NSX Panel Assy & 3D printer

[nukwar]

I recently took my NSX’s Panel Assy under the drivers side to get re-upholstered. The place did a great job repairing it but they broke one of the screw tabs.
I did not notice it until I got home. So I figured I could design a replacement part. I currently teach Engineering Design and Presentation which is a fancy name for drafting. My students are high school grades 10 to 12.
We use a 3D solid modeling software called Autodesk Inventor. Students learn to draw mechanical parts and then use a MakerBot Repicator 2X to print the parts.

I ASSumed that both tabs were of the same side so I took my vernier caliper and started measuring.

I drew the part using Inventor. Saved the part as an STL file. Stl files are universal files the all 3D printer programs understand. MakerBot uses MakerWare software to import the files and then convert the drawing to codes that the printer can print.

After making several versions of the part I finalized the part and used JB weld to glue it on to the panel.

Every thing went back together nicely.

 

[clean_green]

Great stuff! I love those 3D printers for fixes, such as this :smile:

 

[senna91]

Cool! Can you make the entire plastic piece?

 

[kennyvb]

Good stuff. The possibilities of a 3D printer are endless! How much did the upholstery shop charge you for the re-cover? Did they use new material?

 

[Old Guy]

Nice fix. I have an interest in other classic vehicles. Someone had 3D printed a complete replacement panel for a piece of dash fascia (a part about 3" by 10 - 15") around the heater controls that was not commercially available. They had it commercially printed because they wanted a very fine finish. The finish was good enough that they were able to include the original molded in lettering for the heater controls. The only thing left off was the car name because of trademark issues. The piece turned out just super; but, not cheap.

Its been a couple of years since I explored this option. At the time, the biggest issue with being able to print larger replacement parts was getting plastics with the required strength and toughness. The printing mediums might have evolved enough that printing larger pieces for out of production items might become viable. If that becomes the case, an interesting idea might be to accumulate a library of print files in the Prime Wiki that people could down load and then send off to the printer of their choice to have reproduced.

The NSX is an exceedingly low volume car for a main line manufacturer. I expect that parts availability for trim pieces is or will become an issue.

 

[Chase_acura]

Very cool

 

[nukwar]

Cool! Can you make the entire plastic piece?

You can make the entire piece but the printer will cost in the thousands. The build volume in the on the Replicator 2x is 9.7" L x 6.0" W x 6.1" H. The other issue is you would have to find someone that could scan the piece.

- - - Updated - - -

Good stuff. The possibilities of a 3D printer are endless! How much did the upholstery shop charge you for the re-cover? Did they use new material?

All the shop did was re-glue the original material. I wanted to put leather on the piece but the shop said that a piece around the key hole would break because that piece is heat welded on and the material goes underneath the heat welded part.