Agriculture and farm machinery

Where this work started

An agricultural customer came to us for mounting hardware, and it was made and delivered — brackets and mounts are the most common thing farm equipment needs and the hardest thing to buy, because the machine was never designed to carry whatever you are adding to it.

The same customer also had us design a set of omni wheels. The design work answered the question it was commissioned to answer: at real production volumes the numbers did not stack up, and the project stopped there rather than after a tooling commitment. That is what the design stage is for. Finding that out at the modelling stage, before any tooling money was committed, is the outcome the design work was there to deliver — and the customer got a decision they could act on.

Photographs from that job will be added here as they come through.

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.

Built for the paddock, not the workshop shelf

Farm equipment is a hard environment, and choosing for it is the part that decides whether a part lasts a season or a week. That choice is made at the quote.

Anything living outdoors gets PETG, not PLA. It handles sun, heat and knocks far better, which is why every mount, bracket and cover for machinery is printed in it. Expect a good serviceable life and a part that reprints cheaply from a kept model when the day comes.

Anything that has to seal or absorb — a gasket, a bump stop, a grommet, a non-marking pad — gets flexible TPU.

Anything that has to be exactly right under light load, like a locating guide or a template, gets PLA.

Tell us what the part is off, what it does and what it sits near, and the material, wall thickness and print orientation are chosen from that. Where a component runs near an engine, hot hydraulics or fuels, or forms part of the machine's safety, you get a clear recommendation at the quote for the right way to have it made. On farm machinery that answer is worth having before the part exists.

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, and a recommendation you can act on.

Frequently asked questions

How many agricultural jobs have you done?

Mounting hardware for a farmer, plus a set of omni wheels taken through design — where the modelling answered the production-cost question before any tooling was committed. The underlying work is the same as any mounting or obsolete-part job, and there have been more of those.

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?

Convenience covers and dust shrouds, yes — they are common work. Where a guard forms part of the machine's safety, such as a PTO guard or anything inside a risk assessment, we will point you to the right way to have it made. Tell us which one you have and you will get a straight answer.

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.