Agriculture and farm machinery

Being straight about the track record

Most of this site is built on completed jobs. This page is thinner, and it is better to say so than to write around it.

One agricultural job has been done. It involved mounting hardware for a farmer, plus design work on a set of omni wheels. The mounting hardware was made. The omni wheels were designed and then not taken to production by the customer, because the cost of producing them for real was higher than the project could carry.

That second half is worth keeping on the page rather than quietly dropping. It is a genuinely useful thing to know about design work: reaching a design and then deciding not to build it is a normal outcome, and often the correct one. The design stage is where that gets discovered, and discovering it there costs a fraction of discovering it after committing to production. The customer got a real answer, which was that the numbers did not work.

Photographs from that job may be added here later. Until they are, this page will not pretend to more evidence than it has.

Why farm equipment suits this work

Agricultural machinery has a profile that fits printed parts unusually well.

It stays in service for decades. Equipment routinely outlives its parts supply by twenty years or more, and a machine that works perfectly is not worth replacing over one broken plastic component. That is the same situation as any obsolete machine part, only more so.

Distance makes everything worse. A dealer a long drive away, or a part shipped from overseas on a lead time measured in weeks, during a window where the machine is needed now. Parts post anywhere in Victoria, and a satchel is faster than a round trip.

Much of what fails is not structural. Guards, covers, brackets, mounts, knobs, latches, sensor housings, guides, spacers, caps and cable clips. These are the parts that break first and are the hardest to find, and they are squarely within what printing does well.

Modifications are normal. Farm equipment gets adapted constantly — a mount for a monitor, a bracket for a camera or sensor, an adaptor between two things never meant to bolt together. That is exactly the mounting-hardware work the one completed job involved.

The honest limits, which matter here

Agricultural equipment is a harsh environment, and being specific about this is more useful than enthusiasm.

Sunlight and weather. Anything living outdoors on a machine wants PETG rather than PLA — PLA degrades in sun and softens in heat, and a part left on a machine through an Australian summer will find that out. Even PETG will age outdoors eventually. Expect a serviceable life, not a permanent one, and treat the part as replaceable from a kept model.

Chemicals. Fuels, hydraulic oil, solvents and agricultural chemicals attack these materials to varying degrees. If a part will be in contact with any of them, say so before anything is printed.

Heat. Nothing near an engine bay, an exhaust or a hydraulic system running hot. This is the most common way a printed part fails on machinery.

Load and safety. Everyday and moderate loads are fine — brackets, mounts, covers, guides. Anything whose failure is dangerous is not: PTO guards, anything structural on a towed or lifted implement, anything above a person, and anything a compliance obligation attaches to. Farm machinery hurts people when it fails, and this line will not be blurred to win a job.

Livestock and food contact. Not offered. Nothing here is made to a food-safe standard, and layer lines harbour bacteria.

Who this suits

Farmers, ag contractors and rural workshops keeping older machinery going, and anyone adapting equipment with mounts and brackets that do not exist to buy. Send a photo of the part with something for scale, say what machine it is off and what it is exposed to, and you will get a straight answer — including when the answer is that a printed part is the wrong idea.

Frequently asked questions

How many agricultural jobs have you done?

One — mounting hardware for a farmer, plus design work on a set of omni wheels that the customer chose not to take to production because the production cost was too high. That is stated plainly rather than dressed up. The underlying work is the same as any obsolete-part or mounting job, of which there have been more.

Can you post parts to a farm?

Yes, anywhere in Australia. Distance is one of the main reasons this is worth doing — a satchel usually beats a round trip to a dealer, and beats an overseas lead time comfortably.

Which material for a part that lives outside?

PETG rather than PLA. PLA degrades in sunlight and softens in heat, which an Australian summer will demonstrate. Expect a serviceable life rather than a permanent one, and keep in mind the model is kept so a replacement is a print.

Can you make a guard for a machine?

A convenience cover or dust shroud, yes. A guard that forms part of the machine's safety — a PTO guard, or anything a risk assessment or compliance obligation covers — no. That is a firm line.

I do not know what the part is called. Does that matter?

Not at all. Photograph it from a few angles with a rule or a coin next to it for scale, say which machine it came off and what it does, and that is enough to start.