3D Printed e30 Parts

[anabolice30]

Well, I think it is safe to say that within the next decade 3D printing is gonna be really big. Like, how computers blew up in the nineties, 3D printing is gonna blow up in the 2010s. They'll still probably be expensive, and the ones you can afford will probably have some issues. But think of it. All those glorious e30 parts printed for the price of the raw materials.

How does r3v feel about 3D printed parts? Do you think it will ruin the culthood of the e30? Do you think people will be snobs about having original nonprinted parts? Are you excited that parts will become so cheap, or upset that the supply is gonna go way the hell up? Just for those who say this isn't feasible for the near future it is already being done.

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130927-40-chinese-students-made-a-race-car-using-3d-printing.html

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/extras/articles/jay-lenos-3d-printer-replaces-rusty-old-parts-1/

[LateFan]

Generally, they make a soft plastic replica of the thing you want. Sometimes they have rough grooves / lines along curves and complicated shapes. You have to reverse cast that shape into a real metal part, then machine it to be accurate and within tolerances.

[anabolice30]

Generally, they make a soft plastic replica of the thing you want. Sometimes they have rough grooves / lines along curves and complicated shapes. You have to reverse cast that shape into a real metal part, then machine it to be accurate and within tolerances.

Right, but there are printers out there that can print in a cobalt compound and I hear they are developing a 3D printer that even uses graphene, which is a really cool material!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

[LateFan]

Right, but there are printers out there that can print in a cobalt compound and I hear they are developing a 3D printer that even uses graphene, which is a really cool material!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

Neat stuff. Is it impervious?

Maybe what I've seen lately was the new generation of cheap desktop printers - the output looked pretty rough.

You see things like this though - amazing...

[Herr Faust Schinken]

3d printed Hartge badges they would be fairly easy too make and they are retardly hard to find

[MC Hammered]

Simple plastic parts I can see, but 3D printed metal parts is still out of reach of Joe Average.

[AndrewBird]

At this point, plastic parts are possible, but they have strength limits. 3D printing currently is pretty much only used for prototyping. End product printing just isn't here yet.

I do agree though that the next 10-20 years will be very interesting. I figure I will own a 3D printer in my lifetime. I see them being a common thing to kids under 10, at least in their adult life. Kind of like microwave ovens.

[anabolice30]

Neat stuff. Is it impervious?

I wouldn't say it's impervious. Couldn't survive a nuclear blast for example, but if you had a car made of graphene and got rear ended the dents would automatically pop out. At least from what I understand.

[blefevre]

3D printing plastic parts for large scale production is available today. Most older or cheaper machines used the very fragile plastics. We have one at work for prototyping that prints in ABS plastic. It's just as strong as any other ABS plastic in the E30. Resolution and accuracy of course depends on the machine, but they are surprisingly good for how cheap they are getting. With the ABS plastic you can sand it smooth, paint it, tap threads, snap fit, etc.

[Poorboyz]

I think it will come in very handy for small plastic pieces inside and out. Grilles, tweeter pods, blanks, clips, door handle frames, etc...

[TheTacoMan]

At this point, plastic parts are possible, but they have strength limits. 3D printing currently is pretty much only used for prototyping. End product printing just isn't here yet.

I do agree though that the next 10-20 years will be very interesting. I figure I will own a 3D printer in my lifetime. I see them being a common thing to kids under 10, at least in their adult life. Kind of like microwave ovens.

This exactly, my university has a few 3-d printers but as far as being applicable to e30s its not there yet IMO. Prototyping small pieces for the average joe yes, but beyond that its just a very expensive game to get into today.

[Nick_S]

My GF's brother is an industrial designed and has a small MakerBot in his apartment. It was fun to mess around print out little stuff but the material he was using was hardly what I'd call structural. Still, the technology is there and will be interesting to see where it heads in the future.

[acolella76]

Some SLS machines have come pretty close to printing full-strength metal parts. However ABS is plenty strong for most practical uses.. obviously you can't expect it to be as strong as metal, but for small parts that don't see a lot of stress ABS can do the job. I have an FDM printer, and I would like to start printing parts for the E30 crowd.

[anabolice30]

Some SLS machines have come pretty close to printing full-strength metal parts. However ABS is plenty strong for most practical uses.. obviously you can't expect it to be as strong as metal, but for small parts that don't see a lot of stress ABS can do the job. I have an FDM printer, and I would like to start printing parts for the E30 crowd.

You could print grills and pieces of trim like that one guy said. That would be pretty cool! You'd probably make a killing selling those "i" lips that everyone is missing.

[acolella76]

My printer is not quite that big yet lol. Average printer build surfaces are around 7" or so. I'd like to build a much bigger one in the future though.

Guten is now selling 3D printed brake duct adapters