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Why no 3d print out there?

Brandonium

New member
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Location
Birmingham, AL.
So I swapped out my super crappy and flimsy designed '71-'72 three piece grill for the '67-'70 aluminum one. Of course finding parking lamp housings for these grills is another part that cannot be obtained. Finally came across a set with the left being mint and the right looking like it had been buried in crap for 40 years and also dug up every so often so it could be blow torched. Sent it to a friend of mine who said that 3d printing these should be easy..

So the question begs to be asked. Why are we not seeing 3d printed recreations of unobtainable parts for the 1xx series of cars? I mean I am having a replacement made by a friend who is by no means rich he just happens to have assembled one over time and it'll do the job.

I'd think a parts house like VP auto or CVI would benefit from recreating items that have long been unavailable. Thoughts?

I am sure this would also hold true for P1800, Amazon, etc but having once owned a P220 I know that my 142 has been harder to procure parts for than the Amazon ever was.
 
The market for 140 stuff is vanishingly small, 3D printed parts might be functional but they won't be exact replicas (VP's bread and butter) and the long term durability of the materials used in the process is questionable in an outdoor/automotive setting. Also stuff like grilles would be pretty complicated to print so the labor/time involved would probably be considerable and the reject rate might be high, so the parts would be expensive.

In other words no one is going to pay $500 for a 140 grille that melts in the sun. :-P
 
Customer review

*****

I wish I could give this zero stars. Not a project, no photos and lack of understanding that at the end of the day few people actually own 140s and even less want to fix them. For the most part 3d printed parts finish looks like an action figure melted with a magnifying glass then dragged on concrete.
 
You say that.. and then I see that I am never the only one looking for unobtainable parts. Then someone gets $400 on ebay for an item that we all know isn't really worth that but due to no supply it is what it is. So I don't entirely buy that argument. There is not as much demand but there is demand none the less.

Supply is zero when demand is an occasional $14.99.
 
Well yes, grills I get that but there are other items that are not grills. I would not expect grills and chrome trim to be 3d printed. :lol:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/images/smilies/laugh2.gif
The market for 140 stuff is vanishingly small, 3D printed parts might be functional but they won't be exact replicas (VP's bread and butter) and the long term durability of the materials used in the process is questionable in an outdoor/automotive setting. Also stuff like grilles would be pretty complicated to print so the labor/time involved would probably be considerable and the reject rate might be high, so the parts would be expensive.

In other words no one is going to pay $500 for a 140 grille that melts in the sun. :-P
 
Give it zero stars then. It pertains to a project but not ONLY my project so yes it does pertain to this. Unless of course you want it in MY build thread but by all means please don't venture there as I am the ONLY 140 series owner apparently. :roll:

Customer review

*****

I wish I could give this zero stars. Not a project, no photos and lack of understanding that at the end of the day few people actually own 140s and even less want to fix them. For the most part 3d printed parts finish looks like an action figure melted with a magnifying glass then dragged on concrete.
 
Not a project, no photos

all sorts of dubious "project threads" since the forum was moved into mechanical...


Anyways, OP, 3d printed parts are either ridiculously expensive or crappy. Even the crappy ones are expensive. If you think there's a market, you can make your own solid model or send out a part to get scanned, and then either pay someone to print it for you or buy your own printer.

Injection mold tooling starts at about $12k, there's always that, then it's pennies per part.:)
 
I realize they are not the same as a mold but for someone who wants or needs something crucial like a housing for a marker or turn signal it would be a nice alternative no? I mean hell if it goes to crap in 5 years from UV then get another. And it's not really seen beneath the housing so there's no real need for it to be beautiful. Of course I would not expect 3d printing to make me a comparable lens for turns, side markers, tails that's not really feasible and would look like turd!

I mean at some point creativity has to be given credit in trying to recreate at least a few things that no one else will attempt to make. And it gets old searching for months only to pay $100 for a side marker housing that would belong in the trash if it were not so desperately needed.

all sorts of dubious "project threads" since the forum was moved into mechanical...


Anyways, OP, 3d printed parts are either ridiculously expensive or crappy. Even the crappy ones are expensive. If you think there's a market, you can make your own solid model or send out a part to get scanned, and then either pay someone to print it for you or buy your own printer.

Injection mold tooling starts at about $12k, there's always that, then it's pennies per part.:)
 
Give it zero stars then. It pertains to a project but not ONLY my project so yes it does pertain to this. Unless of course you want it in MY build thread but by all means please don't venture there as I am the ONLY 140 series owner apparently. :roll:

Just admit you started a thread in the wrong place. As a many 140s owner I know what you mean about lack of parts, even 240 parts are hard to comeby .....

Another reason why I love my Amazons - you can get almost anything new
 
I've been systematically working to replace what parts I can with 2xx series parts. Getting rid of those damned turn signals and side markers only because I see those soon become unobtainable.

But yes I figure if there was a topic about creating new parts that are part of a restoration process then where else should it be?

Just admit you started a thread in the wrong place. As a many 140s owner I know what you mean about lack of parts, even 240 parts are hard to comeby .....

Another reason why I love my Amazons - you can get almost anything new
 
You say that.. and then I see that I am never the only one looking for unobtainable parts. Then someone gets $400 on ebay for an item that we all know isn't really worth that but due to no supply it is what it is. So I don't entirely buy that argument. There is not as much demand but there is demand none the less.

Ya ya I had a bunch of those from parting 140's back in the day, but like you say the soft plastic surround was a little bit crispy and deformed, so I threw them out knowing full well ?heapass Volvo guys want 30-40-50 year old parts in perfect condition for :twocents:.

Well I got some very bad news for you, it doesn't work that way in the real world.
 
I just make the parts that I need for myself. I have no interest in printing parts for others. I mostly model upgraded parts (won't spoil the fun...there is a build thread that needs feeding).
 
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