Pop-On Bicycle Pedal

You're biking down the road, having a genuinely nice day, and your bicycle pedal breaks. Now you're in a real pickle. Not only do you not have a spare pedal, but you don't have the tools required to install it even if you had the pedal. That's when you need this guy, the Pop-On Bicycle Pedal, it's simply a 3D printed bike pedal that allows you to pop it on your bike without any tools whatsoever.

Tools Needed:

- 3D Printer with minimum build volume of 3.5 in X 2 in X 4.5 in (80 mm X 50 mm X 114 mm).

Materials Needed:

- Bicycle (optional)

- Plastic printer filament

I printed my pedal in ABS, but PLA would would just as good.

Alright, so now let's print the thing. Download the pedal STL files and configure the gcode with a CAM software. The pedal can be printed standing upright as seen in the picture above. I also designed it to print without supports. Here are the specifications I used on my pedal:

Infill: 55%

Shells: 3

Layer Height: 0.06 mm

I bumped up the infill and shells because I wanted the pedal to be robust enough to put my feet on. But I kept the layer height down to get the details for the small "catch fingers" inside the shaft. To speed up print time, I could bump this up to 1.0 mm, but I have not tried that yet.

You will also need to print the cap. I printed this with the all the same specifications, except the layer height which I bumped up to 1.0 mm.

Once you've printed the pedal, all that's left to do it install it. This step is really what makes this pedal unique, as it requires no wrenches or pliers; just a quick "pop" onto the bike's pedal crank shaft. In the last two pictures above, you can see the "catch fingers" before and after they snap in behind the washer on the pedal crank shaft.

After the catch fingers click in behind the washer, simply insert the pedal cap and press it firmly into place. This cap does more than just cover the hole, it pushed the catch fingers back into their original position and keeps them tight against the pedal crank shaft. In the last picture above, you can see a sectioned view of the pedal (orange) and the cap (blue) which demonstrates this. In this way, the cap functions as a lock to insure the pedal stays on your bike.

Now with your new Pop-On Pedal fully installed, you're ready to pedal away. Thanks for reading my first instructables, and enjoy.

jlaake