Cuisinart Motor Shaft Fitting

thingiverse

This is to repair a Cuisinart Little Pro Plus food processor. The motor shaft is fitted with an interference fit plastic sleeve that is keyed to drive the various accessories for the food processor. That plastic sleeve cracked on ours and when that happened it expanded and jammed the accessory currently being used onto the shaft. So that part clearly couldn't be re-used since it would just jam again. The food processor is old, so I couldn't find a replacement. Hence the print. I dismissed 3D printing initially, and but then realized that if printed vertically the part would be strong laterally and that the metal motor shaft should protect it from bending loads that might cause layer separation. So I gave it a try and so far, so good. In fact, my wife says the accessories fit better with the new sleeve than with the old one. You can see how the old one has suffered damage over the years. I printed this using PETG and I would suggest using tough materials if you try to print this to effect a similar repair. ABS and nylon come to mind. PLA is actually quite strong, but the question is whether it would be tough enough. If you print with PLA I suggest re-sizing by 101% in the slicer since PLA shrinks. This is a press fit item. The motor shaft is 0.2mm larger at the base due to some knurling there. And the motor shaft is keyed. So it is important that you get this fitting lined up correctly. I spritzed Windex into the hole of the fitting; pressed the fitting down by hand, and then tapped it home using a rubber mallet. I can imagine how the mallet might damage the unit. So go carefully. You may also want to maybe sand the inside of the part a bit to create a looser fit that requires less force to fit. I think nylon would have more give and it might be a better material. But the original part is pretty hard, So I went with PETG.