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Lgmt2's centre cap 3D printing

Navara96

By Navara96,
in Exterior & Interior Styling

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Navara96 Collaborator

Navara96

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Hi guys,

I'll start of by saying I'm no professional, really I'm doing this just to improve my solid works skills and hopefully end up with a replacement set of centre caps I can use. But I am planning on 3D printing a set of Ray's centre caps to fit lmgt 2's ( may fit 1's aswell?) as anyone with the caps know the plastic gets brittle and the mounting tabs snap off! I have seen sets go for over $600 in good condition... But really they are still 20 years old . All going well the final product will be made of abs plastic ( unless anyone has an opinion for otherwise?) yet to see wether there will be the ability to colour match to the originals otherwise more than likely black , cost I am unsure of yet.... I was going to see if there is any interest first so I could enquire for x amount of caps and see what happens but hoping around half the cost. All the dimensions and measurements are being taken from a genuine centre cap and I will get a mock cap made up first to ensure fit.

Is this something anyone/ones would be interested in? Nothing final just a gauge of interest at this stage.

Thanks!

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GTR-N1 Grand Master

GTR-N1

Posted
Posted

As Ravi alluded to, I think that the hexagonal caps of the LMGT1, LMGT2, LMGT3 and Magnesium LMGT4 are the same; (but not the LMGT4 GT500).

Pete - aka PLYNX on SAU - has made them before.

They can be either be black or sliver-frost in colour.

 

Navara96 Collaborator

Navara96

Posted
  • Author
Posted

just need to get the bottom section with the mounting tabs sorted (probably finish it tomorrow night or tuesday) 

but overall it matches the centre cap i have here quite precisely so hopefully this week i can look into getting a prototype printed! if anyone here knows somebody or a company to go through to get them printed please let me know :)

thanks

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Navara96 Collaborator

Navara96

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Posted

so.... if anyone is still interested the cap is done!.....well the file at least,  the mounting tabs were a pain but hopefully they work properly ( they are the same dimensions as originals so they should). Now to find someone to print it.

 

 

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  • Like 3
  • 2 weeks later...
Navara96 Collaborator

Navara96

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i have spoken to a few company's, the one that seems to stand above the rest is Solid Concepts, they have a base here in WA and also Singapore. They have answered everything I have annoying asked them and understand the use/purpose to ensure that if this does go forward the product is more than up for the task and the finish is on par if not better than the originals. the 2 options i have been given are;

1. SLS nylon production- makes very low quantities viable  but isn't the best suited to the job, it's only available in white ( so will require painting) and the final product is from a 3D printer as such the finish straight from the machine may need sanding/ tidying up.

2. vacuum casting, firstly a set of master copies will be printed sanded/ cleaned/ finished before being used to make a silicone mould from which the final PP/ABS pieces will be made. the advantages being a completely finished cap ready to install with a professional finish quality and available in different colours ( probably matte black to resemble the orginals?). the downsides being the initial cost to produce the mould, to make less than 20 units the cost just is not worth it.... so on to that.

COST; really option 2 is the best option and the one i'm hoping to get enough support for to go with, at 20 units the price would be $80-90 a piece or $320-360 a set. I know this isn't cheap for a set of "fakes" but quality wise I am confident it would at least equal the originals ( likely better), I don't stand to make any money on the caps so it's not that there is a mark up on anything... its simply not cheap to create these low number runs. The mould can potentially be used for 20 sets (80 units) until they expect it to degrade so if there is enough interest (10+ sets) we could expect prices to drop $10-15 a piece but finding that many interested people may be difficult so if you do know somebody please let them know! 

I am happy to do a production run with 5 people ( 20 units) but can't justify it for any less than that, so please let me know if you are interested still and i can get a definitive quote and get the ball rolling :)

thanks guy and if you have any questions feel free to ask

Nic

  • 4 weeks later...
Navara96 Collaborator

Navara96

Posted
  • Author
Posted

As you can probably see the interest since pricing went up was well... less than great. But ohh well that happens. I did get a prototype printed though just to see how well I did recreate the part and I am very happy with how close to original it is :) if anyone does want the file please just pm me just keep me in mind if you do find a cheap way to get these made!
Thanks guys bcfc43d0d91ea8068d00845f8bf799a3.jpg2e9b2d4c86b0d2f113a39bf878b81545.jpga8a3628a7d6c603349007ca3522cb6dd.jpg7070c82cd6bc66f431df29c1ead1226b.jpg

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