I am woking on making solar panel mounts for the roof rack of my nissan xterra from TPU, since it can take a beating. Does any one have any experience with 3d-printed TPU threads? And how much stress before it can take before a bolt rips out? Also should i use teflon thread seal so the a bolt won’t come loose?
I have dusted off this project, after shelving it for a bit. I have decided to embed a m8 nuts into the TPU solar panel mount. I want to see if i can embed a ASA printed nut into the tpu print. It should hold up to the elements ontop of my car. I would buy this, https://a.co/d/9Zx6j4k i cant spare to buy it due to being a broke college student living in his parrents house, LOL.
Teflon seals threads vs water or air, and works more like anti-sieze than a thread-locker. Coincidentally, Thread-locker can also keep water out, but I have no idea if there’s any point in trying to use it with TPU.
I made flat head bolts out of pteg for solar panel mounted to my sailboat and while towing it to the lake they ripped out :( (and I lost the panel)
I made the bolt head like a flat washer so I could glue it to the boat then set the panel on it and secured it with a pteg nut.
What was the failure mode? Did the glue holding them down fail, did the nut rip off the stud, leaving a stud glued to the boat, something else?
Failures are never fun, but they can still be a great learning opportunity.
The pteg failed (sheered off near the “head” of the bolt/stud. The flat washer like heads were all still attached.
I had to replace the panel, and just went with SS screws right into the fiberglass. I also tape the leading edge during transport.
I’m guessing air got up under the front lip and just poof off it came. In my case these were fairly small which I’m sure didn’t help my case.
I would through bolt the TPU and use a large washer on each side. Teflon lubricates the threads making it easier to turn. You want thread locker to keep a bolt from coming loose. Be careful with the thread locker since it eats many types of plastic.
