E46 M3 cluster swap

[TwoJ's]

Very well done!

[Ray Smoodiver]

[RobertK]

SO excited!

[Farbin Kaiber]

From my moldmaking knowledge, I'd say you might want to lay down the tape, fill the hole with some RTV or silicone, then tape the backside, then remove the tape on the buck surface. I'm sure it won't leave much ghosting, but I think some might be there, lighting dependent on what hits it from sun, interior lights, etc. might cause a glare on it.

But, looks awesome. I was looking into doing some thermoforming projects with a friend that is in the 501st last summer, so I looked into a lot. The ceramic heater vented duct setup with a legit vac pump as opposed to the shop/home vac also makes a difference.

[nando]

you're reading my mind!

I was thinking some sort of epoxy that I could sand/polish, but silicone would probably work too. I think it needs to be something with low-acid content? I like trying things that are easily removed if it doesn't work (like the tape), so I might do silicone first and then epoxy.

the tape did leave a tiny imprint but it's basically invisible once you put it on the cluster. the bigger issue is any dust particles caught under the tape leave a little bump that makes a mark in the acrylic. you can't easily see it, but I know it'll bug me. I figure to some degree I can polish most of the small defects out if need be.

I decided against casting "bumps" for the two switches that stick out of the E46 cluster, I'm just going to bore holes and maybe at the most install a small grommet. It's just easier to deal with one smooth surface.

yeah, using a kitchen oven isn't ideal. thankfully acrylic doesn't release any toxic fumes. the thing is I have ideas for other parts that I wouldn't want to make using our regular oven because other types of plastics aren't so good for you. I don't want to have my kids around that kind of stuff. I'm thinking in a year or two we'll get all new appliances, then I can move that oven downstairs to the garage where nobody has to breathe it in.

I saw some thing about making your own oven for like $30. the wife might ask too many questions about that though. lol. I figure I can appease her by making her things like custom chocolate molds. :p

I have a 5 gallon shop vac but I want to get rid of it for a smaller one.. there's a pretty nice one at Costco for about $30, I think it's 2 gallons or something. the 5 gallon just takes up way too much space and I just don't need that much capacity. however our regular house vacuum works very well, without me even pushing down on the frame it held the thing in there all by itself. it was made in Germany too.

[TwoJ's]

yeah, using a kitchen oven isn't ideal. thankfully acrylic doesn't release any toxic fumes. the thing is I have ideas for other parts that I wouldn't want to make using our regular oven because other types of plastics aren't so good for you. I don't want to have my kids around that kind of stuff. I'm thinking in a year or two we'll get all new appliances, then I can move that oven downstairs to the garage where nobody has to breathe it in.

It's funny, an old dude at work showed me his method of identifying mystery plastics -- he puts a lighter to them, watches how/if they burn and then smells the smoke they give off. I started being able to identify quite a few plastics, but I was caught doing this in my office by our plant manager and got a serious WTF look. That and I try to sneakily solder in there too... OSHA people would love me.

For the hole, can you use some evercoat or other body filler that sands really easily? Seems like you could fill that hole and get it perfectly smooth pretty easily.

[nando]

I used to build a lot of model kits. I knew the stock cluster lense was acrylic by the way it cut, and that the cluster housings are ABS (they usually would be anyway). I don't like the nasty black smoke that comes from polystyrene though, haha. I may or may not have had a Starship Enterprise model go down in flames as a kid..

[Farbin Kaiber]

^I may or may not have replicated the Trench Run on an not to scale model DS Trench that took two weeks to make and essentially vaporized a ~1995 edition Tie Fighter with three friends and $27.xx worth of Estes C & D series rocket engines.

[AndrewBird]

My dad has always told me stories of when he was kid and flying string guided airplanes. They would cover the whole plane in model glue, light it on fire and fly it until it disintegrated. lol

I've attached my fair share of model rockets to various things.

[Farbin Kaiber]

^Rocket Banana was a huge flop for me. Dodging rocket engines is something else. Oh to be a kid again.

[AndrewBird]

A friend and I once set off a CO2 canister (like for paintball guns) without it attached to anything. It ended up behind us somehow without us even knowing how it got there, all within the blink of an eye. lol

[Farbin Kaiber]

Looking back, I'm sure we are lucky these "tests" didn't leave us trying to deal with said item traversing the distance via a pathway through our bodies.

Used to make explosive punching balloons with Red Devil Lye and aluminum foil in one gallon metal cans and line our fence with a few and shoot at them with a bow and flaming arrows.

[nando]

lol. I did a lot of the same stuff. I'd probably be on a terrorist watch list or something these days. I still have some igniters leftover from model rockets.

[george graves]

lol. I did a lot of the same stuff. I'd probably be on a terrorist watch list or something these days. I still have some igniters leftover from model rockets.

Ha! Yep. Model rocket motors, if you peal off the cardboard, the propellent, well they do all sorts of fun. I stopped when I almost lost an eyebrow.

(oh hi NSA)

If you've never seen a trash can launched 100 feet into the air, with the amazing "Wooopbooommmmmmmmmmmmm!" you haven't lived.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I actually am feeling bad for little kids right now. Playing an app on an iPhone instead of potentially blowing limbs or digits off.