While taking apart the factory head unit to install LED lights, I managed to lose one of the metal sleeves that sit inside of the tuning/volume *****. Unable to find a replacement metal sleeve by itself online, and with replacement ***** over $20 for a set, I decided to quickly draft up a some replacement ***** that could be 3D printed and would go directly onto the potentiometers on the factory radio without the metals sleeves. While they would look nicer with a resin printer, they turned out pretty good, and the cost of material beats the online options by a longshot!

A full set would be:
(1) Volume
(1) Tuning
(4) Fade/Base/Treble/Balance

Pictures are below, if anyone wants the .stl files, PM me your email address and I can send them over. I would recommend printing one to start to make sure it fits the potentiometers correctly. I had to adjust the size of the hole a couple times, and every 3D printer is a bit different. I also found that the potentiometers were slightly different form one another as well. I can adjust the hole size fairly easily if it doesn't fit yours.

 

What software are you using? Been trying FreeCad but it is not intuitive.

 

Nice! Thanks for sharing

 

Cool idea, I have a printer but no CAD experience. Will need to change that and learn sometime.

 

I made these using Tinkercad, which is the educational/hobby CAD web-based software from AutoDesk. I find it easy to use and very intuitive. It is also free and web-based, but of course it cannot be used for commercial use.
It is pretty limited in functionality, but plenty good for 3D printing.

 

May have to investigate. Not that I'm old, but I've been using AutoCAD since it was on 5.25" floppies. Single sided at that.

 

So, after your time and cost of materials, how much money do you reckon was saved?

Im not too familiar with the details of the 3D printing.

 

What material did you use?

 

I had a buddy print them, I believe he used PLA on his Ender 3 Max. I'm sure they would look much smoother with a resin printer, I am thinking I am going to buy one soon.

 

PLA doesn't hold up well in car interiors because it cold flows when temperatures rise. I've had some small interior car parts remain usable while larger ones distort too much. Other materials such as ABS tolerate heat better but are more difficult to print.

 

Cost online for a set of volume/tuning ***** is ~$35, cost of material was probably only a few bucks, if that.
Time wise it was probably not worth doing this just for the one set (probably ~1 Hr. to make/adjust all three versions), but now I can print more in the future if I lose/break them. Plus others can save some money as well.

 

That is good to know. He doesn't like to use any other materials since he is printing indoors without ventilation.
When I have a location to do so (in ~2 months), I want to get a resin printer to make more visually appealing prints.

 

Nice job and now you don’t have to worry about those parts becoming extremely hard to find.

 

Hey buddy, I would love to have that file, if you dont mind. I tried to PM you and it wouldn't let me for some reason. Email is EnoughKreations@yahoo.com. thanks in advance!

 

Sent.

 

What online vendor is selling these?

 

There are quite a few, some are complete sets some are only partials:

https://www.zip-corvette.com/97-04-r...RoCVQUQAvD_BwE