Custom machined/printed parts

You want to design and produce one of a brand-new product.

Companies introduce new products all the time; but they recoup the cost by selling many copies. You are proposing that you bear the design and manufacturing cost yourself, in order to create a single production part.

And pedals are a critical safety feature, so I presume you don't want them to break.

It will be costly.

So the question then becomes: how badly do you want these pedals? Given that you haven't bothered to contact a product design agency and are instead posting on a web forum, I would suggest you don't actually want these pedals.

Just get a 130mm wide plate of plastic, shape it to fit and glue it on the pedals you have. Your going to throw them away anyway.
Get everything the size and fit, then make it out of plate hardened alumninum sheet and glue that on. Done.

How much are you willing to spend?
I could do it.
You're looking at $300-500 per pedal for a Ti 3D print.
Plus engineering time to design it. You're looking at over $1500.
If you want traction screws, add a few hundred for tapped holes.
Axles and bearings? Throw in a few hundred more.

tlg said:

How much are you willing to spend?
I could do it.
You're looking at $300-500 per pedal for a Ti 3D print.
Plus engineering time to design it. You're looking at over $1500.
If you want traction screws, add a few hundred for tapped holes.
Axles and bearings? Throw in a few hundred more.

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3d print nylon would probably work, CNC machined aluminum certainly would. Ti is nice, but unnecessary for this application. A few hundred for tapped holes? Lol. Maybe in Ti, not in nylon or aluminum. Axles and bearings could certainly be repurposed from a cheaper set of pedals. I'm not expecting to get a quality custom set of pedals for $100, but I'm reasonably certain your figure is high.

One Wheel said:

3d print nylon would probably work

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Really? What do you know about 3D printed Nylon?
(I can break 3D prints in my hands)
It's not the same as injection molded.

I'm reasonably certain your figure is high.

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It's not. I'm a design engineer. Manufacturing and design is literally what I do.
I wouldn't touch it for under $1500.

My $15 aluminium plate is looking more attractive, huh? (it's the english spelling, ok?)

tlg said:

It's not. I'm a design engineer. Manufacturing and design is literally what I do.
I wouldn't touch it for under $1500.

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Fair enough, it's your area of expertise more than mine. How much price difference would there be between machined aluminum vs 3d print Ti? I've gotten enough custom farm equipment parts to know that if I was willing to settle for mild steel I could get a functional but heavy set of pedals for roughly $100, give or take $20.

One Wheel said:

Has anybody here done anything with custom machined or 3d printed parts, or have any suggestion about how to go about finding somebody who will make a reasonable quality part? I need a wider pedal than anything on the market. I think I'd be very happy with the Kona Wah Wah 2 pedals I'm riding right now if they were sized up from 118mm wide to 130mm wide. There are plenty of machine shops around that could make me a 5 lb pedal out of mild steel, and I could find a hobbyist with a 3d printer that could make something that looked right until you tried using it. I'd like a happy medium between those two.

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All of the replies so far have assumed that the pedal axle can be from some other pedal and not be part of the cost of this "much wider than normal" pedal. That means the outer bearing will be imbedded deep in the pedal. Not a great design. The suggestion of adding a plate on top of an existing pedal is likely the only reasonable option. Custom machining is an expensive prospect no matter how optimistic some people seem to be.

Kerry Irons said:

All of the replies so far have assumed that the pedal axle can be from some other pedal and not be part of the cost of this "much wider than normal" pedal. That means the outer bearing will be imbedded deep in the pedal. Not a great design. The suggestion of adding a plate on top of an existing pedal is likely the only reasonable option. Custom machining is an expensive prospect no matter how optimistic some people seem to be.

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This is what I'm riding now, I just want to add about 12mm to the width. Adding a screwed-on plate would be clunky, and while that would fit the aesthetic of my current bike it would be worth a couple hundred dollars to me to get a nicer looking option for my next bike.

U are riding that pedal and worried it's going to look klunky?????
It's going to look clunky, just go with that. You are making that is something no one else run's. You are getting into my territory, you have been warned!

duriel said:

U are riding that pedal and worried it's going to look klunky?????
It's going to look clunky, just go with that. You are making that is something no one else run's. You are getting into my territory, you have been warned!

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A red anodized version of that pedal, with a mostly black frame, mostly black components, and red anodized hubs and spokes would be incredibly sexy.

Yes, those would be really sexy. Pay the $1500.

duriel said:

Yes, those would be really sexy. Pay the $1500.

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So far my total bike budget is almost to $1600, hoping to hit $5k by the end of the year.

Not what you were asking for, but perhaps you should google Pedal Extenders as likely the happy compromise.

RHankey said:

Not what you were asking for, but perhaps you should google Pedal Extenders as likely the happy compromise.

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My problem is actually the width of the platform, not the distance between them. I've found one brand and style of off-the-shelf shoes that are kind of wide enough for my feet, and they're not cycling shoes. If I was going to spend $1500 on pedals I would just spend ~$900 on custom shoes and go for clipless.

One Wheel said:

My problem is actually the width of the platform, not the distance between them. I've found one brand and style of off-the-shelf shoes that are kind of wide enough for my feet, and they're not cycling shoes. If I was going to spend $1500 on pedals I would just spend ~$900 on custom shoes and go for clipless.

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If you are looking for wider pedal platforms for non-rigid soled non-cycling shoes, then pedal platform width addresses only half your problem. A proper set of shoes is likely going to be the right longterm solution. In the meantime, pedal extenders might at least get the platform more centered under your foot.

RHankey said:

If you are looking for wider pedal platforms for non-rigid soled non-cycling shoes, then pedal platform width addresses only half your problem. A proper set of shoes is likely going to be the right longterm solution. In the meantime, pedal extenders might at least get the platform more centered under your foot.

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You're probably right about a long-term solution. As far as centering, that's definitely not the biggest issue. Without a shoe the ball of my foot is almost as wide as the pedal, and the shoe naturally forces my foot slightly outwards so the outside edge of the shoe is hanging off the outside of the pedal even if the inside edge of the shoe is on the inside edge of the pedal. Occasionally I look down and realize that my left foot is about 1/4" out from the inside of the pedal, a spacer may help with that.

One Wheel said:

Fair enough, it's your area of expertise more than mine. How much price difference would there be between machined aluminum vs 3d print Ti? I've gotten enough custom farm equipment parts to know that if I was willing to settle for mild steel I could get a functional but heavy set of pedals for roughly $100, give or take $20.

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So here. I found a generic 3D pedal, tweaked it, and uploaded it for pricing. It's 130mm long. Roughly the right size. The platform would need to be a bit larger, so the prices will be a bit more. Pricing is driven by volume.
These are only the printing costs. No engineering/design cost. No profit. No post machining. No axles/bearings.
And with 3D printing, you often have to do a couple test runs to work out any issues. So potentially double/triple the cost.

Steel: $333 Per Pedal.
Aluminum: $563 Per Pedal.
Stainless Steel: $306 Per Pedal.
Nylon: $45 Per Pedal.