Making Molded Plastic 911 Parts

[rdwinelover]

Let me change the title to: Making Plastic 911 Parts from a 3D Printer

I am surprised that more parts aren't being made that are NLA via Porsche either by companies in the parts business like Stoddards, Auto Atlanta, Sierra Madre, etc.

My question thereby is; Is there a company that can be sent originals and then they scan them into auto-cad and then print them on a 3D printer? Isn't this technology high enough to do this and if so, why isn't anyone doing it?

[wrxnofx]

I think I can speak a bit to this, as I work in the CAD world.

In the CAD world, it all starts with a 3D model that is created in the native CAD system (CATIA, NX, Pro/ENGINEER, SolidWorks, etc.). From that native model, you then export out an STL file, which is the file fed into the 3D printer.

3D models didn't really get legs until the early '90s. Therefore, none of the NLA parts on our air cooled cars would have been modeled in a CAD system. These parts would have 2D drawings only. I'm talking hard copy drawings here, or microfiche of the drawing (i.e. nothing digital like AutoCAD). So someone would have to take the 2D drawing and model the 3D part in CAD in order to create the STL file that is fed into the 3D printer. Porsche or the supplier would never give the intellectual property (2D drawing) to Stoddards or another company.

I suppose the other option is to take one of these NLA parts and scan it into a computer as a point cloud. That point cloud could then be manipulated into a 3D model. This part of the technology is a bit outside of my realm, so perhaps there are tools now that can generate an STL file directly from the scanned part.

[spyerx]

My shop uses a company that will bring in a 3D scanner and scan parts for design. Those are fed into the CAD program but supposedly need some rework. They use these for custom fabricated parts along with designing parts for specific fitment and clearances. They are using this mostly for metal parts. I'm going to guess the same could be applied to plastic bits. Question is COST really. It can be done.

[eimkeith]

which parts exactly?

from what I've seen, for any sort of volume, injection molding plastics is more cost effective (and likely more durable) than printing parts would be - and that's without the additonal costs of post-production work to get the surface to look like an oem part, etc.

also printed parts are inherently weak in the Z axis (tension-wise), so not every shape is appropriate for printing a finished product, depending on intended use?

a lot of us already use digital capture, 3D modeling and in-house printing to prototype parts for this market; but utilize traditional manufacturing to make usable products.

[canamfan]

A decent Dashboard, no flimsy "Coverlay" or covers

[rdwinelover]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

which parts exactly?

Side door panel speaker grills for 930 amongst other cars is one example.




Jamie

[island911]

Originally Posted by eimkeith

which parts exactly?

from what I've seen, for any sort of volume, injection molding plastics is more cost effective (and likely more durable) than printing parts would be - and that's without the additonal costs of post-production work to get the surface to look like an oem part, etc.

also printed parts are inherently weak in the Z axis (tension-wise), so not every shape is appropriate for printing a finished product, depending on intended use?

a lot of us already use digital capture, 3D modeling and in-house printing to prototype parts for this market; but utilize traditional manufacturing to make usable products.

Pretty much this. ^

I have my own digitizers and 3D printer, and have been designing parts for injection molding for decades now. While tooling prices have come down greatly, injection molding plastics is more cost effective only if the part volume is there to cover the cost of tooling.

Does Porsche Classic not offer the speaker grills?

[Jonny H]

Generally speaking numbers work a bit like this:

Say a one off machined part is $100. Design/manufacture of injection molding tool for the same part $10,000. After that parts cost $1 each to make. It's a numbers game.

We make prototype parts on 3D printers but they are not up to production quality yet.

[dan88911]

I don't mean to high jack your thread rdwinelover however, I notice your location. A few months ago I took a class in CAD/CAM Software class at TechShop is America's 1st Nationwide Open-Access Public Workshop -- What Do You Want To Make at TechShop?
They also offer classes and equipment for product production. If you happen to be interested in producing a part.
I was going to make a 3.2 badge in the CNC machining shop.
Another project put that on hold.

[Marc-André]

I work in engineering and printing a small 3D part in aluminum, say roughly 2" diameter x 3" long, costs upwards of 1k $ !!! In SLA (nylon resin or other), it could be around 500$ for a nice hi-resolution surface finish...

[85eurocarrera]

Make Silicone Rubber Molds off the parts and cast them out of urethane. Problem is, generally hard urethanes (80 D shore/ ABS like) shrink 0.003" per inch. Depending on geometry,tolerance and use, cast urethane parts are often used as production parts.

[rdwinelover]

Thanks for everyone for the feedback. I am now (wasn't) up on the technology and while maybe someday 3D printers will be up to production quality, it doesn't sound like that day has yet to come. As for the class, thanks Dan for mentioning it. I will look into it.

[wildthing]

I wonder if a group of 10 here would be enough to fund something NLA and pay Protolabs for a short run. I do not know the going rate for low volume production.