Capabilities of Additively Manufactured Rope Drums

Abstract

Many industry sectors benefit from the new opportunities additive manufacturing provides. Lightweight designs and integration of function are only two aspects. As there are no approaches present to insert additive manufacturing into the design of hoisting appliances though, we try to evaluate the room for improvement through experimental analysis. Additively manufactured synthetic drum-bodies fit for 8 mm wire ropes and containing different infill structures were tested for tensile strength. The cylindrical gyroid TPMS and straight spokes structures performed best with standardised tensile strengths of 17.53 and 16.40 kN/kg. Our findings indicate that additively manufactured rope drums can be a viable option for future hoisting appliances.