Reproduction Heater Control Frames - Any Interest?

Hi!

The "frames" of the heater controls in my 400i S2 are all more or less broken, making the heater controls very difficult to use.
I bought a single NOS replacement, but that also broke just by looking at it...

I'm looking at having some replicas made, but out of CNC-machined aluminium. These would then be glass-blasted and anodized black. For the "dots and arrow" markings, we'd have those machined into the aluminium and the hand-fill them with paint.

Wounld anyone here be interested in buying some? I'm not looking to make a profit from them, just cover the cost.

Cheers

Esben

 

Something like this:

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That's pretty epic - Isn't this piece used by at least the 328s too?

 

This is what I saw on a 328 diagram. Looks it is combined with the outlet control.
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Getting a more rugged switch is just the beginning, getting the under-hood lever to move freely is very important. Disconnecting the cable to move back and forth with some appropriate lube will ease the load on the lever.
Ken

 

Yeah - my mistake. Looks like these might be just on the 400i S2? Square buttons are shared with other models.

 

I don't think so. I've only seen them on 400 S2s.

 

Do you know where to get the buttons from?

 

Which buttons?

 

The square ones that go on the levers.
I have 2 missing....

Cheers

Esben

 

Now I'm really confused over what you're asking.

 

I presume he talks about the black square bit on top of the lever. Superformance do sell the round ones.

These would be easy to reproduce with a silicone mold and PU coumpound, would look better than 3d printed. This being said, if he has access to aluminium tooling, this marerial would be stronger.

 

You are correct!
If you have any tips on making a mould, I'm all ears!

Esben

 

You need plastiline (professional playdoe...), demolding agent, silicon and hardener. It'also called liquid mold.

You make a plastline "stand", which you place at the center of a small container, put the part you want to reproduce on top of the "stand", spray demoling agent, pour some silicone + hardener. That's half of your mold, then you take this half mold, place the part in it, spray demolding agent and pour silicone to build the second part of the mold.

It' cheap, but you can only make 30 parts out of it.

Will see if I have photos from 20 years ago...

 

I dont know how much research you've done but I would be surprised if these were made just for the Ferrari 400. The Auto shifter is from a Fiat 130, the S1 switches are from a Lotus, I wouldn't be surprised if the heater controls are from a BMW or something.

 

I've never seen anything else with them--haven't even seen other Ferraris with them.

So while I agree with you in concept, let's find some proof?

 

Good day Esben,

There are lots of YouTube videos on mold making... there are several approaches and techniques and so you need to experiment with what works best. As for materials, Smooth On (https://www.smooth-on.com/) provides a lot of the materials needed along with how-tos and videos too. Smooth On is used a lot and so it is available locally from local suppliers with modest costs. As I said, there is no substitute for experience and so if you have the time, have some fun!

That said, my approach would be to 3D CAD up the item and having it professionally 3D printed. Unlike the "home" or low end 3D printers, the high end professional ones provide stunning results. One really cannot compare a $500-$2K 3D printer to the big boy ones that cost $100K+ ... If one was making a lot of these, the the 3D design would be the basis for full injection molding. The 3D design would change a bit to accommodate the injection molding procress, but this would be easy. However injection molding would require an upfront cost of around $5K to $10K....but the cost per unit would be pennies. As I said, this only makes sense in large volumes. Another approach would be to have the 3D design CNC cut... easy enough, but a bit pricing given the CNC setup costs. That said, CNC cutting these in aluminum and then anodizing them black means that they would last forever.

Going forward, my approach would be to go the high end 3D print direction...The print cost would be maybe $10 per unit and so quite inexpensive all things considered. The real effort would be creating the 3D design and the efforts of which would be based upon your 3D CAD skills... Looking at the part, a seasoned 3D designer could CAD this up in less than an hour or so. Alternatively, you could use this project as to learn or enhance your 3D CAD skills... as there are a few free 3D CAD packages available.

Cheers,

Sam

 

If I needed a them I would spend the time looking (my car is a series 1) and I bet I would find another application such as a truck or a bus in Europe, maybe a British car, maybe Italian, could be from a Lada or a Niva Cossack. No way are they specicaly made.

 

He could also CNC some plastic.

Another option would be to ask Verel from unobtainium supply.

I am personnaly going to test a French who does injection molded veglia stalks. For this particular application, a stronger part is the way to go.

 

Good day Paul,

It is very possible that these bits are used and/or from another car. The overall injection molding setup costs in the 70s'/80's was significantly harder and more expensive than today and so it would have been much easier and less costly to simply use a part from another manufacturer/car.

Sourcing these takes time and so unless one knows pretty quick here these bits come from, the time involved to source, then order, and then hope the item fits (Ferrari could have made some minor changes to the part back in the day)... would easily far exceed to CAD up and 3D the part. An hour's time to 3D CAD and about $10 a print is kibbles to how much time it can take to track down a part from another car. For simple parts/needs, it is pretty touch to beat quality/professional 3D prints and especially given the variety of materials than can be printed these days. It is truly astounding at what can be printed and at times very economical.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Raemin,

Once the 3D CAD design is done, one can choose whatever process or material you want.

There are some small volume injection molding processes available and some have resulted in excellent results. Injection molding is not that complicated... unless the part has a lot of intricacies. The issue with injection molding is the effort/cost in creating the mold, then using this mold to create production parts. For low volume parts, then one can create limited run molds, lost casting, etc... so lots of options. That said, a fair amount of time/experience is needed to achieve quality results.

As for strenght... remember that there are 3D prints using some specialty materials that are uber strong... some materials have impregnated metal bits as well. Nasa and few other aerospace firms are 3D printing turbines and other high temp/pressure devices. This is well beyond what most user 3D printers can do... but there are numerous firms that offer 3D print services using these high tech materials and processes.

Cheers,

Sam

 

I have looked in lots of places, including having a friend search through the massive stock of Alfa parts, but I haven't found anything that resembles...

Cheers

Esben

 

Howdy again,

I've now heard back from the milling machine guy:

If I order 7 sets of 4, the price would be approximately 190€ for a set of 4, including new 3D-printed "buttons" for attaching the levers (the holes are now round and not square) and metric screws for attaching the frames to the retaining brackets.
The frames rill be milled from billet aluminium, bead blasted and then anodized black. The "triangles" and "dots" are sunk 0,5mm below the surface and will be filled with the appropriate colour paint.

Any interest? I'd loathe to sit around with 6 spare sets...

Cheers

Esben