3D Print Plastic Pieces....

I feel as if the "hooks" on the window switch bezel are big enough as mine pops off the door too easily (I presume to being removed/put back a couple of times) but if the part that hooks round the door card had a bigger tab on it it would stay put.

 

Some amazing stuff going on in here, wow!

 

355 ash tray! ��

 

Hi. Re the 348 switch bezel I do agree with Jeffs comment above. I got a new aluminum bezel from a company in the us. It's identical in every way to the original plastic but I spent all weekend trying to get it to fit. Even considered trimming back the leather so that the tabs would hold.

 

Let me whip up a model with a few mods and post it. You guys can let me know what you think. I also got my vent print today. I'll try to post pics tonight.

 

Okay so I got the vent test in the mail. Here's a quick recap on that:

-I took a huge risk and printed it without supports at the lowest quality setting with no post cure. The vendor recommended against all of those options but I wanted to see what the worst possible scenario looks like.
-The packaging stuck to the uncured parts of the vent during shipping, messing with the surface finish, especially on the front face.
-Dimensionally the part is excellent. I have to remember to add small fillets to areas of this solid model because the printer is THAT good at making sharp edges.
-I put a crack in the side of the vent before the video was made. I forgot that the "inside" axle on the OEM surround wasn't seated all the way because I was busy de-gooing it some more and I tried to snap my vent onto it and pushed way too hard thinking it was just a tight fit. I cracked the left side then realized why it wouldn't go on. After re-seating the axle nub on the OEM surround the vent popped on no problem and functioned as a factory one. I'm only happy I did this to the printed one and not the OEM vent :O
-After the pics and video I tried some water sanding on one half of it. It took out EVERY evidence of printing and left the surface completely smooth. I couldn't believe how fast it worked too. It's because the lines are so shallow on SLA prints. All I need is some plastic polish and it will look glossy. I believe I may be able to tumble it or something to give it the OEM finish...After I finish I'll post more pics.

Here's the vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZVaLyDucA&feature=youtu.be

Overall I'm very happy with this first test. The part fits the OEM surround straight away, and with post-processing it will look factory. I've spent a lot of time on this lately and I'm pretty exhausted today so I think that may be all until tomorrow. On a side note I think I'm gonna try to meet with a lawyer by the end of the week to talk about this whole S-Corp vs LLC thing. It actually sounds like the S-Corp is better for my situation after an initial phone call. It's certainly a lot cheaper to set up...Tomorrow I'll try to make some bezel model changes and post them.

EDIT: I did forget to mention something important. The surface finish and layer lines were the worst possible on this print because I didn't use support structures, but maybe not for the reason you'd suspect. When printing SLA, you don't want a flat feature to be printed horizontally in the machine, because the goo-wiping process between layers screws it all up. To fix it, you normally add support structure so that the part is printed in a crooked and skewed orientation, making it so that every flat surface on the part is not oriented horizontally. In this case there was no support structures to orient the part any way but horizontal, so it was printed in the worst possible orientation as well, creating more errors, runs, and deeper layer lines. The last part I made was printed properly, and it has a much smoother surface straight out of the machine.
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R&D

I suggest contacting Dave L of StickyRx. I think he would be very interested in your work and he has developed some techniques for (re) finishing the pieces and more importantly laser marking the graphics (the white mark on the thumb wheel and arrows on the vent surrounds).

I think a collaboration between you folks would yield a'perfect' reproduction part for all intents and purposes.

Great work. This is very fascinating.

 

I've had a frustrating few days. I think that at some level we may be ahead of the technology to do this right now at a level that will satisfy me. After sanding, I can get the parts completely, perfectly smooth, but they are a matte finish and need polishing afterward. This is a ton of handwork, and will apply to ANY 3D printed part if you want an OEM finish. The other issue is print times. That vent was a 28 hour print. For one vent. You'd be tying up a 3D printer for an entire week just to print one vent set, then doing a ton of post-processing by hand. I'm not sure how that ends up being profitable yet, even compared to the $900 used stuff on eBay. Another concern I'm having is the durability of this material. The manufacturer claims that because it is UV activated over time chemical changes continue to occur. I also don't know how well it holds up in high heat. And yet another snag I hit: there aren't many vendors that can print the vent bezel in full size. I have no idea what to do about that. I'm not willing to sell an inferior product, and I've put a ton of time into this already. I realize that FDM printing is faster but the layer lines are too deep and the quality just won't be there. It may be okay for a Honda or something cheap but I know I would never put that on a Ferrari if it didn't look high quality. These test prints have not been cheap either. To make this viable I would need to own my own printer (properly printed with supports, that vent print alone would have been over $120). I'm not sure where to go with this now. I've seen that a few other guys are experimenting with the 3D prints as well, but I haven't seen anything that I would install in my car yet. I do believe SLA is the closest thing to a good choice right now, but the material, time, and cost hurdles are significant. Maybe I should continue to 3D model things and wait for the printer technology to catch up...

 

Your work is fantastic, however the 3D printing technology is awesome but it has many limitations as you have pointed out. It's great technology but you can't beat the finish smoothness of injection molding.

 

All of these pieces need post production finishing. The OEM stuff gets whatever it gets with the "soft touch" appliqué. After it breaks down its is refinished by the owners post warranty.

If your product of a hard finished item is correct , I would look to then finish it, surface and texture wise in an acceptable aftermarket finish.

You might contact Daniel at Ricambi as I think he has some experience on reproducing parts and refinishing them as I have described and might be able to guide you intelligently on what works from a buyers perspective and what makes sense for you as the primary

Good luck and great work

 

you could sell the products finished (maybe sub it out?) or not.
anyone who has done the 'desticky' is familiar with refinishing.

 

Well despite my frustrations this week, the fact remains that I have a busted window switch bezel in my car (broken clip) and I need a new one. I decided to send the model out for printing. After some searching, I decided to try out a different material on this print. This material is only offered in a dark blue color but it is much stronger and tougher than the other material I've been messing with. My vendor told me that there are other knockoffs of this material that are available in black if I want to try that later, but for now the blue is quicker to print. I'll post some stuff up when the print is done. In my application, it looks like the clip broke due to too much bending on install, so I didn't move the clip locations this time, I just added the fillets to make it a little stronger and stiffer.
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My prints got delayed due to the poor weather on the East coast, but I got a few pics of the switch bezel today. It looks promising. Unlike the vents, this was printed "properly" at a diagonal angle with support structures. That makes the layer lines very faint on the part, maybe invisible... Should be here soon, when I can finish it up and take better pics. I ended up using the plain black resin again, but going for a full UV cure to harden it for full strength.
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OK so I finally got my bezel (Thanks USPS. 2 day shipping my ass...). I took a few pics before and after trimming the support structure. I will take more after I do more UV cure and polish out the layer lines. They are easily visible from the correct angle but also extremely shallow. The pics show both the OEM part and the printed one.
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I've never seen that structure in printing, can you please explain?

 

Support structure is used to orient the part and to support overhangs during printing that would otherwise fall apart as they are built. Without them, many geometries would not be printable.

 

Thank you.

 

I have not verified this but was told from the parts manager of the former Ferrari Dealer in Los Angeles that Jaguar used the same seat Pot assembly and the replacement part was closer to $100. Mine works fine so I haven't investigated but may be worth checking out by someone that needs one.

 

Well I spent some time sanding and polishing the bezel print. I only finished it in the visible areas, leaving the rest alone. I had to try some different things, but I finally figured out how to give it a semi-shiny finish and look like something worthy of being installed in a Ferrari. After that was the moment of truth. I popped in all the switches. Perfect tight fit. Then I popped the bezel into the door panel. Again, exact fit. The clips were exactly the right size. The bezel fits tightly, much better than the broken factory one with a missing clip. I'm so happy I finally ended up with a part worth using. This proves that 3D printing can make parts of high enough quality for use in our cars. The bottom line for now is that the printing costs too much and takes too long to make the parts, and then the post processing is too labor intensive for this to be profitable (print took 8+ hours, cost a lot, and the post processing by hand was like 2-3 hours, not to mention the time spnt measuring and CAD'ing it...). That being said, I think the technology is going to improve a lot in the next few years. I will keep an eye on this and when the printing gets fast enough and the printer capacity large enough to do everything, you'll probably be hearing more from me. In the meantime I'll still post more as I tinker with this new and exciting technology. I want to stay ahead of the curve for when the technology catches up... Until then I'll be enjoying my new one of a kind 3D printed driver's side door switch bezel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xx8UH7yQ2U
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Very very nice work!

 

Congratulations! Terrific work and thank you for taking the time to share the process.

 

cool......this is the future for parts re-production.

 

Hey Fmuto42,
I'll be working on getting the CAD for the side vents after I finish the center vent models. It'll take some time to measure and model, as none of the reasonably affordable 3D scanning stuff is going to be accurate enough to make a good model. Another issue right now is that the printer tech isn't quite there yet. The FDM printers won't even come close to making a clean print in ABS with all those holes, and the SLA stuff doesn't have a black resin that's high temp rated. I'm waiting on the industry to come up with materials that will work for vents... Nylon is a current option but printing in nylon is $$$$$$$