difference in shifting performance using a printed derailleur hanger over the original metal one?
Link to post:
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/1242578-old-er-bike-new-er-derailleur-hanger-problems.html
I bought the bike used and it had some POS MicroShift on it. With a new Acera and a PLA derailleur, it shifted wonderfully.
I think, ultimately, it was actually the compression from the quick release hub that killed it. It lasted a couple of months.
I printed a second in PETG that broke away when I had to dump the bike a few weeks later. I'd like to print another in nylon or glass-reinforced nylon and see how it goes.
The threads were okay. Even better in PETG. I used the thread making tool in SolidWorks and chased then with a tap. Tightened to factory spec. If they were really fine, I'd be worried, but they're fairly robust.
Ultimately, I'll have to be happy with it for a while since the new derailleur is a standard (not direct) mount and only a custom derailleur hanger allows it to be mounted and work. I'll sell it eventually, get a direct mount, and just use a factory aluminum hanger. But that'll be after the holidays, minimum.