Handle for Scotts Hand-held Spreader

thingiverse

The crank handle on my 20+ year old Scott's hand-held rotary broadcast spreader broke (again). I finished the job by rigging my cordless screw with my cordless screwdriver and then inspected the broken part. Previously, I epoxied the cracked drive cup. When the cup broke in a different place I used a LOT more epoxy. This time I was the proud owner of a 3D printer and could waste hours and hours re-engineering a part on an item I could replace for under $20. Clearly, the right choice was to save the $20! Two hours later with Fusion 360, I had a pretty good copy of the original handle. On the second print, I was able to make the dimensional adjustments so that the holes fit the drive axle on the spreader and the original paddle knob's slip-fit axle. The crank needs to print with support and for me this is a new experience. The cosmetic finish of the first layer printed over support is just ugly. No doubt exacerbated by the .8mm nozzle I've been using but thankfully this thing lives in my garage. The cosmetics can be addressed with a future project if supports can't be avoided. I decided to duplicate the paddle and learned that slip-fit pivot pins are too weak when printed in the Z direction. But the Paddle looked great! Slight remix and the slip-fit pivot pin is now a separate piece and goes both ways. It gets printed on its side and is flexible enough to compress in the hole; strong enough to keep the pieces joined.