I'm going to be creating a couple 3D printer files, also looking for good ideas.
I am going to make the convertible tonneau switch and a double din bezel or iPad dock bezel.
I was thinking a good formula hood insert.
Gauge pods.
Vert shoulder belt cap/guides
Speaker grills.
Seatbelt guides
Wheel lug caps
Center caps
Also thinking of an integrated piece for 91-92 TA lenses. This one is intense but doable.
Any other good ideas floating around?

 

Start small with the printing, as you refine it then move onto larger pieces.

 

Someone just asked me for a radio delete plate for a firebird - consider that?

 

I needed the tonneau cover actuator for my '88 so I am working on a prototype with a co-worker who has a 3D printer. when I get the bugs worked out I will share the design.

 

I think there's always the possibility to hit one out of the park, but I think you gotta go for parts that will sell. Of course there will always be the ONE guy who loves ya for making the crazy rare one off part!!

...i had actually looked into it at one point for making custom emblems etc. etc. Had a decent amount of interest (across many car platforms) considering I really didn't tell too many people about it. Ultimately I feel i've already spread my "free time" a little too thin.

 

Definitely not looking to sell anything. I already have too much on my plate. This is a engineering hobby.

 

Working on a Driver side 52mm gauge "pod" for the AC vent. Trying to make it OEM era looking. The OEM vents always looked out of place in the later cars so I'm not too concerned.

 

Blueprint looks good.

 

If you can find them the prices for the door cup folders for the 91-92 firebirds are getting a little out of hand. It would be nice to have "cheaper" alterative.

 

I would love to make some as I need them myself. Problem with that is I can't model them without having them. Catch22.

They may also be too large for my build plate.

And texture will probably have to change too.

 

I have a good passenger side cupholder I could measure the length? Would you be able to take a passenger side and mirror it To make a driver side?

 

I could mirror it.
There's a lot more to it than just a measurement here or there. It's quite an undertaking to get it even close to OEM spec.

 

We could use the rear license plate bracket handle.

 

Ebay auction example is attached.

 

A stronger firebird radio pod would be awesome!!

 

That's not something you'd 3d print... Unless you just mean the bones of it and then you'd probably have to glue it together for any kind of strength.

I am definitely considering the cupholder and even a center console armrest that has some serious strength.

 

something I think would be awesome if some one printed or made a file of is a plate where the ash tray(with or without the door) would go above the shifter for people who have b&M shifters and either don't have the stock shift plate to modify (like my self my whole console was missing when I bought the car so I am buying it piece by piece) or for those who do not want to cut the factory shift plate for some reason.

 

How about some good tuned port injection rear bumper badges?

 

I can't make anything for a Camaro. I have zero size reference for anything.

 

Vanilla, if I have a sample of this, would you be able to give it a run?

 

It's funny, I was looking to post something similar and ran across your thread in my "updates" email. I figure that if you're not planning on selling anything and seem sort of up in the air with projects I'll add to your thread, give me a heads up if it starts going off track and I'll start my own.

What printer are you using? What filament are you thinking about using? What design software (is that Fusion 360 in your screenshots?)

In my case, I just built something based on an Anet A8 (Prusa i3 clone) and am running the current Marlin 1.1.4 firmware with a lot of customization. I've been debating if PLA will survive for automotive use. It has a plastic temp around 60*C, about 140*F at which point it will start distorting, which should be enough even for something on the dash in a lot of areas but not everywhere.

As far as designing I've dabbled in a bunch of stuff but most of my useful stuff has been done in Sketchup. I've found that with the right plugin it deals with STL files pretty well which allows me to import just about anything from Thingiverse and grab dimensions off of it which saves me a bit of time.

Have you designed any parts yet? I've been going crazy designing stuff to upgrade my printer and a few other functional "it's broken, this will fix it" things till now, but I'm getting ready to try a few things for my TA.

My short list right now:
- door jamb vents (prettier than the stock ones also, always hated those things, but I've never had a set that weren't broken)
- front dash speaker grills
- a few purely cosmetic pieces, like a logo to put on the nose like the 4th gens have molded in
- something to cover up the Corvette logos on my Z06 wheels
- gauge holders
- I might look at making a custom mount for my programmable/sequential shift light/tach (Arduino based), though I have something I kind of like that I machined before I had this thing that straddles my steering column.

Something like that would really be a piece of cake, it would just depend on the details, like if it was going to be blank, with some logo (Pontiac symbol, pontiac/firebird/ta/WS6 logos...) or maybe gauge mounting holes. It wouldn't be that hard to make it so the gauge faces were even angled some if that was your thing.

If I remember right I think there is already a basic design uploaded to thingiverse to start from.

Some good pictures of them and some dimensions should be enough to get something workable (I've never seen a set myself). If you want something exact that's another story, but the fact is that cup dimentions and what people expect from a cup holder has changed since the 80's, so exact probably wouln't be as good

That would be the case with anything. Texture would be up to how you finish it.

1- see comments above about texture
2- see his comments about not having a camaro, I've owned 3 TA's and a Formula, never a camaro so I'm in the same boat. I know that the camaro consoles are like the 82-84 'bird consoles but the front is still a different shape.

 

Huh, no blockoff plate but a few versions of the bezel exist already...

 

Yes I can do that

 

Lots of questions in there...
Using a Tevo tarantula. It prints VERY well so far.
Fusion 360 and modeling myself.
I have a gigantic list of future projects, the main one I'm working on soon is a formula hood bulge insert with Arduino toys incorporated.
Car parts are to be ABS. anything else won't hold up.

 

What Arduino toys?

Here's a shift light I'm tinkering with (it also has an RPM display that you don't see in this video), set with shift at 3000 for testing here, fully programmable on the fly for both rpm that things happen at and colors/number of LEDs lit using the ****. Nothing mounted yet in this video:

I've been wondering if PETG is the answer. I haven't tried ABS yet but I am not encouraged by the lack of detail that most people get with it.

 

It's planned with a thousand future uses but the very first setup will have a led array boost gauge and a segmented AFR display. That I could do without an Arduino but the future setup will chat with the stock ecu and make changes to parameters on the fly so a more feature rich controller is wanted.

If you're not into ABS, you may want to check out ASA.

I haven't seen ABS quality issues...

 

May not be 3D printable but I'm with you 100% on this, they may as well be made of cardboard and scotch tape.

 

and to add to the list of makeable parts, how about the seat track bolt covers?

 

I'll probably do this in the distant future. I have to get my seats recovered first and that's not for a while

 

I'd be more than happy to peel off the original one on my 91 if I knew someone could do an exact repro of it. Surely one of you guys would do the same with a good 5.7 tpi badge right? Problem for me is the 5.7 one off the IROC broke in half and I can't find the second piece...

 

I know I said I didn't want to sell parts but I might have to for stuff like this. I would do that for $25. But it would need to be finished by you (Sanding/paint).
Unfortunately if I'm not interested in it personally I'd need compensation for my time.

 

I can easily get that modeled up if you would like. I have 4-5 shift plates for ref.

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2542579/#files


Had a plate at work.

 

Man I wish the later firebird parts were so simple. Of course, then it would not be what I like about the firebirds over the Camaro.

 

I just ran across this:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1962716




now I'm wondering if any of the 3d printing filaments are gasoline/ethanol resistant enough to survive? This gives me ideas...

 

I've seen traditional ABS (the big name brands) not be able to print as much detail. The "aftermarket" ones typically can but a lot of them want lower temps, like I thing eSun's ABS prints well at 220/60, which is pretty much the same temp as the high end of PLA, and I wouldn't think that it would be all that much more heat resistant then PLA at that point.

It seems like everything besides PLA prints at a higher temp, and a lot of PLA only prints well higher (a buddy of mine swears that they're mixing it with something else, for example, Inland which I've printed as high as 215/70 with no problem, it doesn't like cooler, normal PLA temps).

The inside of the 'bird radio pods are just ABS frames with the padded vinyl covers over them.

1. I've fixed them by using fiberglass tape and ABS cement (ABS melted in acetone) and just layering up the corners where they break, kind of like laying fiberglass body panels (I have 2 like that right now, they look almost perfect from the outside, the only place they don't look new is where the vinyl shrunk some around the vent holes)
2. ABS is very 3d printable, it would more be up to coming up with a model of if you wanted to put it inside your original vinyl, otherwise, you could do it like the factory did, make a frame and cover it.

why is everyone so crazy about these things? I've ripped them out the first week of every f-body I've ever owned, they look like crap since they kind of float over the piece, and inevitably someone steps on it and cracks it. I've always thought the seat rails look better without them.

The model that 7thdarkangel posted is a pretty good start, probably look better with raised/recessed sections like the original. As far as a "5.7 TPI" badge... I don't believe there was an original one to work off of. You could do something like take the 5.7 Tuned Port Injection badges/stickers the Iroc's came with (back bumper and side skirts), but that would be quite annoyingly long...




by the time you out this on the door it would look too long



I don't know, I think that this looks kind of stupid...

 

Spin the model on the website. It is beveled with the correct c'bores as the original. Thingiverse is just showing the back side.




Cheers

 

Just modeled the tonneau release switch for convertibles. Not sure which years but it's on the tonneau itself.
Should be found on Thingiverse tomorrow. Too new to post yet.

Not sure if it's printable but I'll find out.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2550954

Second attempt at printing was better, but I think the retaining clips need to be redesigned for rigidity.

Edit: Live on thingiverse finally.

 

Been thinking about designing a rear bumper cover notch insert to allow the exhaust to exit through the bumper and look factory.
This would be for a 91/92 firebird with ground effects.
Any input on style or "features?"

This is something I'd possibly print as a mold for fiberglassing.
Like this, but not this style:

 

If I had a 91/92 I'd be interested.

 

Look at that! Ashtray delete!

Is anyone printing these? I'd buy one if the black matched.

 

Once modeled it could easily be altered to work for the others.

 

Make any headway with the formula hood insert?

 

The basics are there. I just don’t have time. I have to do tiny things here and there. A lot of it is modeled already just need to have time to get in the garage and measure mounting holes and such to finish the backend. Working three jobs with a baby and a 3 year old and trying to have any time with my wife is time consuming.
The car is last on my project listS unfortunately.

 

you can order them right through thingiverse.

 

I made this myself but I never found anybody to print it for me. It's the Dash emblem that everyone wants $20-40 a piece for. Can you print it for me with a PayPal donation?

 

You can always upload it to thingiverse and have a vender print it for you. its not pricey at all.

 

Yes, do it this way. That way it’s there for everybody.

 

Not sure GM would be happy about that...

 

https://www.shapeways.com/create

If you don't want to upload it using a 3d service is another option. As long as your not trying to make money off of someone else's idea or design you should be fine.