MKF83
Active Member
My Akai M-9 has the expected pot metal rot on the Fwd/Rev Cams. I decided to be proactive about it and dive into 3D printing some replacements.
I thought I may have gotten lucky with a model of the cam that popped up on thingyverse back in December. The creator claimed in worked in his tape deck. I uploaded the model to the printing service that I use and waited for the results.
They looked good and i was optimistic of the function. The plastic they use is very dense and durable, I'm confident they can handle the stress and contact wear.
I test fit the control cam and things just did not line up properly. some of the levers were properly actuated, but the switch lever did not stay in place. The newly printed cam was just too far off in some key places from the original profile. In hindsight I should have made my own model from the original cam. I'm not a master machine designer, but can handle a caliper and give recreating a piece a spirited go. To be fair I believe the designer of the cam i used followed online pictures and the dimensions of a halfway crumbled original cam.
The black outline is a printout of my 3D model. The overlayed part is clearly deficient in the lobe profile. Some other not so obvious dimensions were off by enough to make the cam not function properly.
Below my 3D model ready to order from the printing service. I like using a service because of the fine resolution their printers can produce. I'll update this thread when progress, or setbacks, are made.
I thought I may have gotten lucky with a model of the cam that popped up on thingyverse back in December. The creator claimed in worked in his tape deck. I uploaded the model to the printing service that I use and waited for the results.
They looked good and i was optimistic of the function. The plastic they use is very dense and durable, I'm confident they can handle the stress and contact wear.
I test fit the control cam and things just did not line up properly. some of the levers were properly actuated, but the switch lever did not stay in place. The newly printed cam was just too far off in some key places from the original profile. In hindsight I should have made my own model from the original cam. I'm not a master machine designer, but can handle a caliper and give recreating a piece a spirited go. To be fair I believe the designer of the cam i used followed online pictures and the dimensions of a halfway crumbled original cam.
The black outline is a printout of my 3D model. The overlayed part is clearly deficient in the lobe profile. Some other not so obvious dimensions were off by enough to make the cam not function properly.
Below my 3D model ready to order from the printing service. I like using a service because of the fine resolution their printers can produce. I'll update this thread when progress, or setbacks, are made.
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