I should know
- Thread starter bigwinn
- Start date
I've deisgned and printed loads of car-oriented parts over recent years, and I did have an initial stab at this a while ago.
It would certainly be possible to produce a 3D printed version, but due to their shape and size they would need to be split into various sections in order to reduce printing time and minimise the use of supports. I measured everything up and produced a cardboard template of the overall profile, but realised that it would be a lot of work to produce the three dimensional design, as they curve in all directions.
I had a similar challenge when I was designing a RHD version of the dashboard for my 1:12 scale car (a cheap plastic one off eBay, not a Kyosho!). I got there in the end, but it was a real challenge. There would also be a lot of post processing to do, as no matter how good your printer is and how fine a resolution you use, curved 3D printed surfaces always show the layer lines. In practice, therefore, they would need to be sanded, filled and painted - or alternatively covered in fabric.
As usual, other things then came up and I decided that in this case the effort wouldn't be worthwhile, as with my sensible hat on these things are totally impractical and I'd probably never use them anyway! :wink:
I'm currently in the process of converting one of my printers to a dual print head machine so that I can use one head for the main filament and the other for a water soluble (PVA) filament for the supports - at least then the supports can just be dissolved away rather than having to be broken off, which with PETG filament can be a real PITA! So who knows, I might have another stab at this as a winter project...
It would certainly be possible to produce a 3D printed version, but due to their shape and size they would need to be split into various sections in order to reduce printing time and minimise the use of supports. I measured everything up and produced a cardboard template of the overall profile, but realised that it would be a lot of work to produce the three dimensional design, as they curve in all directions.
I had a similar challenge when I was designing a RHD version of the dashboard for my 1:12 scale car (a cheap plastic one off eBay, not a Kyosho!). I got there in the end, but it was a real challenge. There would also be a lot of post processing to do, as no matter how good your printer is and how fine a resolution you use, curved 3D printed surfaces always show the layer lines. In practice, therefore, they would need to be sanded, filled and painted - or alternatively covered in fabric.
As usual, other things then came up and I decided that in this case the effort wouldn't be worthwhile, as with my sensible hat on these things are totally impractical and I'd probably never use them anyway! :wink:
I'm currently in the process of converting one of my printers to a dual print head machine so that I can use one head for the main filament and the other for a water soluble (PVA) filament for the supports - at least then the supports can just be dissolved away rather than having to be broken off, which with PETG filament can be a real PITA! So who knows, I might have another stab at this as a winter project...
Hi Alan.Conrod said:
Glad to hear we've got a 3d printing expert. Would you be able to resize the phone holder shown in this thread to fit a larger phone?
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=129452
Zulu4 said:
Spookily, one of my current Z4 mods is to make a mount for an Amazon Echo Auto (a Prime Day purchase!), using the speedo housing as per the phone holder you linked to! I've designed the bracket part:
and am finalising the magnetic holder part - so I just need to merge the two together. So yes, if you tell me the dimensions of your phone I could modify my design accordingly.
I have a slight issue at present in that having decided to convert my 300x300 printer to 24v and a Bowden set-up, one of the core printed components of my main printer broke last night (the only part I printed with PLA rather than PETG - d'oh!!!). So I need to print a new, stronger version, but I don't have a working printer. I've managed to repair the part using superglue and epoxy resin, so hopefully once I've put it all back together the part should last long enough to print the proper strengthened part!
All part of the fun of 3D printing!
That sounds ace.
Would you be able to slightly increase the size of that linked phone-holder to around 100mm x 10mm ? (I don't think it needs to be a tight fit round the phone, as per the original design).
Shall we continue this conversation in the linked thread to keep it all relevant ?
Would you be able to slightly increase the size of that linked phone-holder to around 100mm x 10mm ? (I don't think it needs to be a tight fit round the phone, as per the original design).
Shall we continue this conversation in the linked thread to keep it all relevant ?
