Factory NAV Replacement

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

I've been following this thread for several weeks now, and just want to say that this is absolutely BRILLIANT! Thanks so much for your willingness to share the STL files for what clearly has been a tremendous amount of work. We have an older Crealogy Endor printer which unfortunately cannot print the entire piece as one unit, so maybe I can slice it in two to later be joined with superglue.

My pleasure!

Yeah...never even thought of not having a large enough format printer that can handle it in one piece.

And sadly it is not a perfectly mirrored part (a bit assymetric)...so you can't import the .STL into a modeler, cut off half, add a flange and print two flipped parts. You could chop it apart and do each half separately, but that would be a handful using the .STL as the basis.

Making into two halves would be something for me to look into...

Let me noodle on it and I will post up my findings shortly.

[bimmernut9002]

btw, can I ask how you connected the PEMP android unit to your factory radio? None of the pictures actually show the harness (and assuming you didn't use the included IDRIVE knob). Is it a simple insert that plugs into the back of the factory radio locking connector or do I have to do other wiring mods?

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

btw, can I ask how you connected the PEMP android unit to your factory radio? None of the pictures actually show the harness (and assuming you didn't use the included IDRIVE knob). Is it a simple insert that plugs into the back of the factory radio locking connector or do I have to do other wiring mods?

My system already had the Nav/Screen and the auxillary input. So when i removed the Nav I had a loose screen (LVDS) connector that had to be reconnected to the new unit as well as the main connector that plugs into the back of the existing head unit. The LVDS is its own connector and just plugs straight up to the PEMP unit.

The main harness they provide plugs into the back of the existing head and then the existing head cable plugs into the their harness...effectively jumping in-line and intercepting the signal. Since mine already had the aux input circuitry the audio tapped in automatically...i did not have to hook anything else up at all...it just used whatever circuitry i already had to access the aux input...so i am not sure how that works if you don't have the Aux input already.

I can use the iDrive knob if i plug it into the system (and had it working for a while) although it is somewhat limited in what it can do and it is kind of wonky...not the highest quality. So i have since unplugged and don't use it.

All the other wiring is straight forward...literally no mods necessary...short of the things you have to do in order to route cameras and such (if you choose to do that)...but even those plugged straight in. Ez Pz.

[Z4Kevo]

Printing it in two parts...

3D printer material can be notoriously difficult to glue together...some materials are worse than others, so in the past (before i started using threaded inserts melted into place) i would create mating flanges and place conical cavities in opposition to one another and then squirt a two-part epoxy into each side and clamp it together until it cured. This would create what is effectively an internal clamp that held the two parts together.

With this part there are not a lot of places to insert mating flanges but there is material that we can thicken up a bit and place cavities as described above in order to hold the halves together. This also does not require any extra materials since you were going use some sort of glue anyway...no bolts, screws, nuts or inserts required. Simply glueing flat surfaces together could be unreliable...so this still uses glue but makes the final cured product into actual fasteners.

Here is the modified split-in-half model with the added holes for the epoxy...this is split right down the middle, so if you do a carbon wrap V pattern it should basically disappear.

I have included these in the Zip file with the other .STL files here (i only split the wide angular version as of now).

Just download the updated file and you should be good to go.

[bimmernut9002]

Gotcha, I have exactly the same setup with nav/screen and Aux input already in the car.

[bimmernut9002]

Wow! Thank you again -this is fantastic!

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

Gotcha, I have exactly the same setup with nav/screen and Aux input already in the car.

Awesome! Then you should be all set!

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

Wow! Thank you again -this is fantastic!

Let me know how the print goes! Curious to see how well it works in a car other than my own!

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by Z4Kevo

Printing it in two parts...

3D printer material can be notoriously difficult to glue together...some materials are worse than others, so in the past (before i started using threaded inserts melted into place) i would create mating flanges and place conical cavities in opposition to one another and then squirt a two-part epoxy into each side and clamp it together until it cured. This would create what is effectively an internal clamp that held the two parts together.......

I just finished up a print of one of these split parts and i am quite surprised at how well it turned out. Instead of PETG i printed it with some leftover PLA (using comparable settings)... given the way i had to arrange the parts for the print it actually trurned out better than any of my previous prints (mainly surface quality)... and with a similar printing time. Albeit with a some odd support locations that need cleaning up and a seam that needs to be dealt with.

After looking at an actual printed part I decided to make the clamping holes larger...i have the first layer set to print with a thicker width so the holes close up more than i want...this opens it back up a bit. The updated models are in the Zip file here.

The previous versions would still likely work, but the larger holes should give a tad more grip area.

[dre99gsx]

That's really cool. My 3d printer has been busted for years, and I used to print custom things like that for my car but found the plastic doesn't hold up to abuse and hot temperatures. I have to do a similar thing for my 8.5" LCD screen which contains my telemetry.

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by dre99gsx

That's really cool. My 3d printer has been busted for years, and I used to print custom things like that for my car but found the plastic doesn't hold up to abuse and hot temperatures. I have to do a similar thing for my 8.5" LCD screen which contains my telemetry.

Agree...I have similar concerns about the heat. Things are cooling off here at the moment, but i will get a good look when it starts to heat back up again.

PETG is a bit more resilient than PLA, but i may have to go back to some of the other materials i tested should the PETG not hold up.

[bimmernut9002]

Thanks for the updated/tweaked files. I was finally able to get my son to help me (it's his printer) and trying to print with ABS, but it's very finicky. We don't have any PETG, and figured the PLA wouldn't survive the first day of hot sun exposure. Will keep you updated!

[bimmernut9002]

Would you mind sharing the part orientation and key printer settings? I’m now trying with PLA, but not experienced enough to even get the thing started (keeps pulling off the bed), and my son is away at school and too busy to help his dear ol’ dad. Hate to ask given all you’ve already done for us!

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

Thanks for the updated/tweaked files. I was finally able to get my son to help me (it's his printer) and trying to print with ABS, but it's very finicky. We don't have any PETG, and figured the PLA wouldn't survive the first day of hot sun exposure. Will keep you updated!

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

Would you mind sharing the part orientation and key printer settings? I’m now trying with PLA, but not experienced enough to even get the thing started (keeps pulling off the bed), and my son is away at school and too busy to help his dear ol’ dad. Hate to ask given all you’ve already done for us!

not a problem...more than happy to help.

ABS is tricky...you have to print it incredibly hot and you really need an enclosure to get the temps just right. plus it strings easily (even with super fast retraction settings) and can cause a real mess for post-print clean up. this is why i abandoned ABS for later only if i absolutely had to.

my printer head runs hot so my head temp reads on the low side when it is more like 20-30 degs hotter than it shows.

i use a bed adhesive. the adhesive is the usual glue stick kind...just apply and spread it evenly across the surface.

the key for me to get good bed adhesion (in addition to the glue) is to run the first layer with a bed temp of 70deg (with reduced print speed to 50% and print layer width to 150% and a brim three lines wide and one layer thick)...then drop the temp to 60 for layer two and then 50 for layer three and beyond.

all layers printed with a static head temp of 190 for PLA and 195 for PETG. adjust these temps for your specific printer quirks and material specs.

I am also using an enclosure that creates a stable ambient temp of 32-33deg (with the aforementioned bed/head temps)...this gives a temperature gradient of only 17-18 deg from the bed to the surrounding air. this does wonders for warping and curling.

Here are the screen captures for the settings i use in Simplify3D plus a pic of the supports and orientation for the split model.

[NSummers]

In that orientation, it looked like Asgard

[bimmernut9002]

Thanks for sharing your settings.. I've tried to mimmick them as close as possible, and seems to printing now! Will keep you posted as it will take a few days to print one half!

[bimmernut9002]

Happy to report that my first attempt at printing resulted in fairly nice outputs that will surely need a bit of sanding before bonding together. Only took me 2.2 days per side. Have a look!

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by bimmernut9002

Happy to report that my first attempt at printing resulted in fairly nice outputs that will surely need a bit of sanding before bonding together. Only took me 2.2 days per side. Have a look!

Nice! Now comes the fun part! Haha!

[CJW2OO4]

I’m waiting on my friend to print me a piece. I’m sorry I am not well versed in 3d printing. Was the large single piece design not strong enough to support the nav screen?

[Z4Kevo]

Originally Posted by CJW2OO4

I’m waiting on my friend to print me a piece. I’m sorry I am not well versed in 3d printing. Was the large single piece design not strong enough to support the nav screen?

Plenty strong... his printer wasn't big enough to do it in one piece. Do it in one if you can.

[Z4Kevo]

I am ending up with an extra 4gb+64gb PEMP unit for E83/85/86 with iDrive... same unit as on Amazon here. This is the original unit I used as the template to design the dash trim, but beyond that it is essentially new and only mildly used. If anybody is interested let me know via PM...work out a deal.

Item Sold!

[bimmernut9002]

I decided to temporarily mount the PEMP unit without bonding the 2 pieces together, just to try it out for a while. The right side had pulled away from the bed during early stages of printing and will need to be reprinted. I think it looks pretty good and is very solid given that each side securely mounts to the PEMP and they each attach with screws to the dash. I wonder how it will hold up when the weather gets warm?

[Z4Kevo]

Not bad! Still a little bit of a side gap from the dash surface, but you can get that out.

What i noticed from print to print is that if I lightly sanded the back edge (closest to the window vents) the sides would tend to sit down better. There is a curve on the dash from front to back as well as side to side and the sides would sit high and gap if the side to side curve depth varied too much from the dash. My guess is print variation along that axis.

It varied but was always very slight. We are only talking about maybe a millimeter or so of extra curve depth needed along that edge. On your split print it would mean taking a bit more out where the two halves come together and feather it back to the existing corners.

With the AC vents removed you can look through the holes in the part and see light where where it gaps on that back edge and sand it to shape until it matches...paying attention to how it impacts the side gap. Take your time, sneak up on it and you should be able to get there!