I recently picked up a nice Williams Bad Cats that was missing the actual target portion of the fish-bonus linear target assembly. While talking with the seller he mentioned that he had thought about making a replacement using 3d printing. After a quick search I was not able to locate a replacement target so I decided to run my own experiment with 3d printed parts using my Bad Cats.

Anyone else out there using 3d printed parts with pictures to share pictures of? It would be great to see what's been done so far. I'm especially interested in parts being used where they must take ball impacts (targets, posts, brackets etc.).

I view 3d printing as a really powerful tool going forward for those of us stuck with broken or missing parts that are unavailable. I'm not a huge 'mod' person, but 3d printing can really open up options for cosmetic mods.

I love the idea of 3d printing parts and decided

P1050102.jpg

The linear target is similar to a Gottlieb vari-target in that it scores based on the the targets travel when hit. The Williams target uses a very different scoring mechanism with opts vs the Gottlieb. I think this target was used by only once on Bad Cats.

Here's a shot of the linear target on the Fish-Bonus area. The red target is the 3d part installed.

oops - fixed it

After some research I settled on using the shape ways 3d printing service. Their interface was pretty simple and they accepted files from AutoDesk's 123d program.

The original target appears to have used a screw or rivet to attach the the shaft. The threads on mine were mushroomed so I ended up designing the new target to fit over the shaft. I figured this would also allow for more material to support the target's face and protect against breakage.

It seemed like shape ways pricing allowed for multiple small parts to made cheaply so I ended up having 4 targets printed for a total cost of something like $25 shipped. Looking over the shape ways site I'd guess a single target could be printed for the $8-10 range. 2 of the target designs are lighter weight (closer to normal target thickness) and 2 are much heavier (these are my backups in case the light targets get smashed).P1050112.jpgScreen Shot 2014-05-13 at 6.38.42 PM.png

The 3d parts were printed with Shapeways 'strong and flexible' plastic w/ a red finish. Surface finish is smoothish with a matte finish. There are no visible printing layers like you commonly see on hobby printers like the Maker Bot. I would not use this particular material for a cosmetic part without planning some additional finishing work. But for a target that will eventually get a decal the material will be fine.

I attached the targets by drilling 1/2" down the center and sliding the plastic over the end of the rod for support. After a couple dozen games the part seems to be holding up well w/no damage so far. I'll report back with more info after more play testing.
P1050103.jpg

Ouch, spot welded? We'll see how well these hold up after a few more games.

I think I can post the design on shapeways so that anyone can order them from their catalog. I'll need to look into it.

I really like the idea to add a dimple or undersized hollow in the center to act as a pilot hole for the drill bit. I thought about making the part hollow to begin with, but I wasn't sure what kind of tolerances the material would have when printed.

I drew these up in 123D using a free license. I assume I can upload them in the public catalog for others to print, I'll need to give it a try.

I saw your pinbot parts in an earlier post. Very cool work.

That's a part of the moving target bank right? How does it hold up to ball strikes?

http://shpws.me/py5J

I'm going to add a pilot hole to the center. The design relies on a tight fit around the rod so I think drilling is necessary to avoid tolerance issues with the plastic.

I'm not exactly sure what type of print process this shapeways material uses, but I have seen discussion about tolerancing on the heat deposition type processes.

Thanks man. I'd been playing around with the idea of 3d printed parts before and our conversation was enough to motivate me to try it out. I'm about 20 games in and the target seems to be taking the abuse just fine.

The model had a diameter of 24mm. Final dimension was about 0.75 mm smaller than design. I'm assuming this is due to shrinkage as the material cools. Not sure on the process shapeways uses for nylon printing. I don't have an original target, but it appears to be the same size as a normal standup target which is about 0.030 to 0.040" larger than these are in finished form.

The part is solid for strength since it must hold up to ball impacts. I ended up adding a pilot hole to the back side slightly undersized for the target rod. The end user will need to drill out the hole to the final 3/16".

If anyone's interested in buying a pair of these search for 'Bad Cats' on the shapeways site. I changed settings so that others could order them (I don't have a shop or whatever, so there's no markup).

I'm about 20 games in on my parts without issue, but there's no guarantee that these will hold up or won't cause your game to spontaneously combust. Use at you own risk etc. etc.

Screen Shot 2014-05-14 at 9.17.05 PM.png