Footwear Maintenance and Repair

2023-09-21 | By Lulzbot

License: See Original Project 3D Printing Filament

Courtesy of Lulzbot

Guide by Lulzbot

Have you ever had to throw out a pair of otherwise good footwear because of a ‎damaged or worn-out heel? With 3D printing, you can extend the life of your favorite ‎boots with some reverse engineering and adhesive.‎

What You'll Need:‎

• Used Footwear
• Putty Knife
• LulzBot Printer
• TPU such as NinjaFlex, PolyFlex, or other flexible material
• Digital Caliper
• Pen and Paper
• ‎2 Part Epoxy
• Wood Clamps
• Small Board

‎Instructions:‎

Step 1:‎

First, gather your materials and remove the damaged heel from your footwear. We ‎carefully used a putty knife to avoid damaging the rest of the boot and the pegs holding ‎in the heel. Please note that not every piece of footwear will be a good candidate for this ‎process. If you are planning to throw the footwear out anyway, it's worth trying!‎

Step 2:‎

Once the heel is removed, we can get to work on reverse engineering a replacement part. ‎Other than the curved portion, this is a very simple design which can be created by ‎extruding basic shapes. Use the digital caliper to get the dimensions of the part, keeping ‎notes and drawing the basic design on paper. Make sure to get the depths/heights and ‎try to make center points for the pegs. *You can also take a photo of the part next to a ‎ruler or scan a traced outline of the part you don't have a caliper.‎

There are several options for software, which are either open source or free for non-‎commercial purposes. This Community Page has a list of popular 3D modeling software ‎to choose from. A nice software for a new designer is TinkerCAD. If you’re looking for a ‎software that you can grow into, it may be worth your time to learn Fusion 360.

‎‎

Step 3:‎

After the part is designed and you've exported an STL file, you can start printing! We ‎printed with NinjaFlex, a flexible material made of TPU which has more grip and better ‎shock absorption that other materials. It printed well on our Mini 2 but will work with ‎any LulzBot machine equipped with a modern Tool Head (SE, HE, M175 v2, H175, etc.) ‎Make sure to use the NinjaFlex material reset in Cura LE and glue stick on your print ‎surface.‎

Design tip: Since this will be a part which will encounter a lot of abrasion, you will want ‎to have a high infill and shell count. 50% infill and 5+ shells would be a good start.‎

You will likely need to do a few iterations of your design. If you don't have a lot of ‎material for test prints, you can print just a portion by splitting it either in your ‎design software or Meshmixer.‎

You can also sink prints into the bed in Cura LE and only parts above 0mm in the Z axis ‎will print.‎

Step 4:‎

Grab the clamp and small board. The idea is to create a larger surface area to allow for ‎even pressure on the heel. The force should be perpendicular to the flat surface. Allow ‎the part to sit for the time recommended by your adhesive's instructions.

‎Step 5:‎

After drying, check your results and ensure that the heel is securely attached. If there is ‎excess adhesive after clamping, remove it with sandpaper or a razor.‎‎ ‎

Step 6:‎

Congratulations, you've brought life back into your footwear! This idea can be ‎transferred to many household items for simple fixes. The printed part may not last as ‎long as the original depending on the material, so you may want to print a few extras. In ‎the case that the heel's design isn't symmetrical, you can mirror the design in Cura LE ‎with the "Mirror" function for the other boot.‎

制造商零件编号 KT-PR0047NA

LULZBOT MINI 2 NORTH AMERICA

LulzBot

¥22,936.46

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制造商零件编号 RM-TE0121

POLYMAKER POLYFLEX TPU95 FILAMEN

LulzBot

¥269.79

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