3D Printing Comes Through Again

[LeftAngle]

Early on in my project, I picked up a set of Hella Bi-Halogen modular headlights.  I’m working towards getting the car ready for LOG 38 and wanted to wire them up.  Finding the correct fitting for the dimmer circuit was relatively easy, but the main connector seems to be unobtanium.  Rather than waste more time looking for a supplier, an hour drafting, about 15 minutes of printing and a bit of soldering and I had exactly what I needed.

[Certified Lotus]

Very cool! I’ve been looking at 3D printers but have convinced myself it’s another technology that will take time to learn and then I need time to use. I’m already short on free time so I decided against it.

Yes, LOG 38! Did you make your hotel reservations? The host hotels usually sell out and you want to be staying where all the action is 

[BDA]

That is super cool, LeftAngle! I wish I were going to LOG38. I really want to see your car!

[BERNIEHUMBER]

HI:
3D printing can do some amazing "stuff".
Can this process generate that spedo gear that has caused issues over the years?
Steve Veris  re-manufactured them back in the 2005 time frame but the process was not 3D based(from what i remember).
Just to refresh peoples minds on what they look like here is a pic.

[surfguitar58]

Nice work LeftAngle!

I get lots of mileage out of my 3D printer. My latest project (still in process) is making a battery box for a group 54 Odyssey battery to fit tucked in the frame over the right transaxel. I think the printed material itself isn't up to the demands of holding the heavy battery, so I printed a mold and will be laying up the box in fiberglass. I'll post again soon and let everyone know how (if) it turned out.

BTW - I am running a Lulzbot Taz 5 printer which has a large bed and uses open source filament material. Don't get roped into buying a machine that requires you to buy expensive proprietary material "cartridges". The open source stuff is pretty cheap.

Tom

[surfguitar58]

HI:

Can this process generate that spedo gear that has caused issues over the years?
Steve Veris  re-manufactured them back in the 2005 time frame but the process was not 3D based(from what i remember).
Just to refresh peoples minds on what they look like here is a pic.

The machine I have theoretically prints Nylon, which is what you would want to use for the speedo gear. The problem, er, I mean problems are:

• You would need a CAD model of the gear. Helical involute gear tooth design is somewhat specialized, but there may be a way to get e reasonable facsimile. It also might not need to be that accurate, after all there is no real load on the gear, it just has to spin at the right speed.
• Nylon, at least in my printer, is tricky stuff. It has to be printed at the upper temp limits of what the machine can handle. It also shrinks and pulls away from the print bed at the most annoying times. Still, it is theoretically possible, and maybe folks with more experience and feel for machine settings than me could pull it off. If you could get me a CAD model I'd be happy to give it a try.

Tom

[jbcollier]

For some reason, the connectors for Hella modular headlights are pain to find in NA.  I think they are commonly available in bus and truck maintenance shops in Europe.  I ended up buying a box of 50, so if any one else needs them...

PS: I went with the bi-xenon: 35w and a simply massive amount of light.

[BERNIEHUMBER]

HI surfguitar58:
   " If you could get me a CAD model I'd be happy to give it a try. "
The college I taught for has me back in May for some license updating for the students so I can put it on my to do list and see what comes of it. 
I don't want to steal a thread!!

[LeftAngle]

As Tom said, nylon is tough to print.  I tried it several years ago using 618 but new formulations and materials keep coming out so things might have improved.   I rationalized ABS has similar characteristics so that’s what I use.   Whether it holds up or not remains to be seen, but not gears, but other mechanical components that require a tough stable material have performed well. 

I wasn’t able to find a GPS/entertainment system that fit, but I have a drawer full of unused iPhones and iPods that can be used when jail broken and placed on their side.  The buttons & knobs that operate the oddly placed controls on a phone require Rube Goldberg engineering to get them to the front face.  The phone’s probably the most used device I’ve used so far and as of now it’s still working.  I’ve also made single piece wire clamps with printed hinges that are incredibly strong as long as the internal section is mostly filled.  I’ll post pictures as soon as I can get to the shop.

No matter what 3D printing material you use, another part can be made in an hour or two to replace a failed part.  I’ve also made molds of parts with varied success.

You won’t lose anything by experimenting.

[LeftAngle]

You would need a CAD model of the gear.

After retiring, I gave up paying for upper end CAD updates and opted for “SketchUp” a free Open source CAD program.  There are enough free and innexpensive attachments to give it surprising power.

Check out “3D Warehouse”.  Over 5,000 “gears” models are listed.  Scroll through those and see if anything can be used or modified for your purpose.  The drawings are .skp format, but they’re easily converted to others.  I slice my prints in .stl and there’s an attachment for that.

[surfguitar58]

Check out “3D Warehouse”. 

Another one is grabCAD.com. Gear suppliers (like sdp-si.com) have downloadable gear files. The nice thing about these is you can scale them to different sizes if needed, like if you have a file for a 12 tooth 30 mm gear but you need a 60 mm 12 tooth gear you can just scale it by x2.

Tom

[LeftAngle]

I’d be curious to see what others have printed for their car. These are a few of my projects. The last two are the ones I mentioned in my last post

[BDA]

Here's what I've printed on my car...

(nothing)

Your printed stuff is amazing! Just great stuff! Very creative and very cool!

[jbcollier]

The correct font for the Lotus logo from that period is sans-serif.

[andy harwood]

HI:
3D printing can do some amazing "stuff".
Can this process generate that spedo gear that has caused issues over the years?
Steve Veris  re-manufactured them back in the 2005 time frame but the process was not 3D based(from what i remember).
Just to refresh peoples minds on what they look like here is a pic.

A member here used the drive gear out of my 365 transaxle and had  some speedo drive gears for the 365 "printed". This was a couple years ago. Think RD has the extras for sale.