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I've made a couple things for our 72 Vette. While re-doing the interior I wanted to mount a pair of 4x6 speakers in the kickplate but didn't want to "bubba" it like the previous owner who just screwed them through the plastic trim plate. I 3D printed a couple of mounts which fit to the openings in the birdcage perfectly and utilize factory mounting holes.
I printed a few misc. broken plastic clips and reinforcements for cracked trim pieces.
I also printed a carb stand for rebuilding the Holley carb, worked pretty awesome actually!
I've had a bit of experience over the years with both home built 3D printers (like the one used to print the parts I showed above) to commercial laser sintered metal printers. The tech is cool and the barriers for entry are coming down while the quality is coming up. That being said, I have been less than impressed with the quality of parts produced using the laser sintered stainless steel process.
The parts tend to be grainy (rough) in nature and have a tendency to warp due to uneven cooling of the part. On the plus side, it can be machined and tapped like normal stainless. They also tend to be porous and in the case of an intake would take a hell of a lot of post production work (polishing ports, machining mating surfaces flat) that it probably wouldn't be worth the effort for the average home mechanic. As a little experiment, I found a CAD model of a typical Edelbrock intake and uploaded it to Shapeways (an internet printing house) and while they could do it, it would cost roughly $17,000. Parts are priced per cm3, so 3400 cm3 of material @ $5/cm3 = .
Your best bet, given the cost of the technology today, would be to print the part from an affordable plastic material to produce a "lost wax" type of mold and cast it in aluminum. We've done this for smaller hardware parts with decent success rates.
Don't get me wrong, there will come a time in the not too distant future when you go online, type in the specs on the part you want and they "print" you a one off that is suited exactly to your needs. Producing production casting molds are extremely expensive and at some point it will make financial sense to abandon traditional casting methods in favor of a printed (or at least partially printed) part.
If you are at all interested in what the bleeding edge of the 3D printing world is, definitely check out http://www.3ders.org/
I'm surprised to see so many 3D printers under $1000 U.S. My husband looked at one in a hobby shop recently, I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I thought it was $2-$3000. Of course Canadian prices are 30% higher, but still.
I've made a couple things for our 72 Vette. While re-doing the interior I wanted to mount a pair of 4x6 speakers in the kickplate but didn't want to "bubba" it like the previous owner who just screwed them through the plastic trim plate. I 3D printed a couple of mounts which fit to the openings in the birdcage perfectly and utilize factory mounting holes.
Sport mirror (generic) spacer to make the mirror sit horizontal instead of tilted inwards (look I don't like and there's more visibility towards the rear when they are horizontal)
I tried getting some of these made using 3d printer technology, it`s the plastic button inside a 70ish & up tach drive distributor, the printing is not the expensive part it`s the writing of code or software or whatever that tells the printer what to do thats the expensive part, I am still looking if anyone knows someone...
Last edited by redvetracr; Oct 30, 2015 at 11:01 AM.
I do 3D modelling as a living (freelancer). If anyone needs a 3D model and export file to send to printer (.STL) for example, just shoot me a message. If I have time and you have a sketch I'll model it. for free ofcourse
I've made a couple things for our 72 Vette. While re-doing the interior I wanted to mount a pair of 4x6 speakers in the kickplate but didn't want to "bubba" it like the previous owner who just screwed them through the plastic trim plate. I 3D printed a couple of mounts which fit to the openings in the birdcage perfectly and utilize factory mounting holes.
I printed a few misc. broken plastic clips and reinforcements for cracked trim pieces.
I also printed a carb stand for rebuilding the Holley carb, worked pretty awesome actually!
For those that would like to make one of the carb stands yourself, you can download the STL file (the standard file type used by most 3D printers) free of charge from here.
I looked into what it would cost to print from Shapeways but it looks to be prohibitibly expensive (+$250). If you have access to a 3D printer at home or through a friend, have at it!
I created a prototype of this using PVC pipe and some other materials, then had one of our CAD Engineers draw it up in Autodesk Inventor, export to an .stl file and we printed it on a 3D Systems machine. Painted it black and wallah! I don't miss the ashtray one bit.
I've considered having a few more of these printed and offering them to forum members at my cost. If there is interest I will get the pricing together from our print group so you can see if it is justifiable.
Last edited by gbarmore; Nov 1, 2015 at 11:32 AM.
Reason: added pic and addl info
I created a prototype of this using PVC pipe and some other materials, then had one of our CAD Engineers draw it up in Autodesk Inventor, export to an .stl file and we printed it on a 3D Systems machine. Painted it black and wallah! I don't miss the ashtray one bit.
Looking very nice, amazing what we will be able to do in the near future, with printes that all can afford to buy.
I'm still looking forward see the first intake, maybe just as a drawing, ready for printing?
I created a prototype of this using PVC pipe and some other materials, then had one of our CAD Engineers draw it up in Autodesk Inventor, export to an .stl file and we printed it on a 3D Systems machine. Painted it black and wallah! I don't miss the ashtray one bit.
I've considered having a few more of these printed and offering them to forum members at my cost. If there is interest I will get the pricing together from our print group so you can see if it is justifiable.
Very nice but what I noticed was the gear shift pattern. I have an 82 and modified the detent to shift into 1st but would like the plate showing. Could you share what you did please.
From: Some days your the dog and some days your the hydrant.
Royal Canadian Navy
Originally Posted by c3_dk
Looking very nice, amazing what we will be able to do in the near future, with printes that all can afford to buy.
I'm still looking forward see the first intake, maybe just as a drawing, ready for printing?
I wouldn't hold my breath. Non-metal engine parts have been toyed with for decades but there aren't any engines being manufactured to date that I'm aware of regardless of the manufacturing process. The AFR Titan intake works but I doubt it was made in a 3-D printer and its expensive. Heat is the enemy for non-metallic parts. As noted earlier, sintered metal 3-D printers are now being developed. I saw a state-of-the-art version of one with 3 lasers. A 5 gallon pail of powdered metal was about $20,000. However, to say the results were phenomenal is an understatement!
I created a prototype of this using PVC pipe and some other materials, then had one of our CAD Engineers draw it up in Autodesk Inventor, export to an .stl file and we printed it on a 3D Systems machine. Painted it black and wallah! I don't miss the ashtray one bit.
I've considered having a few more of these printed and offering them to forum members at my cost. If there is interest I will get the pricing together from our print group so you can see if it is justifiable.
Any chance this could be made without the Corvette Logo?
I am building a custom 72 Road Race Replica and I think this would be stunning on the car for two additional gauges. I will put three toggles where the corvette logo is located, hence my request.
Or could "Road Shark" be added where the work "Corvette" is located?
Interested, quite interested.
David Howard
AllC34Me
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