[dataway]

Final product for the dealer insignia project.

I think it turned out very nice. Printed in black and gold ... I think it's for a TransAm.

[Verdoro 68]

Nice! I could see a real market for 3d printed dealer tags if folks were willing to pay. I’m sure that was time consuming to model and make.

[dataway]

Well the font on this one made it difficult. I don't think many casting companies would have used this font .. some of the features are just way too thin. I had to fiddle around with various aspects of the font outline to make it suitable for printing.

I've pretty much got the printer settings down now so I don't have to spend hours printing out test pieces. The modeling would be fairly simple on the typical badge. This design was created from scratch so a bit more complex. No existing example of this dealers badge was to be found. So the owner and I based it on typical stuff of the era.

Downside is everyone would probably want a different dealer, so the modeling would have to be redone each time ... unless it was a really big dealership Wonder what the Royal Pontiac badges looked like. Printing time is about 2 hours each.

The car owner in this case was quite generous and sent me a surprise donation for the effort. Much appreciated.

[3X24SPD]

I imported Word fonts into Pro Engineer to emulate the cursive Cadillac script for a 62 Caddy emblem.
The script letter thickness needs to be extruded on a taper.
Much as I despise LS swaps, a friend is dropping a Caddy Escalade engine into his 62, and wanted Caddy script on the Covers.

[3X24SPD]

Installed a 1970 M22 Muncie into my 69 Z28.
The factory shifter won't bolt up- so I needed a new Adaptor Plate to put the Shifter in the right place for the console opening.
This is Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber Material. Very strong.

[dataway]

I was having a heck of a time getting uniform taper (draft) on my lettering. Found it could be done one letter at a time but that gets pretty tedious.

When you look at cast metal emblems back in the day, they were pretty careful about using fonts and designs that would draft easily, and if the letters overhung the base plate that their section width was enough to prevent them from being extremely fragile.

Of course they were die cast so they could probably tolerate a pretty high failure rate, just remelt the scrap and run it through again.

[3X24SPD]

One more.
Waiting on an Ames order last week that included some TriPower wingnuts.
Modeled these as temporaries. LOL

[dataway]

Yep, I've yet to have a part fail if it's designed anywhere close to robust enough. Even the PETG I use most seems suitable for just about anything that doesn't require exacting rigidity ... like a shifter .

Proper cross-section, some filets here and there, some webbing and prints can be very strong. Can only imagine how strong Carbon Nylon would be.

Those wingnuts look great. I've been looking into what filaments will stick to what other filaments ... some of them are pretty compatible, not often in a structural sense, but good enough for some applications.

Eventually I'll get some hardened nozzles and try out some carbon or glass filled nylon, or ASA.

[VCho455]

I remember reading an article in Skinned Knuckles about 10 years ago about an obscure rare vintage car Jay Leno was restoring. The water pump on the engine had corroded from the inside and was no longer a complete unit. They scanned the water pump as well as possible before attempting removal. Then the removed pieces were scanned and a composite rendering was made from those and then combined with photos of the only other known complete water pump to make a complete 3D model of the water pump. The model was then used to print a new operating water pump to be installed once the rest of car was restored.
At the time it was crazy Star Trek stuff to me.

[dataway]

Yep, I watched that ... I think they used metal 3d printing to make the usable pump, or used the 3d printed model to cast a new pump, forget which ... but the scanning technology was very good.

As the technology becomes more widespread obsolete parts will become a thing of the past, they will be able to fairly quickly reproduced obsolete parts one at a time if needed.

[dataway]

Latest test .... figured I'd see if I can 3d print a shifter boot.

So I drew up a miniature one, yep it works. I need a couple of them for my old tractor, take a few measurements and I should be able to print up a couple of nice ones. Whole bunch of degraded grommets, bushings, bumpers and covers I plan on printing up for my equipment that has sat outside for years.

[3X24SPD]

FDM 3D Printing is semi-analogous to a Hot Glue Gun making parts layer by layer.
SLS is laser sintering of powdered polymers or metals.
This is my 450 sintering high temp PEKK.
Thought you might enjoy a quick video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzkUTdHvqAM

[dataway]

SLS is still basically a horizontal layered printing strategy correct? The bane of all additive technologies so far is the single plane printing I guess. I am starting to see some 5 axis FDM printers now that rotate the print head and/or part like a 5 axis mill .. for instance they could print most of a sphere from the inside out rather than with horizontal layers. Doesn't look like it's far from the consumer market. I'd guess the commercial machines already have something similar in the pipeline. Also seeing some 45 degree print head machines that can print horizontal overhangs with no support.

Watched a video today from Thermwood featuring their 10' x 40' printer that puts out 500 lbs per hour, nozzle was about 1" in diameter. The large parts are then post machined to size using a similar sized CNC router. Main use I guess is molds for aero-space composite materials, helicopter rotors, canopies, etc. Works with polymers up to 450c. Has this ingenious print head that rolls the plastic in place after it's extruded, can leave a super smooth finish.

[3X24SPD]

Made this part this morning. Modeled it up a couple years ago and printed it in Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber on an FDM printer- so I could fit a Victor/Dominator/NOS Plate on top of a BBC and close the hood on the NTSTLKR car.
It works in conjunction with a Moroso 4500 series drop base.
The lid on the as-purchased Moroso wouldn't clear the underside of the hood.

Decided to try re-running the same part yesterday to evaluate results on an SLS machine in HT-25 Material.
HT-25 is a brand new high-temp/high strength semi-crystalline polymer that has electrical & thermal conductivity due to the high carbon filler content.
This machine has about 100uM resolution.

[3X24SPD]

About a month ago, I was getting ready to have a buddy install a nice 3" Mandrel bent exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers on the WARPATH car.
I tried to bolt on some header mufflers to get ready to drive it down to his shop, but found I had a interference with the passenger side muffler and the crossmember hump.
So I modeled a 4 degree wedge out of Ultem and put it in with a couple 3" Header gaskets on either side.
Made the drive down.
Car sounded way better on the way home with the new exhaust installed.

[3X24SPD]

When I was wiring the WARPATH car a few months back, I didn't like the factory '66 starter wiring.
So I used a 67 Ram Air Tube that bolts to the motor mount to run the positive battery cable to the front of the motor.
But I didn't want to run the other solenoid wires through that same tube and up the front of the motor and back on top of the motor along the valve cover to the firewall.
So I modeled up a routing tube that would clear the header tubes and the transverse arm and bolt to the back of the block.
This was done in Ultem as well, on an FDM Printer.

[dataway]

Very nice stuff!
So that Ultem can take those exhaust temps? I assume so or you wouldn't have used it. I can see how wedge adapters like that could solve a lot of problems for people.

Just noticed a new consumer level FDM machine that uses linear motors for the X-Y axis instead of the usual steppers and belts. Full closed loop positioning. Wonder if that's going to be a trend in consumer machines. By "linear motor" I mean it's a magnetic rail, like a railgun, https://peopoly.net/products/magneto-x

[3X24SPD]

Originally Posted by dataway

Very nice stuff!
So that Ultem can take those exhaust temps? I assume so or you wouldn't have used it. I can see how wedge adapters like that could solve a lot of problems for people.

Just noticed a new consumer level FDM machine that uses linear motors for the X-Y axis instead of the usual steppers and belts. Full closed loop positioning. Wonder if that's going to be a trend in consumer machines. By "linear motor" I mean it's a magnetic rail, like a railgun, https://peopoly.net/products/magneto-x

Well, Ultem has a Tg & HDT of only ~350F.
The collector can get hotter than that.
For this application- it just needed to hold up long enough to get me quietly down the road about 10 miles.
That's just what I needed it to do.
It was tossed in the trash afterward- as it was no longer required.

It would also have been super easy to make the same part in 6061 on a milling machine- if it was required to be a more permanent solution.

If the need were such that I were to consider 3D Printing another one of those for a longer term application- I'd use my newly developed SLS HT-25 material- that stuff will take almost 600F.

[RUDOLFSSON]

Great thread !

[dataway]

Well .. finally, I've kinda started on an actual 1/10th scale model of a 68 GTO.

Pictures are of a test print, I just drew up a model of a generic V8 block guesstimating measurements. Purpose of this print was just to see how best to position it etc. for printing.

Now I'll have to pour through lots of pictures and measurements, might even have to go down and open the hood of the GTO to measure something Eventually I'd like to have a print that the average pontiac fan could immediately identify as a Pontiac block. Shooting for something like 1/8" max error per foot compared to the real thing. Meaning ... mic the model, multiply X's ten and it should be within 1/8" per foot. Hopefully better.

Going to be a long journey ... I'd say probably ten years doing it in my spare time. Body parts will be a nightmare to model and print (at least for me, I'm no good with "organic" surfaces.)

Level of detail will be along the lines of ... if it's a seperate part that you can see, it won't be modeled (ie most internal engine parts, trans parts etc.), and most any part under about 1" real life size. Some of the small parts that must be modeled, but would be too small to do alone ... say like window cranks, will be modeled as attached to the door panel.

I have no idea how it will go. I may get frustrated and give up, I may love it. I may pick up help from other Pontiac/CAD/3d printing enthusiasts if they exist.

Or ... I may end up saying to myself ... I have the real thing down in the garage, if I want to play with something, go play with the real thing