3D Printed Tie Down Anchor - 1000lb Capable
Where there's a will there's a way.
This project was born when a motorcycle/camping trip in the mountains almost went south. A few days before the trip it dawned on me that the new-to-me Ford Ranger didn't have any tie down anchors. I couldn't find any online that fit into the OEM mounting holes in the truck bed, so it was time to make my own.
I initially designed the part to be cut/bent from sheet metal through SendCutSend, but the parts weren't going to make it on time. So I had to get creative.
Normally 3D printing is my first choice, but this part highlighted the biggest weakness of printing: inter-layer weakness. The part was at risk of splitting between the layers no matter what orientation it printed in. Which is a huge problem when it has to hold my 400lb+ motorcycle in the truck while it's bouncing down the highway for hundreds of miles.
The final part took advantage of multiple optimization stratagies. The main strategy was breaking the part up into multiple pieces so each piece was printed in the best orientation for the force it saw. Off-the-shelf hardware also helped to distrubute the load more evenly. The last trick was using a Markforged printer to route continuous carbon fiber throughout each piece for extra tensile strength.
I tested the final part using some questionable methods, but the results were undeniable. The tie down anchor held over 1000lbs before it finally broke.
I was able to go on my trip and even created a webinar for work using what I had learned. The full webinar can be found here https://youtu.be/moUC_adtVpw?si=QSQnfzJD7AGhmPBe
This project was born when a motorcycle/camping trip in the mountains almost went south. A few days before the trip it dawned on me that the new-to-me Ford Ranger didn't have any tie down anchors. I couldn't find any online that fit into the OEM mounting holes in the truck bed, so it was time to make my own.
I initially designed the part to be cut/bent from sheet metal through SendCutSend, but the parts weren't going to make it on time. So I had to get creative.
Normally 3D printing is my first choice, but this part highlighted the biggest weakness of printing: inter-layer weakness. The part was at risk of splitting between the layers no matter what orientation it printed in. Which is a huge problem when it has to hold my 400lb+ motorcycle in the truck while it's bouncing down the highway for hundreds of miles.
The final part took advantage of multiple optimization stratagies. The main strategy was breaking the part up into multiple pieces so each piece was printed in the best orientation for the force it saw. Off-the-shelf hardware also helped to distrubute the load more evenly. The last trick was using a Markforged printer to route continuous carbon fiber throughout each piece for extra tensile strength.
I tested the final part using some questionable methods, but the results were undeniable. The tie down anchor held over 1000lbs before it finally broke.
I was able to go on my trip and even created a webinar for work using what I had learned. The full webinar can be found here https://youtu.be/moUC_adtVpw?si=QSQnfzJD7AGhmPBe
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