They were taking it out of the car and it slipped, and the handle broke.
What are some suggestions from the community on replacing the part? I can easily reprint, but the real issue is how to facilitate the install.
Ship the part and provide guidance
Meet the client and repair
Third option?
Our team recommends to meet and repair the chair. Then you can you show the family how to fix it!
My 2nd chair got damaged by the courier, I reprinted the parts and posted them. There’s a really good thread on here with a disassembling guide that I sent them to replace the part. It’s not always viable to travel and repair it so I think this is a good alternative. The thread is below, it also has a link to the assembly guide which is super helpful too 
Thank you @Ringses, luckily the family is meeting up with me next week and I’ll install.
I see other threads on the push handle strength, so hopefully a formal solution will come out in time. I could just increase the strength myself, but I’m curious of the official way.
It’ll also give me a chance to print out a mickey themed cup holder now too!
The push handle has a new feature that you’d need to be really keen eyed to see.
this piece:
there are 2 blade voids inside to increase the profile in the direction of force. I’m working on a new version of this to tie them into the side walls better along the profile to increase strength further.
Nice, do you use Solidworks to test/analyze the parts for stress?
I meant to say just the handle, plates 1 and/or 2. Are similar enhancements in the works for that? Or what do you recommend on a print to improve strength?
Me personally no. The lead designer would have to answer that.
You could add more wall loops to those plates to help with strength of the current model. But yeah I’d let @MakeGood_Noam comment on that and if improvements are coming.
At the end of the day if you drop a fully assembled TMT things will definitely break. It is hard to design for that scenario without the thing costing a ton in filament.
you have material compromises here. PETG is fairly brittle all told. Sure you could print a whole chair out of TPU. but to what end?
My first Push Handle Bottom broke along the lay lines. That was A version. Do the newer versions help with that particular issue?
the new push handle should work a lot better
Its always a compromise of strength, weight, time, etc. We dont want to use more filament than needed. This breakage was caused by dropping. That is going to happen. This is where the repairability of the device is key!
Have you thought about testing with something like Bambu Lab Tough PLA+? I’ve used it for multiple applications and it really takes a beating.
PLA can deform in hot areas, so we stay away form it
I understand the concern with PLA deforming / in the head. I thought I’d post this here for reference. In the table below we see that PETG-HF isn’t as strong as PETG Basic. It looks like PETG-CF has hight impact strength in the PETG category.
Have we entertained printing in a different Filament Category such as ABS, for those that have an envrionment & equipment that can print in ABS?
| Filament Type | Impact Strength (X-Y) | Heat Deflection Temp (0.45 MPa) |
|---|---|---|
| ABS | 39.3 +/- 3.6 kJ/m2 | 87 C / 189 F |
| ABS-GF | 14.5 +/- 1.5 kJ/m2 | 99 C / 210 F |
| ASA | 41.0 +/- 2.3 kJ/m2 | 100 C / 212 F |
| PETG Basic | 34.2 +/- 4.1 kJ/m2 | 71 C / 160 F |
| PETG-CF | 41.2 +/- 2.6 kJ/m2 | 74 C / 165 F |
| PETG HF | 31.5 +/- 2.2 kJ/m2 | 69 C / 156 F |
| PLA Basic | 26.6 +/- 2.8 kJ/m2 | 57 C / 135 F |
| PLA Matte | 19.2 +/- 3.7 kJ/m2 | 58 C / 136 F |
| PLA Tough+ | 80.6 +/- 9.5 kJ/m2 | 61 C / 142 F |
| TPU for AMS | 124.3 kJ/m2 | N/A (Flexible material) |
I have printed parts of TMT with ABS and ASA without any issues–mostly to prove that it can be done.
It is way more toxic to print than with PETG, and in my opinion, in real world application you are not really gaining this much advantage with this particular project. True, it can withstand higher temperatures (outside use), but unless it is left outside, I doubt many people will bring their children out in the weather that comes even close to melting any of these plastics.
I was toying with the idea of printing an entire chair out of Siraya Tech TPU-GF (100 infill lol), but that would easily cost as much as 10 TMTs…
