Bigfoot928

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Kevin in Atlanta

Hans

Bigfoot928

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dr bob

Sterling--

Talk to a local sign/name badge/trophy company. They have some pretty cool laser etching options that would do the dirty work for you, leaving you to find a suitable "blank" with the right color and texture. That might be as easy as a black chassis hole plug.

karl ruiter

Most home 3d printers right now are the FDM type, which is not going to give you the quality you want. My suggestion would be to have it milled by protomold's milling service called FirstCut. You just give them a cad file and they mill as few as one from your choice of a wide variety of plasics and a few metals. Turn time as little as one day and not all that expensive.

Another choice would be to 3d print it in ABS and then use Acetone to try to melt the top surface to get the finish you want. Might work. Cheap to try.

Another choice would be to 3D print a mold and then mold the part using Bondo (or filled epoxy) and then sand, prime, sand, paint etc to get the finish you want.

RennPartsDirect

Is there enough material in the original cap to sand it smooth and apply a decal or laser etch it as Dr Bob is suggesting?

SS

Imo000

How about a sticker over the stock cap and then burry in in clear coat?

Bigfoot928

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kaptnknemo

I have a 3D printer and can make you a part if you give me a file that I can open in Solidworks ( I'll do the conversion between SW and 3D printable file)
It will be in ABS and like others have said it will be rough. You could finish it anyway you want...

KK

hans14914

100% agree, this is a part for the lathe and then finish on a mill. I would probably just turn it from Delrin stock, it accepts paint well, and is really easy to machine.

Apart from the visible layers along the radius of the dome, its really hard to get the integrity in the retention tabs when printing as a single part. FDM or FFF parts have a grain pattern, and printing the the part upside down, as required, puts the grain pattern on those tabs in the wrong dimensions. I designed a cap that assembles in 4 parts, so the legs can be printed with the grain in the correct direction, and then they are glued into the cap, but that is hardly ideal either and still requires lots of finishing.

If you are going to print these, look at the SLS process from Shapeways. It may be tough enough, but still think you will have tab issues. SLS is a more uniform surface, but its porous, like a casting, so you will still have to finish that as well.

SLA process will give you the surface finish that you want, but I dont think there are any resins out there at the moment to the "prosumer" industries that will survive the automotive environment and also not break at the tabs.

There is a process called Polyjet, and its not too expensive to have done at a print bureau. It would hold up to the insertion and have the surface finish, but the plastic degrades with heat and UV... so back to it probably not surviving in the car.

Bigfoot928

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hans14914

Rough guess, $150 for the actual machined part maybe a bit more. If you were doing a batch of them they would probably be $25 in a quantity of 10 or so. Anytime you do one of anything it gets pricey.

hans14914

Alright, broke down and design you the darn button. You now owe some beers.

http://cloudviewer.spaceclaim.com/1a...e8ab6d2b8.html

Its uploaded over at Shapeways and should be able to order it later this afternoon. Its around $35 for stainless steel, $12.50 for polished plastic, and $30 for extreme detail plastic... other materials available from shapeways, but that give you an idea.

Now stop worrying about shifter inserts and get your darn car off the jackstands.

BC

I love this place. You just can't beat the people.

Hilton

Wow, very cool of you Hans!