Customer projects. Tractor pulley standoff

A customer came to us with an interesting project: a custom tractor pulley standoff. Wear and tear on an offset belt meant constant repairs and downtime, so he needed a tougher, more reliable solution.

We discussed the application and the loads involved, and agreed that polycarbonate would be the best choice thanks to its high strength, impact resistance and temperature tolerance. The customer supplied a simple sketch with the required dimensions and brought in the pulley so we could check the fit directly.

We first created a lightweight prototype in PLA to check fitment against the pulley and surrounding parts – this test piece weighed just 24 g. Once we were happy with the geometry, we printed the final part in polycarbonate, which came in at over 100 g and was designed to handle the job in the field. The customer collected it and was very happy with the result.

Update (July 2025): we recently saw the customer again and asked how the part was performing. His feedback was brilliant: since fitting the new standoff he’s been able to cut around 1 acre a week, totalling 20 acres to date. There has been no visible wear on the part and, even better, he hasn’t had to replace a single belt since installing it.

This project is a great example of how versatile 3D printing has become, especially with modern engineering filaments now available.