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PostPosted: March 6, 2013, 1:43 pm 
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http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/3d-printed-car/

BTW, I hear this works for making high-capacity ammo clips too.

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PostPosted: January 3, 2018, 12:00 am 
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I'll be 3D printing and fiberglassing over my panels that I'll be making for my donkervoort-ish build... does that count?

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PostPosted: January 3, 2018, 10:54 am 
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Put my "pool" guess out at about 10 years. That's a very interesting article, but due to the size of some required parts, it will still require 3D printers larger than the home shop could afford. I could see some enterprising person (like the one in the article) doing all the design and development, and then the homebuilder taking his/her pickup to a local 3D print shop and picking up all the pieces made under license from the designer. In that case, my pool guess changes to about 7 years out.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: January 3, 2018, 10:59 am 
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Lonnie-S wrote:
Put my "pool" guess out at about 10 years. That's a very interesting article, but due to the size of some required parts, it will still require 3D printers larger than the home shop could afford. I could see some enterprising person (like the one in the article) doing all the design and development, and then the homebuilder taking his/her pickup to a local 3D print shop and picking up all the pieces made under license from the designer. In that case, my pool guess changes to about 7 years out.

Cheers,


Since that article was dated almost 5 years ago, I guess we have only 2 years to go. :cheers:

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PostPosted: January 3, 2018, 4:44 pm 
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CodySimonson wrote:
I'll be 3D printing and fiberglassing over my panels that I'll be making for my donkervoort-ish build... does that count?


I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I have not decided if I should use the 3d printed parts with fiberglass as body panels or use 3d printed parts with fiberglass to make a plug. Please keep us updated on your progress.


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PostPosted: January 3, 2018, 9:57 pm 
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toby911gt1 wrote:
CodySimonson wrote:
I'll be 3D printing and fiberglassing over my panels that I'll be making for my donkervoort-ish build... does that count?


I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I have not decided if I should use the 3d printed parts with fiberglass as body panels or use 3d printed parts with fiberglass to make a plug. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Will do! Planning on starting to make body panels in fall-winter 2018. I have to design and build a large 3d printer in the tie too. I've built a couple smaller ones in the past but this one will be 4'x8'x4' so it might get messy :/

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PostPosted: January 5, 2018, 12:56 pm 
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rx7locost wrote:
Since that article was dated almost 5 years ago, I guess we have only 2 years to go. :cheers:


Some of us are on cosmic time, Chuck. :mrgreen:

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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PostPosted: January 5, 2018, 5:16 pm 
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I thought about messing around with a 3D printer.

The problems begin when you take thermoplastics out in the sun.

3D printing is great for rapid development and design prototyping.

Beyond that they are not good for anything but unstressed parts that will never see more than 80°f (trinkets and baubles).


A CNC plasma cutter is tickling my fancy now, with some 3D design software to create the patterns.

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PostPosted: January 5, 2018, 7:48 pm 
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Steve Graber cobbled up a giant gantry router to carve the body plug for his LaBala, then recycled the bits for other projects.

Beat the heck out of cutting a dozen-plus bulkheads and covering it with lath and plaster...


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PostPosted: January 6, 2018, 9:48 pm 
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Whatever happened to Steve? Is he still in Phoenix? I got a ride in that little toyota 20 valve powered yellow thing. Damn did it scoot.



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PostPosted: January 6, 2018, 10:29 pm 
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He seems to have vanished; his original "Graber" URL is now owned by an unrelated business. Googling Graber or La Bala, it appears he sold the business mid-2016 but there's little information other than that, https://www.rcnmag.com/news/grabercars-changes-hands

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PostPosted: January 6, 2018, 11:03 pm 
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Bent Wrench wrote:
I thought about messing around with a 3D printer.

The problems begin when you take thermoplastics out in the sun.

3D printing is great for rapid development and design prototyping.

Beyond that they are not good for anything but unstressed parts that will never see more than 80°f (trinkets and baubles).


A CNC plasma cutter is tickling my fancy now, with some 3D design software to create the patterns.


I'm printing my panels from PETG (fuel container plastic) then glassing over them. This has been done with 3D printed nylon and fiberglass/carbon fiber with FSAE intake manifolds before. I figure if it works for something like that it should work fine for outer panels that shouldn't see nearly as much stress.

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PostPosted: January 7, 2018, 12:35 am 
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I used some HDPE for a kart wing and that stuff is far from thermally stable.
10 min in the sun and the material expanded so much it looked like a preschooler made it.

I hope that PETG is more stable, or did you just use it for a mold?

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PostPosted: January 7, 2018, 8:27 pm 
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Bent Wrench wrote:
I used some HDPE for a kart wing and that stuff is far from thermally stable.
10 min in the sun and the material expanded so much it looked like a preschooler made it.

I hope that PETG is more stable, or did you just use it for a mold?

I have made a PETG shift knob, left it in the car during the summer. No issues at all.

I'll be using the PETG as the panel, then glassing over it for more strength.

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PostPosted: January 13, 2018, 6:08 pm 
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If you can make molds instead of plugs with the printer I think it will save you a lot of work. I'm basically just suggesting you apply the fiberglass to the inside of the panels you make. In both cases you need to provide flanges around the part for excess fiberglass to rest on and then cut that part off before the cure is complete.

You might need to sand or work the the surface of the printed part somehow to make it mirror smooth to make it a nice mold. Doing the same thing to the outside of the fiberglass you have laid on the printed part is an enormous amount of work. The fiberglass will not be smooth or even on the outside and it's a lot of work to sand. Fiberglass is made out of sand... Once you have the smooth finish of your hand laid up part it still will not take paint, you have to fill in millions of tiny holes between the glass fibers. because they will draw in the paint. These two issues work out when the outside surface of the car is on the inside surface of the mold when it is laid up.

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