Playing with some trim pieces

[Shipkiller]

I bought a 3D Printer about a month ago and I have been on the extreme learning curve ever since.

I remembered that one of the interior trim covers down by the seat (on the tunnel) is missing.

Yea, I can just order a couple of new ones but..... lets try something....


I need to smooth the finish but they FIT and actually look good.

[WickedNy]

nice alternative to small pieces...should try the infamously crappy cup holders next lol

[deemo319]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

I bought a 3D Printer about a month ago and I have been on the extreme learning curve ever since.

I remembered that one of the interior trim covers down by the seat (on the tunnel) is missing.

Yea, I can just order a couple of new ones but..... lets try something....


I need to smooth the finish but they FIT and actually look good.

Shipkiller, get busy making some of these so we can purchase them from you and help you pay for that 3D printer!

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by deemo319

Shipkiller, get busy making some of these so we can purchase them from you and help you pay for that 3D printer!

That piece would be easy to print.

The issue is you have to provide the 3d model to feed into the slicer....to do the print.

If I had to do the model, then you do not have enough money...

[Vanne]

Ship, I need 2 of those tunnel caps too. Any chance you could make me 2? I'll supply a few pints ofcourse

[kav]

Must be a common part to break. I need the tunnel bolt covers too. ?

[Shipkiller]

You know these are order-able parts.

Item 19.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_4931

Like I said, these fit (very tight) but you can tell that they do not belong. Different plastic and they are not smooth. You will most likely break them getting them out because the PLA plastic I used is stiffer than what BMW uses.
It was mainly a test for the actual print for small parts.

I printed these with a layer height of .2mm. At this resolution, it takes 15 minutes to print just one. I might try this a .1mm layer height but that will bump the print time to 25 minutes each.

[StickMon]

Originally Posted by kav

Must be a common part to break. I need the tunnel bolt covers too. ?

Mine too. They don't stand up well to heat and age.
When I need things like that I just collect up a "wish list" and buy them with my next order of oil and filter.

[rockstar93]

My Z4MR was missing the passenger side cover as well. Ended up going to the dealer with a P/N on hand from RealOEM, they then told me that it was a different part number for my car.

Cover they ended up giving me never fit right and square in the hole, and was obviously a different texture/colour than the driver's side + tunnel. Figured they screwed up and I had the part number right myself. But there was no way I was removing it without breaking it so I let it be.

[chickdr]

Mine was missing on the passenger side when I bought mine in 09. I was able to get the correct part from my dealer and it has been fine since.

[pokeybritches]

Does the printer have the resolution to print the BMW Roundel on the top?

If it can't be made to be identical, embrace the difference

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Does the printer have the resolution to print the BMW Roundel on the top?

If it can't be made to be identical, embrace the difference

Yes, but THAT would be really tacky....

[dc_wright]

Nice! The capability of the low cost 3D printers is amazing. I bought a Robo3D last year for work and it paid for itself the first day. It consistently held +/- .005" on the parts we printed, and it lasted 11 months before it had an issue (Controller board died due to a power brown out. Cleaning crew had unplugged the printer from it's UPS and plugged it back into a wall socket. ). We had printed off about 400 different parts at that point. I paid $699 originally so our cost was less than $2 per part. Going to an outside service we would have paid $200 - $1000 each for those parts.
Price for it now is $399 from Amazon so it's an even better deal now.
As Shipkiller indicated, the big work is getting to the point where you have a step file from a 3D model to feed into the printer software. The good news is if you're enrolled in any kind of college course, you can get a cheap or in some cases free copy of AutoCAD.

https://www.amazon.com/Assembled-3D-...eywords=robo3d

[rockstar93]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Does the printer have the resolution to print the BMW Roundel on the top?

If it can't be made to be identical, embrace the difference

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

Yes, but THAT would be really tacky....

IMO it would be tacky if it was a coloured, printed roundel. But if it could be made to look like an embossed logo right into the plastic (similar to OE BMW parts have) it would be alright. If that's even possible..

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by dc_wright

Nice! The capability of the low cost 3D printers is amazing. I bought a Robo3D last year for work and it paid for itself the first day. It consistently held +/- .005" on the parts we printed, and it lasted 11 months before it had an issue (Controller board died due to a power brown out. Cleaning crew had unplugged the printer from it's UPS and plugged it back into a wall socket. ). We had printed off about 400 different parts at that point. I paid $699 originally so our cost was less than $2 per part. Going to an outside service we would have paid $200 - $1000 each for those parts.
Price for it now is $399 from Amazon so it's an even better deal now.
As Shipkiller indicated, the big work is getting to the point where you have a step file from a 3D model to feed into the printer software. The good news is if you're enrolled in any kind of college course, you can get a cheap or in some cases free copy of AutoCAD.

https://www.amazon.com/Assembled-3D-...eywords=robo3d

I spent two days aligning/calibrating and just learning how the mechanics worked before I did my first print. This is were I think most people have issues. They think the printer is like your Epson, just turn it on and hit print. I sure a hell do not use a piece of paper to level the bed. I use a feeler gauge. The hardest part of the whole thing is realizing that each and every setting in your slicing software affect everything else.
I paid $350 for my Creality CR-10 printer in November. Damn its been fun so far..

Autodesk's Fusion360 is free to individuals and students...

[dc_wright]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

I spent two days aligning/calibrating and just learning how the mechanics worked before I did my first print. This is were I think most people have issues. They think the printer is like your Epson, just turn it on and hit print. I sure a hell do not use a piece of paper to level the bed. I use a feeler gauge. The hardest part of the whole thing is realizing that each and every setting in your slicing software affect everything else.
I paid $350 for my Creality CR-10 printer in November. Damn its been fun so far..

Autodesk's Fusion360 is free to individuals and students...

Exactly right on. We had several people on our staff that had experience programming CNC machining centers, so other then working around some shortcomings in the user manual we had it going pretty quickly. I can see where average Joe without any experience with 3D modeling or machine programming could get really stuck and frustrated. That plus we already used ProE/Creo for all of our physical design documentation so we could pull the STP files pretty easily. I haven't looked at the AutoDesk products for a while. Thanks for the tip on Fusion 360! I'll have to take a look at that app.

[Shipkiller]

Until this point, I had exactly zero experience with 3d modeling. The learning curve is steep but enjoyable.

What is a challenge is that different brands of filaments print differently, requiring different settings to get it to work satisfactorily. Even different colors of the same brand will not print like a different color of the same brand. And that is just using the same type of filament. I am currently only using PLA but the wife has bought me several rolls of ABS and Nylon for xmis... keep this quite...I am not suppose to know...

I am currently using Simplify3D as my main slicer. For those who do not understand, slicing software converts the 3d model into G-code (a subset of CNC code) so your printer knows how to print the model. I have picked up Ultimaker Cura 3.1 and have started to mess around with it. S3D is still my main slicer since I understand how it works. I also setup a spare Raspberry Pi 3, installed Octoprint on it and the RP3 is now my printer control engine so I do not have to have a big computer running to do the print. So far the largest print was 13 hours long. I do not like copying the .stl file to an sdcard to print.

There must be over 100 different types of 3d printers on the market. I spent a whole month doing research on (and adjusting my expectations downward) what I wanted in a 3D Printer, in the price range I was willing to pay...

This is really some cool shit.

[dc_wright]

Originally Posted by Shipkiller

Until this point, I had exactly zero experience with 3d modeling. The learning curve is steep but enjoyable.

What is a challenge is that different brands of filaments print differently, requiring different settings to get it to work satisfactorily. Even different colors of the same brand will not print like a different color of the same brand. And that is just using the same type of filament. I am currently only using PLA but the wife has bought me several rolls of ABS and Nylon for xmis... keep this quite...I am not suppose to know...

I am currently using Simplify3D as my main slicer. For those who do not understand, slicing software converts the 3d model into G-code (a subset of CNC code) so your printer knows how to print the model. I have picked up Ultimaker Cura 3.1 and have started to mess around with it. S3D is still my main slicer since I understand how it works. I also setup a spare Raspberry Pi 3, installed Octoprint on it and the RP3 is now my printer control engine so I do not have to have a big computer running to do the print. So far the largest print was 13 hours long. I do not like copying the .stl file to an sdcard to print.

There must be over 100 different types of 3d printers on the market. I spent a whole month doing research on (and adjusting my expectations downward) what I wanted in a 3D Printer, in the price range I was willing to pay...

This is really some cool shit.

Any change in the filament, brand, color, material, dryness, changes how it flows out of the deposition tip so you have to adjust for that. The good news is that it tends to be consistent for each so if you keep a log of the settings for each they are pretty repeatable.
On the dryness issue, most of the plastics that flow well for 3D printing also tend to be slightly hygroscopic so if they haven't been stored with desiccant or some other means of keeping them dry, that changes the flow a bit also. Might not be as significant for you where you are as it is for us here in the sub-tropics.

[Shipkiller]

Originally Posted by dc_wright

Any change in the filament, brand, color, material, dryness, changes how it flows out of the deposition tip so you have to adjust for that. The good news is that it tends to be consistent for each so if you keep a log of the settings for each they are pretty repeatable.
On the dryness issue, most of the plastics that flow well for 3D printing also tend to be slightly hygroscopic so if they haven't been stored with desiccant or some other means of keeping them dry, that changes the flow a bit also. Might not be as significant for you where you are as it is for us here in the sub-tropics.

I did not mention the hygroscopicity issues with filament.

I built a sealed dry-box that has a portable de-humidifier installed. It will hold two spools and the entire path from the box to printer is sealed (in PTFE tubing) so the filament in use stays dry.

[Huz-Z]

A late comment on those trim covers - I had the same issue with my car, so I bought a new one and popped it in place. Less than a year later, it came out, apparently because one of the tabs on it had broken off. Fearing that I had damaged it when I installed it, I bought another and the dealer tech amiably obliged my request to pop it in. Despite that, the second one fell out due to a broken tab 6 months later. I can only conclude that the OEM part is just flimsy, or at least the retaining tabs are. I think that a good approach may be to apply a couple of small dabs of glue or clear silicone to the back of the piece when installing to be sure it stays in place (not too much to make a mess or in case you need to remove it in future).