Any interest in 3d printed parts?
 

My wife's cousin has started a new business making custom 3d printed parts for automotive applications. So far his focus has been on sound system enclosures but he can fab anything from plastic and when he can afford the printers, he's gonna move into carbon fiber.

Is there any interest from forum members in stuff like center console cup holders, gauge pods, etc?

I have no financial interest here. He's a good kid and I'm just tryin to help him grow his business. His prices would be very reasonable (we talked about the cup holder idea and he said around $20 or $25 most likely)

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Might help to know what is needed to provide him the info to make parts ? Can it be a simple hand sketch with dimensions ? Or a CAD program ? I wish him well , this is a niche that will continue to grow .

It's a tough business. For car parts make sure he is aware he will need to print using ABS. PLA & PETG will (and do) melt in a car. I have and do make many parts. I do it just as a hobby and for play money. It isn't much of a money maker really, especially with ABS. at least 1/3 of my prints fail or get trashed. Material costs are also on the rise lately due to shipping/fuel/oil costs. PLA will get hit soon since corn prices are on the rise (thanks to ethanol limits being removed for gas). PLA is made from corn starch btw. Also just an fyi, 3D printing carbon fiber isn't really using carbon fiber. It's a mix of PLA or ABS with some carbon fiber, usually around 20%. It's being done for the structural integrity not for the CF look.

When we discussed the cupholder idea, he said that he can create things from just dimensions. I'm sure that a cad would help if you had one but what I got from the conversation was that for simple items it isn't necessary.

In terms of materials, he is using abs. The carbon fiber printing is going to be nylon based, not pure cf... Like you said for structural integrity more than anything. Im really not familiar with specifics of materials beyond those points though.

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I think it would be neat if someone made left and right thermoforms for lexan headlight skins. Just replace them when they are beyond color sanding?

3-D printing
 

I would suggest making a replacement for the plastic rack in the spoiler drive mechanism. The factory doesn’t sell it as a repair part. It gets chewed up by the metal gear on the motor if the mechanism doesn’t move freely, which happens when it gets dirty.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys and gals. It seems like there may be a rather diverse assortment of parts that people maybe be interested in. I think he's going to join the forum and continue the discussion from here.

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Headrest inserts!

What do you mean?

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The plastic wind deflector mesh inserts in the headrests. They get lost/stolen/broken frequently, but cost a pretty penny. 3d printed ones would be awesome.

this will be almost impossible to do because of their curves. Looked at doing it and gave up.

Oh the roll bar inserts? I think the challenge there may be the connectors (for the center). Most of the aftermarket stuff I've seen use Velcro for that reason. That's a good idea though because a set of them go for $200 on amazon

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No these: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.douglasvalley.co.uk%2Fimages% 2F22000%2F21623%2Ffancybox_IMG_1419.JPG&f=1&nofb=1

I think the connectors are easy. They are just pressure tabs. It's that those honeycombs are also concave. It could be done if they were made flat, that wouldn't be all that hard. Difficult but not hard. Getting them to look like OEM though and have a good finish with ABS...very, very hard.

Now if someone had a resin printer that was large enough, and if resin could withstand the heat of a summer with the top up...might be easier.