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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

That's a nice project. The author claims 80% efficiency, which is reasonably good. Most amateur motor designs are far worse.

The plastic motor shell has a very smooth finish, and screw threads. What process did he use to 3D print those fine screw threads? I didn't think any available 3D printing process was good enough for that.

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At 1m33 [0], you can see the thing in an Ultimaker 3D printer, but as other commenters say, the threads are likely tapped. I have seen 3D printed threads, but not that fine, at least not with FDM

[0] https://youtu.be/NFvMC3l3fGY?t=1m33s

I think he printed an undersized hole, drilled it to the right diameter and then used a tap to thread it.

Look at him screwing on the end bell of the motor at 222 seconds in. [1] That's a big diameter thread, and the close-ups of it show a very clean thread. You can see the marks of the 3D printing layers on the outer motor casing, but not on the thread. I suspect that thread was turned on a lathe.

[1] https://youtu.be/NFvMC3l3fGY?t=222

I've printed finer threads on my cheap 3D printer, although it took a few tries to get them the right size.

It's possible that he used acetone vapour to smooth out the surface of the threads.

that would be a huge tap. the motor looks to be about 4-5" wide. you'd need a $500+ tap for that, no?

Probably not tapped, but single-pointed on a lathe or thread milled: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threading_(manufacturing)#Sing...

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