Interior Light Lens... and 3D printing.

[monkeyman]

A while back I printed a brass lock barrel for the hatch. I recently printed a light lens for the interior light. I thought this might be interesting for some of you.

I went to turn on the light a little while back, and when I pressed on the lens cover, my fingers went straight through the plastic. The plastic had perished from age and presumeably from the heat of the bulb.

As disappointing as it was, it was nice to get more light in the car!

Spares are hard to get so I thought I could try printing a replacement. I decided to try to get it printed in clear plastic to get that extra brightness (I also installed an LED lamp instead of the old-school bulb, which seemed to increase the amount of light in the car).

So I did up a design. I added a texture on the inside to diffuse the light but it turns out it wasn't necessary.

 

For those of you that live in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Mill Park library has a 3D printer. Little known fact. As it happens, I am the only person to have brought it my own design and printed it so far! The only other people to have used it are some people that have done some 3D printing tutorials the library offers. And it costs nothing! So get designing, there are a number of free 3D design softwares on the internet (I use 123D design), and the library has many colours.

 

So I printed a test run of my interior light lens design in white. I then made some adjustments (1/2 mm longer, and a recess for the button so that it would reset properly). And I went back and printed it in clear. It's not perfectly clear, but it's pretty good. The internal structure is enough to diffuse the light (it's not solid, but has internal bracket-like structures).

 

I printed at 0.2mm resolution and it took 1 hour to print. I printed again at 0.1mm resolution and it took 2 hours to print but I couldn't see any real improvement.

 

One thing I didn't include in the design is that the 'legs' point in a bit on the original. I see now that it is necessary or they rub against plastic seams in the outer casing. I just fixed it with a file rather than printing again.

 

Anyway, it's a pretty good result.

I think 3D printing is going to solve a lot of our problems with these cars.

If you want to use the Mill Park 3D printer, let me know and I will fill you in with required file formats, etc.

 

Eric

[gav240z]

Well done I'm very interested in this for a number of reasons. How do you find doing the design work?

 

At Uni I used 3d studio Max for modelling I assume it is a similar process for this?

 

I shall have to see if there is a 3d printer at a local library in Sydney.

[monkeyman]

I did some Googling and see that Penrith library has a printer. I don't know about any others.

3d Studio max is made by the same people as the free 123D Design (Autodesk). I don't think you would have much trouble with whatever software you choose, so long as it can export 'stl' format (seems to be the industry standard).

To print on the Mill Park Makerbot, you first have to run the Makerware software (on the library computer or free download) to take the 'stl' file and convert to a format the printer will accept. This conversion also adds support structures for overhanging bits that are broken or cutaway later. I'm not sure of the process on the Penrith library printer (it doesn't look like a Makerbot) but it might be similar.

 

Penrith is fair hike from city. There might be something closer. Universities will probably have some too, the RMIT printer can do Titanium I have heard.

 

Good luck.

If you print something, let us know. Maybe we could start a library of Z component designs.

Eric

[gav240z]

Yeah I actually met a fellow recently who told me his University had a 3D printer but I can't remember who it was and I didn't want to ask to use it - too soon the relationship lol...

 

I will have to look into it, but I might have 1 at work that I can get access to.

 

Google has (edit* looks like they sold it actually) a 3D printer repository where you can upload open source models etc..

http://www.sketchup.com/products/sketchup-make

 

But the basic version still appears to be free. So many parts could be printed that are NLA or very difficult to obtain. It would be great to create an open source repository so that we can share and improve designs.

 

 

 

[rb240]

http://www.thingiverse.com/ is a popular 3D model repository.  Monkeyman - if you're willing to share your stl files, you could upload them there.

 

I have a 3d printer, so I may be able to print a few parts for people.  Or if you want to find someone with a printer in your area, check out http://www.makexyz.com/.

[skipz]

Thought I'd add my 2c. Things to consider:

+ Material choice will play a big part in the degree of heat resistance.  There are multiple material types available and they are tied to the process used to create the 3D print.

+ Consider your layering orientation as it will affect the final 'look' and can influence part strength. (The print software should alllow you to choose the part orientation).

+ Your part resolution when outputting the stl file can influence finish quality depending on the shape of your part.

 

Shapeways is another option for printing - with multiple material options available.

www.shapeways.com

 

You could also use moulding techniques to reproduce your part - e.g. silicone moulds. That way you could use clear resins that provide good transparency and heat resistance.

http://aldaxstore.com.au/c/131162/1/general-mould-making-silicone.html