3D Printing Parts - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mach4 · #1 03-07-2016, 04:19 PM

I thought it would be fun to get a cheap 3D printer to learn a new technology so I picked up an open source kit recently. It's been a load of fun and interesting challenges to get it assembled and dialed in but I'm now at the point of being able to use it to solve problems.

As an example - my air filter was getting pretty dirty and so decided to pick up a new one. I'm using a custom filter setup for my 617 transplant into a 107 chassis and it's a very tight fit between the filter cone and the radiator shroud. It appears that Fram has begun making their filters about 3/8" higher so the new filter would not fit. My solution was to dremel off the end of the cone and print a plug that could be glued in place to provide the needed clearance.

Very tight fit

Modified filter

Installed in the car

I've also started playing with printing visor clips for the car. I'm using different visors so custom clips are in order. This has been an amazing challenge because nothing is square...the kind of project that stimulates learning.

I also used the printer to print a plug for a transmission. I sold the dipstick tube so to prevent dirt, water and other fod from getting in the transmission I designed and printed a custom plug. No bolts or rubber stoppers I had laying around fit so this was and easy fix.

Looking forward to the next project...maybe a mounting bracket for my fuel pressure transducer which is currently just zip tied in place.

A 3D printer is proof of the of the corollary to the old axiom - give a kid a hammer and suddenly everything needs pounding...

Mölyapina · #2 03-07-2016, 04:21 PM

Oh man, I'm so jealous! That looks so cool.

What printer are you using and what are you modeling your parts with?

mach4 · #3 03-07-2016, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mölyapina

Oh man, I'm so jealous! That looks so cool.

What printer are you using and what are you modeling your parts with?

I'm using a Migbot Prusa i3 printer. My workflow is to model the part in Sketchup and export it as an .stl file, import that into Slic3r to create the G code and then upload the G code to the printer using Pronterface.

engatwork · #4 03-07-2016, 06:39 PM

Cool. How bout a pic of the printer?

Graham · #5 03-07-2016, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mach4

I'm using a Migbot Prusa i3 printer.

Tried doing a search for that printer. Price is right! However, under the Comments, it seems one user had to make changes to the printer in order to get it to work well. Did you find the same thing?

The Migbot Ultra Prusa i3 3D Printer - 3D Printing

renaissanceman · #6 03-07-2016, 07:31 PM

I have a couple of 3d printers, including a Prusa i3v, and it doesn't hold very good tolerances out of the box. My Replicator 2x, however, makes beautiful parts.

Printing is awesome -- I use it to make car parts all the time, including sunroof sliders that I made for a member on here to try out. Apparently they worked pretty well for a first iteration part!

mach4 · #7 03-07-2016, 07:38 PM

There can be serious issues with these cheap Chinese printers. That said, you can replace a lot of parts for $700 or so. In my case, the power supply was bad and the mounting hardware for the LCD didn't come with the printer. The eBay seller didn't replace either, but provided a credit which allowed me to upgrade the power supply and get mounting hardware. The biggest issue was the lack of documentation which made putting the printer together a puzzle until I realized it was a Migbot and then found lots of documentation and resources online.

All of that said, the quality, fit and finish is really good and I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. I'm currently printing out spare parts for the printer should something break in the future (migbot prusa mendel I3 parts by bkrcmetalworks - Thingiverse). The beauty of open source is that replacements and upgrades are readily available. For example frames are available in steel, aluminum, melamine, plywood and acrylic. Choices of hot ends, extruders, bearings, lead screws, steppers, control boards, switches and power supplies are myriad and interchangeable.

Getting the printer dialed in is not for the faint of heart....it's a stiff learning curve. But now I can pretty much load a part, press print and walk away.

vstech · #8 03-07-2016, 10:33 PM

I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while now, but I know my time schedule... I'd never get it working.

w123fanman · #9 03-08-2016, 12:28 AM

All I can recommend for 3D printing and CAD is stay away from the Maker Bot Replicator 2 and stay away from using Autodesk Inventor. I forget what we use here at GT but they aren't too expensive. The people who run the 3D printing maker area absolutely hate all Maker Bot products, which I can agree with at least on the Replicator 2. Poor design, breaks all the time and the stock build plate warps making printing basically impossible. Print decent when it works right which is about 1% of the time. The 2X may be better. We had a lot of issues with Inventor in general but for 3D printing the sizes would come out wrong, usually the part would be some factor smaller in the printer exporting software. Easy to fix but doesn't change the fact that the Inventor software is super resources hungry (as in I've had it use up 20GB of RAM for a simple animation rendering and it would barely run, aka not at an acceptable level, on my lower level gaming laptop (i7, dedicated video, 12gb memory) and buggy.

renaissanceman · #10 03-09-2016, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by w123fanman

All I can recommend for 3D printing and CAD is stay away from the Maker Bot Replicator 2 and stay away from using Autodesk Inventor. I forget what we use here at GT but they aren't too expensive. The people who run the 3D printing maker area absolutely hate all Maker Bot products, which I can agree with at least on the Replicator 2. Poor design, breaks all the time and the stock build plate warps making printing basically impossible. Print decent when it works right which is about 1% of the time. The 2X may be better. We had a lot of issues with Inventor in general but for 3D printing the sizes would come out wrong, usually the part would be some factor smaller in the printer exporting software. Easy to fix but doesn't change the fact that the Inventor software is super resources hungry (as in I've had it use up 20GB of RAM for a simple animation rendering and it would barely run, aka not at an acceptable level, on my lower level gaming laptop (i7, dedicated video, 12gb memory) and buggy.

I would have to disagree on both points -- my MakerBot machines have been wonderfully reliable (granted I have not had a replicator 2 -- just a Thing-O-Matic in the early days and a 2X now and I maintain them really well and use American made filament) and Inventor is my primary design tool. I have SolidWorks as well, but prefer Inventor. The scaling issue is due to not choosing the proper units for your software when exporting the .stl file...

I run Inventor on my old laptop from 2009 with dual core i5 processors and 2gb of ram without any issues, as well as my six core desktop. I guess this is a YMMV situation.

bricktron · #11 03-09-2016, 07:23 PM

there is a piece of rubber, rectangular on one side and round on the other, which would allow a slimline 12" subwoofer to be suspended in the rear deck baffle, below the first aid kit opening and above the tank, in a W123. i would love to collaborate with someone more experienced to create such a part.

w123fanman · #12 03-09-2016, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renaissanceman

I would have to disagree on both points -- my MakerBot machines have been wonderfully reliable (granted I have not had a replicator 2 -- just a Thing-O-Matic in the early days and a 2X now and I maintain them really well and use American made filament) and Inventor is my primary design tool. I have SolidWorks as well, but prefer Inventor. The scaling issue is due to not choosing the proper units for your software when exporting the .stl file...

I run Inventor on my old laptop from 2009 with dual core i5 processors and 2gb of ram without any issues, as well as my six core desktop. I guess this is a YMMV situation.

Which version of Inventor? I had 2015 Pro. Georgia Tech phased out Inventor because most of the companies that recruit here wanted students to learn SolidWorks. I was in the second to last semester where they allowed you to take Inventor or SolidWorks for the intro to mechanical design class. My professor worked on the original release of Inventor surprisingly. Many students had issues running it but were able to complete the class using the library computers or remote access of GT's virtual computers. I fortunately had my brother's $2000 gaming desktop to use.

The Replicator 2 has an acrylic build plate that warps from the heat on long builds. You can purchase a glass replacement on eBay but I was never able to convince the people running the program to do so. We had some other issues with the printers that were mainly down to lack of maintenance by the people in charge of their upkeep. This was a program completely separate than the main maker space at Tech, the Invention Studio. They use Afinia printers there mainly, though before it was mostly MakerBot products.

renaissanceman · #13 03-09-2016, 08:08 PM

I've used all the versions from 2012 to 2016. Currently I run 2014 pro on the laptop and 2016 pro on the desktop. I learned SW in undergrad, and my graduate institution also used SolidWorks, but I prefer Inventor due to a more user friendly workflow...and their more liberal licensing policy doesn't hurt either. They will give it to students/faculty with a 3 year licence with no restrictions or watermarks, encouraging them to use it to make money (smart business model -- get the next gen or engineers "hooked"). But I am "bilingual" so to speak and use both.

Any shared equipment is going to appear to be crap since people don't care about it. Since I dropped 3k of my own money on my printer, it gets the best of care. Oregon State's library had printers, and they were always broken from run of the mill dumb@$$es trying to use them.

mach4 · #14 03-12-2016, 12:40 PM

I'm getting ready to pull the injector pump off my "junk" engine, and put it into storage should anything happen to my current one. I wanted to seal off the various ports and decided this was a suitable application for the printer. I took some measurements and designed some plugs and rings in Sketchup and printed them out - injector line fittings, fuel intake, fuel supply and fuel return. Turned out pretty decent.

Obviously could have used lots of different ways to do it, but the printer worked out nice.

dude99 · #15 03-12-2016, 02:24 PM

very cool