marksman

Well-Known Member
Full Member
Anyone had anything 3d printed ? I'm looking to develop some of the harder to source pieces for our vehicles and would like recommendations for people / companies that carry out small batch 3D printing at reasonable rates ?
 
Nothing useful trawled up from search !!!!
Anyone with direct experience / recommendations
 
Have you already designed the pieces ? in which case you can send the files to 3D printing companies for quotes.
 
I got hold of a file for the dash mounted cup holder for a P38 and had it printed by a friend. It came up well.

I think getting it done one off by a commercial company would be expensive though. Admittedly they have different kit, but my friend’s 3D printer took 30 hours to do the job.
 
I find larger objects with a minimum of around 5mm wall thickness are ok, anything thinner has very little strength if printed on a domestic type printer. IMO there are expensive printers that use a different printing process that would be fine but as you say are very costly to use.
 
Anyone had anything 3d printed ? I'm looking to develop some of the harder to source pieces for our vehicles and would like recommendations for people / companies that carry out small batch 3D printing at reasonable rates ?
Its tricky to understand what the ask is ?

Are you asking for
  1. 3D Print
  2. 3D Design and Print
  3. 3D Scan and Print
First is easy I/anyone can do that for you.
The second takes more effort and depends what the item is.
The third is hardest but do-able with £££ or ingenuity and again depends on the item.

Happy to help if you want to try something out.
 
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@Dopey looked into this. He said the difficulty was finding the right strength for something as small and delicate as most of the clips he wanted to print.
 
Little plastic clips should be easy enough and ideal for home printers. One of my faves is to print the clips which keep bags closed like a packet of crisps or something.

You could spend weeks tweaking it to get it right. I see there is an ashtray 3d Print but its about 1cm thick and takes 32 hours to print... I mean its an ashtray it just doesn't need to be like that. To get it right it needs some good thinking in the print config and the design. So many times its one or the other which makes it a fail.
 
Little plastic clips should be easy enough and ideal for home printers. One of my faves is to print the clips which keep bags closed like a packet of crisps or something.

You could spend weeks tweaking it to get it right. I see there is an ashtray 3d Print but its about 1cm thick and takes 32 hours to print... I mean its an ashtray it just doesn't need to be like that. To get it right it needs some good thinking in the print config and the design. So many times its one or the other which makes it a fail.
What's the point of having clips to keep empty crisp packets closed?;):D:D:rolleyes:
 
Its tricky to understand what the ask is ?

Are you asking for
  1. 3D Print
  2. 3D Design and Print
  3. 3D Scan and Print
First is easy I/anyone can do that for you.
The second takes more effort and depends what the item is.
The third is hardest but do-able with £££ or ingenuity and again depends on the item.

Happy to help if you want to try something out.

IMO No 1 also depends on size of object given the printing bed is generally under 25cm square.
 
A lot of ppl need these, they break easily, get lost

BTR4428.jpg
 
I find larger objects with a minimum of around 5mm wall thickness are ok, anything thinner has very little strength if printed on a domestic type printer. IMO there are expensive printers that use a different printing process that would be fine but as you say are very costly to use.
If you dehumidify ABS before you print, you get more strength and better results in general. PLA is fine for mockups but has very limited life for finished parts.
 
If you dehumidify ABS before you print, you get more strength and better results in general. PLA is fine for mockups but has very limited life for finished parts.

Cheers for the tip. I have recently bought a role of ABS so going to have a play with it soon then I may try the carbon fibre.
 
Did you manage to get the strength issue sorted mate,there could be a market for those trim clips.;)
No I gave up in the end, It's hard to fine ppl with a printer in the first place, there are people that do it as a business, but they charge a lot of ££
 

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