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3D printed tire inserts?

Inspector86

RCC Addict
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
1,912
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
I'm wondering if anyone has tried designing a 3D printed tire insert. I know 3BRC is selling what they call Anti-foams but they are a bit over priced IMO. I know a lot of us have 3D printers so I would like to find an .stl file and start experimenting with them.
 
Taking the time and effort to design, engineer and print something that costs similar prices as tires foams is "overpriced".

Not to be a prick but people's time, effort, skills, and so on are actually worth something, maybe you should get paid next to nothing for your time and effort, then you'll stop making ignorant comments.

And no I have no idea about those guys besides I see the name pop up and pics of alternative to tire foams. But this mentality like yours I simply find disgusting.

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Taking the time and effort to design, engineer and print something that costs similar prices as tires foams is "overpriced".

Not to be a prick but people's time, effort, skills, and so on are actually worth something, maybe you should get paid next to nothing for your time and effort, then you'll stop making ignorant comments.

And no I have no idea about those guys besides I see the name pop up and pics of alternative to tire foams. But this mentality like yours I simply find disgusting.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk


I don't know who you think you are but if you don't have anything meaningful to contribute I suggest you refrain from making an ass out of yourself next time. At $35pr the 3BRC 3D printed inserts are $10 more than a pair of CI Lill-Nova foams at $25 so yes they are a bit overpriced in comparison to top of the line foams. You're new here if you plan to stay around you need to learn some manors.
 
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There's a guy selling his own on Facebook for $45 per set of 4, with pretty good reviews. He claims they work in class 1 and 4.75 tires, which is where I called BS. I played it safe and spend the extra $25 to get the 3bros dual stage ones yesterday. They're only backordered 3 days now, it says. We'll see if it was worth it.
 
Design your own! That way you can make it exactly how you want; width, height, pattern, weight capacity, etc. that way you don’t buy an STL file and it not work for your needs.


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Taking the time and effort to design, engineer and print something that costs similar prices as tires foams is "overpriced".

Not to be a prick but people's time, effort, skills, and so on are actually worth something, maybe you should get paid next to nothing for your time and effort, then you'll stop making ignorant comments.

And no I have no idea about those guys besides I see the name pop up and pics of alternative to tire foams. But this mentality like yours I simply find disgusting.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

New or not I have to 100% agree with Inspector86. Honestly, it’s usually the experienced guys on the forum who post ignorant responses to the newer guys and all I think when I see that is “what a prick”! However, the way you responded makes you no better. Seriously people, if you think someone asked a stupid question that’s not deserving of your devine knowledge just don’t respond. Newbies and long term members alike can benefit from this advice because you all look like fools when you respond like an anal orifice.
Me personally on the subject feels it’s totally acceptable for 3Brothers to charge $10 more per pair for the antifoams compared to what else is on the market. The concept is newer and that’s how most things work. However, Inspector86 has his own opinion and if they’re not worth it to him, that’s his feeling on the matter and he’s entitled to it. If I owned a 3d printer I’d absolutely rather print my own if I had a program to do so. Everyone slow your roll, take an enema or whatever you like. In the end if you’re not in the mood to post something productive do everyone a favor and keep it to yourself. Now have a nice day!
 
Anti-foams might not be overpriced if they last forever, wet or dry. It’s conventional tire foams that i think are crazy overpriced.
I did design a tire insert myself after i saw the 3bros one. But tpu is sooo slow to print on my printer i havent made one yet
 
Well ...lets be completely honest : 3Brc didnt "develope" that concept ....they took a already existing design and changed it a bit.
And about the "testing"...that was done by the first customers they had....the first edition was TERRIBLE!! Layer separation, heavy as f..k, too hard, etc.
On a general note ...I tried different 3D printed on different rigs and I went back to Halos on my comp rig.....on heavier cars they work ok. I was very exited first about the whole printed insert idea....now I am a bit distant to it .
 
im just happy people are atleast trying new things in my opinion ci droped the ball on inovating theres so much out there but poeple still realy on tire foams
tire foams have there place but are not the end all be all
personaly i run a small tire inside the tire no foams at all and i like the feel i can tune the air gap between the 2 tires for the best traction also not the end all be all but it good enuff for the girls i go with
 
We have kicked the idea around a bit in our shop, and one of our business contacts actually has a high-quality 3D printer that can do rubber types, but we have not moved forward yet with any samples. I just started fooling with the Halo foams, and they are quite interesting. I think those guys might be onto something there. I like the CI foams as well, but I like trying out different options.

If I were to 3D print, I would look at the Halo's close, but for $20 a pair, my time is worth more than that price, so I'll probably continue to purchase them.



s
 
Not going to lie, some of the comments here hurt. The first testing was not done by the first people to buy them or even 3Brothers team drivers. I have been working on these since 2019. The first people to test them were guys local to me. The first samples were sent out early 2020 to someone I knew and to a very large name in the RC industry. I took their feedback and criticism and spent another year refining the design and material.

I have been through just about every manufacturer of TPU\TPE and just about every different durometer\shore hardness available before I found one that worked well and didn't "freeze" up in cold weather. I spent thousands of dollars researching, printing, testing, and building printers to figure out what worked best.

A lot of the copies you see I have files very similar that I have already tested. I tried using infill, which I didn't like at all. Not have any of them even come close to using a material as soft as what we use.

The material we use is not cheap and is a pain in the ass to print. It's like printing wet spaghetti.

I even took trips to where the filament is made to help them understand the issues I was having and to create printing processes and change their manufacturing process to make it better. They went from producing one batch a year to one batch a month.

We have no issues with people making their own, its the best part of the hobby for me. But what people don't understand is the over 2 years of research they got from me while claiming I copied someone. Sure, there have been airless tires for decades and even TPU tires for RC cars. There wasn't a single insert that I saw, so I decided I wanted to have a go at it.

There was someone who actually messaged me to help them obtain some Anti-Foams while they were sold out only to get them from our site. He then cut them apart and copied almost exactly the design I came up with.

As for the price we thought it was a very fair price considering the alternative. Our materials costs are much higher, our manufacturing time is much higher, our waste and QA loss is much higher. Not to mention these will last much longer in adverse conditions than our foam competition. If these last even just 50% longer they are a bargain. I have been running a set for almost 2 years now of a different material that is similar to NinjaFlex and you can't tell they are that old. They have seen tons of mud, snow, water and my shitty driving. Lol.

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what-a-lovely-sweet-story-nice-story.gif
...I have tears in my eyes now :roll:
 
A product becomes "overpriced" when the market will not bear it. So long as people are willing to pay $25 a pair for <insert brand here> foams or $35 a pair for anti-foams, the pricing is fine. Am I going to pay it? Hell no. I don't compete, I absolutely detest "power creep" in hobbies, and my comfort zone barely extends to paying $25 for a pair of tires, which should absolutely include functional foam inserts.

The question anyone who balks at the price needs to ask themselves is this: why do I need this product? If it's a need and not a want, the price should not be an issue. From my cycling background, I've still never gotten comfortable with the fact that a quality 25mm road tire can easily cost more than the 245mm tires on my car, while lasting 1/10th as long. You can literally get a pair of tires for an old Porsche for less money than a pair of tires for a road bike.

I'll just stay over here in my corner, mixing and matching foams to tires until I get something that works acceptably well for the rig they get assigned to. As a non-competitive entity, the foams that come inside JConcepts tires have always been pretty good to me. The foams inside Canyon Trails are too stiff for those tires, but trimmed up work a treat inside something with a thinner sidewall.

Note: power creep is when any competitive portion of any endeavor begin to embrace expensive, niche products until such a point that anyone who wants to compete needs the expensive, niche stuff to remain competitive. I watched it in go-fast racing, when the tracks stopped being dirt and started being clay, and guys were using a set of tires a night to get on the podium. Matched cell batteries, hand-wound motors, paper-thin bodies, etc, etc.

This is why crawling is great. None of us need any of it. Pretty much any out-of-the-box RTR crawler can be a blast to drive, no niche parts required.
 
I have seen box stock RTR trucks out compete $2000 trucks with the right driver. I ran into issues myself running stock foams in sealed tires in winter and getting rips and then deflated tires and the foams would break down and turn to mold. I figured I would make something for myself which then turned into the people I went out with wanting them and it went from there. We knew not everyone would want them and think they were expensive. I also thought the foam market didn't have anything new for such a long time that I might be onto something. I'll just keep plugging away

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Not going to lie, some of the comments here hurt. The first testing was not done by the first people to buy them or even 3Brothers team drivers. I have been working on these since 2019. The first people to test them were guys local to me. The first samples were sent out early 2020 to someone I knew and to a very large name in the RC industry. I took their feedback and criticism and spent another year refining the design and material.

I have been through just about every manufacturer of TPU\TPE and just about every different durometer\shore hardness available before I found one that worked well and didn't "freeze" up in cold weather. I spent thousands of dollars researching, printing, testing, and building printers to figure out what worked best.

A lot of the copies you see I have files very similar that I have already tested. I tried using infill, which I didn't like at all. Not have any of them even come close to using a material as soft as what we use.

The material we use is not cheap and is a pain in the ass to print. It's like printing wet spaghetti.

I even took trips to where the filament is made to help them understand the issues I was having and to create printing processes and change their manufacturing process to make it better. They went from producing one batch a year to one batch a month.

We have no issues with people making their own, its the best part of the hobby for me. But what people don't understand is the over 2 years of research they got from me while claiming I copied someone. Sure, there have been airless tires for decades and even TPU tires for RC cars. There wasn't a single insert that I saw, so I decided I wanted to have a go at it.

There was someone who actually messaged me to help them obtain some Anti-Foams while they were sold out only to get them from our site. He then cut them apart and copied almost exactly the design I came up with.

As for the price we thought it was a very fair price considering the alternative. Our materials costs are much higher, our manufacturing time is much higher, our waste and QA loss is much higher. Not to mention these will last much longer in adverse conditions than our foam competition. If these last even just 50% longer they are a bargain. I have been running a set for almost 2 years now of a different material that is similar to NinjaFlex and you can't tell they are that old. They have seen tons of mud, snow, water and my shitty driving. Lol.

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I'm confused. Which ones are your design, and where would I buy them?
 
3brothers Anti-Foams. The website.

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Oh, okay. I must have been tired when I first read your post. Thought 3bros stole your design or something. :oops:

My anti-foams shipped today. I've had both of your 10 pole 6s motors since the day they were released, but it took me a while to finally get some inserts ordered. :mrgreen:
 
I only do the Anti-Foams. Everything else are all Tom's. Lol

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Now have a nice day!

Don't tell me what to do.



























./
LL





OOO






LLLLLL

Snicker.

Opions are like assholes everyone has one. Some have 2 or 3, but at least 1 for sure. lol
And when someone has their head up their ass, they are a full on asshole. lol

 
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