3D printed car parts!

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low_kota

low_kota

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Hey Guys! I recently got a 3D printer and started this thread to show off some of the cool stuff I've been making with it. On the off chance I do ever get around to putting my interior back together, there a LOT of plastic pieces that I have that are just too far gone to use. Here are some pics of the defrost vent that I just made. I used green because it's the only color material I have at the moment and this was just to verify that my 3D model was good enough to replicate the actual part. I also have a 3D model in the works for the door handle cups.







 
Looks good. I was just thinking about this very thing for my station wagon. The interior pillar mouldings are always broken in the wagons. The only problem is, coming up with good ones to copy. What kind of time and material costs are involved in making the defrost vents?
 
very cool. be interested also in knowing how much time it takes and how much for materials
 
Wow!! That came out great. You might be on to something here.
 
DANG!!!! Ever since I heard about the 3-D printers I've fantasized about doing stuff like that. What is the process? Do you have to measure all sorts of coordinates and dimensions or is there some sort of device that scans the existing part and just copies it?
 
Thanks for all the positive response! I took all the measurements from the existing part and made a 3D model from the measurements. The material really isn't too expensive, about $30 - $45 per kg. The vent took about 4.5 hours to print. I'm working on a guitar body now that I had to make in 9 different sections. I'll have about 100 hours of print time in the guitar when it's done.
 
That turned out great. Most of what Ive done is goof of making keychains to calibrate the printer but the most useful things I've done was make little stands for a carburetor and a part to fix my cup holder in my SS/T
 

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fez440 said:
very cool. be interested also in knowing how much time it takes and how much for materials
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Just for general information: $1500 for a decent 3D printer capable of making 8x6x4 inch detailed objects. It can use a variety of extrudable plastic materials at $59 for 700 grams of material.
 
I wonder if you guys could make a decent gauge pod that replaces a certain part of our cars interior so it doenst look added on ?
 
diymirage said:
I wonder if you guys could make a decent gauge pod that replaces a certain part of our cars interior so it doenst look added on ?
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I'm sure it could be done with a little design work. That's the cool thing about 3D printing, if there are flaws with the first design you can just change a few details and print it again. I got started with 3D printing at work about a year and a half ago and it saves soooo much money on prototyping. After seeing what they could do I had to get my own.
 
That's a pretty cool tool. I watched one at work on one of Jay Leno's videos, I though how handy it would be to have one.


Is it cost effective, as in, materials vs buying the part reproed?
 
Bad Sport said:
That's a pretty cool tool. I watched one at work on one of Jay Leno's videos, I though how handy it would be to have one.


Is it cost effective, as in, materials vs buying the part reproed?
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Yes and no depending on the situation... I think re-pop dash vents go for about $50 a pair and it will cost me about $10 in material to print them. It also took a lot of time to make the 3D models and would take about 10 hours for the printer to make both parts.

It has the biggest benefit for parts that are not currently being reproduced. 3D printed parts are also not as durable as an injection molded part. Not to say that that they can't act as fully functioning parts, they still have a descent amount of strength, just not as much. I'm working on a full scale guitar body right now and pieces of it have been tapped and will hold screws. Once assembled I'm confident that it will be able to stand up to the tension from the strings without any issues.
 
Commando66 said:
Looks good. I was just thinking about this very thing for my station wagon. The interior pillar mouldings are always broken in the wagons. The only problem is, coming up with good ones to copy.
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"Copying" the old parts is a problem, unless they are quite simple. No 3-D printer comes with a "3-D scanner", so someone with a lot of CAD experience will need to design the parts to be printed. If they are simple (no compound, or unknown curves), just X-Y-Z type parts, most anyone with some CAD training and the right software can design parts. Parts like interior moldings or most body parts are going to take a lot more skill and design expertise.
 
Is there a broad selection of material for 3D printers and is it durable. Ie. will the dash vent stand up to the beating sun? Can you print items that need to be strong and tuff like poly bushings?
 
Want to make small plastic part that many can use ? Look at the lever glides in 68 through 72 climate controllers. 2 req'd per non a/c , 1 req'd for factory a/c.
These parts require no second operation or finishing.
Owners who have laid out big money for restored or reproduction bezels have found the loose motion in these levers is damaging the bezel. I'll take the first 4 off please :)
 
these are really cool, I just watched Wheeler Dealers last night and they used one to build some headlight buckets for a 100 year old car, however there printer was on loan to the show and they said it was worth $15000.lbs an earlier post hear said $1500.00 us that seems cheap and the quality of work posted here is amazing!
 
grimreaper said:
Is there a broad selection of material for 3D printers and is it durable. Ie. will the dash vent stand up to the beating sun? Can you print items that need to be strong and tuff like poly bushings?
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We have 3D printers at school. they are good for showing the parts and their geometry, but the materials are quite brittle. We have a few printed models of a collet that we've done in class, but some of the "legs" have broken off just during lectures.... :banghead:


It's good for a non stressed part, but the materials available right now are limited for strength.
 
low_kota said:
Hey Guys! I recently got a 3D printer and started this thread to show off some of the cool stuff I've been making with it. On the off chance I do ever get around to putting my interior back together, there a LOT of plastic pieces that I have that are just too far gone to use. Here are some pics of the defrost vent that I just made. I used green because it's the only color material I have at the moment and this was just to verify that my 3D model was good enough to replicate the actual part. I also have a 3D model in the works for the door handle cups.
Click to expand...


What 3D software are you using to model with?
 
krazykuda, I use, actually still learning, SketchUp Make 2015. It's free for personal use. I have tried to break a couple prints i did, first it was hard to get it to bend then when it did bend it cracked a little but didn't break. That was using PLA filament. I guess it depends on layering height and adhesion. But I agree though, I wouldn't use it for a stressed part.
 
itate said:
krazykuda, I use, actually still learning, SketchUp Make 2015. It's free for personal use. I have tried to break a couple prints i did, first it was hard to get it to bend then when it did bend it cracked a little but didn't break. That was using PLA filament. I guess it depends on layering height and adhesion. But I agree though, I wouldn't use it for a stressed part.
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I'm taking classes at our local Comm. College that specializes in Autodesk products. I have done the AutoCAD 2D & 3D, Inventor 3D, and am now in Inventor 3D Assemblies. One more class after this, and I get my 3D Specialist Certificate.... :cheers:

Our 3D AutoCAD teacher let us send a model over to the 3D printer. They have done some pretty cool complex parts there.... (but it takes about 24 hours to print all the models - we do about 6 at a time).

If you have an e-mail address for a college, you can download free professional copies of Autodesk software for 3 year learning period. I have both AutoCAD2015 and Inventor2015 professional editions on my computer at home....

We have one of the best AutoCAD instructors at our school (J.C. Meleske). He worked for Autodesk and taught at the community college. He also helped set up their CAD program, and gives seminars at the annual AutoCAD convention in Las Vegas every year. He's officially retired, but still teaches a few classes and contracts out to companies for training. He teaches workflow more than concentrating on each "click of the mouse".... His seminars at the Vegas convention have been rated at #1 and #4 in the top ten. It's hard just to place once in the top ten in the country, he has two places.... :prayer:

He also beta tests the new edition the year before it's released. He's been testing AutoCAD2016 already, and it should be out in a few more months....

We do have other good teachers there, but he's considered one of the best in the country... :cheers:
 
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