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3D Printed Seed Hoppers
David Ehlers, Elbow Lake, Minn.: “My LulzBot 3D printers (Vol. 46, No. 2) are best buys for my operation. I’ve used them for making hopper extensions for my planter for doing test plots, as well as making gaskets and other parts.
“I made 36 custom hopper extensions and hose blocks for about $12. Deere was se
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3D Printed Seed Hoppers PLANTING EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous David Ehlers Elbow Lake Minn : “My LulzBot 3D printers Vol 46 No 2 are best buys for my operation I’ve used them for making hopper extensions for my planter for doing test plots as well as making gaskets and other parts “I made 36 custom hopper extensions and hose blocks for about $12 Deere was selling hopper extensions for older planters for $35 and they were capped I had a newer high-speed planter and they didn’t match up with my hoppers “I can buy gaskets at a dealership but not at night or on a weekend With my printers I can make them in a couple of hours Once I have the design I can make as many as I need “I have a lot of Milwaukee and DeWalt tools and have printed pieces of plastic to repair them or improve them with little add-ons that might cost $20 at the store I can print them for a dollar in material cost “Luckily you can find almost any basic shape design online and make the changes you need For example just enter ‘Milwaukee tool 3D plan ’ and you’ll get a million results You can also go to a website like Thingiverse com and enter a brand name to get plans “My 3D printers are a tool like a welder The more I use them the better I get It takes a little practice at first but after 4 years I’ve gotten better “Learning to load a CAD program and designing the piece you need is the biggest barrier to entry When I was making the hoppers John Olhoft at Lulzbot helped with the design “The online community is really good about sharing You can get help on a problem from members of Reddit or Facebook 3D printing groups “I have two 3D printers and used them to make gifts for family and friends at Christmas While I don’t have any big projects planned I’m making battery and tool pegboard holders as well as organizers for bolts and nuts and stuff “There are so many small plastic parts often wearables on equipment If we could get the plans for them we could make replacements If the company won’t make the part we’ll have to figure out how to do it ourselves with a 3D printer ”
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