Has anyone had trouble with the Radio/HVAC/Center Console skeleton falling apart? I've re-created it in CAD, and I made the plans available for 3d printing. I haven't considered selling a fully printed version yet, but I'm hoping a few of you can try printing your own and let me know how it goes. You can find all the files you need on Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4066829
I'm about 3/4 of the way finished printing it myself, and so far, it's coming out VERY nice.
If the skeleton was disassembled into its 3 pieces and digitized, it might be easier to print. Then the only pieces one would need to produce are the ones that are damaged. Also, the smaller pieces would be accommodated by smaller printers.
I'm guessing that your files were scanned from a complete skeleton, so it may be that some of the fastener holes would be missing and the 3 pieces would be bonded into one piece? I know nothing about 3D printing, so this may be a stupid statement and question.
i have a printer setup to print this but my biggest area is 16" so it would need to be cut into 3 versions. do you have the obj or other files not the stl files you cannot easily cut up a stl file.
I printed this on a prusa i3 printer. It is about 9 x 8. The cube printer is a lot smaller, I can't imagine how many pieces you would have to break it into. A 16" printer would be amazing! Thingiverse has my STLs, if you want to edit obj files, you will have to do it through Fusion360. Theres a link to my project on thingiverse. That should give you what you need.
Hello Windex42, next, could you please design and 3d print a lower intake manifold for 2.8-3.4 V6s that will adapt the aluminum heads to the Fiero Middle Intake Manifold? Thank you. This will be a very desirable part.
88Fingers, You would probably want a part like that made out of Aluminum. Someone may have already created what you're looking for. Check this link on Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1098194/comments If I every have mine apart, I can take a look at it though. I also like the idea of keeping these separate rather than gluing them, but I can't think of a way to screw them all together.
Also, I'm printing the final piece right now, I'll throw up some photos later today.
Hello Windex42, thank you for the response. I looked at the spacer you referenced. Nice but not the lower intake. There are factory composite intake manifolds done all the time and phenolic material as well I believe. I know this would not be easy but a great part to allow for a nice performance build and weight reduction while keeping the stock look. Thank you for looking into this.....Fred W
I always thought it would be a great thing to have a lower manifold that would go between the upper Fiero manifold and the aluminum splayed-valve heads.......I am surprised that noone ever did that.
How about maybe the three console parts having holes + tabs for screws to bolt them together.......
If the console is made, can they be made out of something more durable than the plastic GM used originally?
I finished printing each piece, now it's time for a photo shoot and gluing. I included photos of how each piece lies on the print bed, and a closeup of some of the screw areas. Gluing might be a bit tricky. With this 3d Gloop, you're supposed to clamp for about 15 minutes... I'm a bit short on clamps these days. You'll notice some of the sides look a bit ugly. There's a reason for that. Some of the pieces printed better upside down, and the bottoms aren't always as nice looking due to support material. I would not consider that to be an issue for this project since this piece isn't seen. It does give it a very home-made look though.
Nice work. You might try installing them in the vehicle without being glued, just to see how they fit. When I first got my Fiero, it was missing all of the skeleton behind the window switch panel. I made a plywood panel to replace the missing part, to get the armrest to sit level. It may be that some attachment to the frame that the skeleton sits on, and then with the console pieces attached as well, that a multi piece skeleton may work just fine.
For sure, that front piece where the radios install would be a welcome addition to many Fieros.
------------------ '87 GT , '00 3800 Series II SC, 4t65e, Vue Power Steering. (SOLD)
Here's a followup to the project. At this time, I have it all printed, glued together, drilled, and installed back into the car. Gluing turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I never seem to have good luck with plastic.
I expected to use 3dGloop PET to adhere all pieces together, but that will NOT be the solution for every piece. For example: The Stereo/HVAC piece can glue to the Stand. The Stereo/HVAC piece can glue to Armrest1 Armrest4 can glue to Armrest5 Unfortunately, I had to find another solution for the following Armrest3 and Armrest4 do not glue well Armrest2a, 2b, and 2c do not glue well The alternative I used was a handheld 3d pen (Link below) You can use it like a hot glue gun to bond two pieces together. You can use the same filament in the pen that you used to print the pieces. To get the 3d pen to work best, you should try to use the tip of the pen to melt the 2 pieces as you apply the new plastic. I found a firm zigzag pattern works well to get everything nicely melted There's another method I haven't tried. Use a soldering iron with a flat blade and extra filament to weld two pieces together. I think it's still important to not only melt the spare filament, but to also get the two pieces nice and hot.
If the fit turns out good, I would be curious on accessing companies that print using metal or other stronger material. Using a stronger material would improve durability and perhaps allow for better customization as it may allow the ability for more/better attachment points. What I find amusing is that I just spent most of this last weekend thinking about this possibility and suddenly this tread comes to the top .
Although it is a very nice model it has some issues. I am learning fusion360 to work on the small issues. I appreciate all the work that the person did. Lke super appreciate it !! I would love to have a more open conversation with the poster but never responded to me PM's.
Has there been anymore progress on this situation? I think most people could use a new Skeleton......(I may have 2 screw holes in mine that have not cracked)
Hey Slick...This is a old post so I brought it up to see what progress had been made......the files are on a link in the first post...Yes it is huge...But the problems with our skeletons are huge also.....
Someone needs to come up with a viable replacement- One guy was doing just that years ago but passed before he could complete it....Then, years later, someone was talking about resurrecting it and he got beat on for "taking the deceased guys idea"......That seemed a bit silly to me; Are we now doomed to never have replacement parts as people who created them pass?
As far as progress on this project goes, I haven't made any changes since my last post. mmeyer86gt/gtp and I talked about collaborating on it to work out all the kinks, he might have some news, hard to say. There's things I would like to do to improve it, but it's kind of ready as-is.
At this time, if you want to print it, your best bet would be to print on a Prusa i3 printer and glue the parts together. It could work on other similar printers, but we noticed that some programs don't quite get the geometry right. Prusa's program gets it right.
I'm glad to say that the one I printed for myself is still holding up great.
Hey Slick...This is a old post so I brought it up to see what progress had been made......the files are on a link in the first post...Yes it is huge...But the problems with our skeletons are huge also.....
Someone needs to come up with a viable replacement- One guy was doing just that years ago but passed before he could complete it....Then, years later, someone was talking about resurrecting it and he got beat on for "taking the deceased guys idea"......That seemed a bit silly to me; Are we now doomed to never have replacement parts as people who created them pass?
Just to enlighten people about that guy, I believe his name was Todd and he did NOT understand the products that he was using. He made molds of different parts and then poured plastic resin into the mold to create the part. The issue is that there is NO pourable resin that can be used due to lack of strength, screw tension, and overall abuse. All of his ideas were failures other than maybe the replacement knob for the AC panel. He even had the bright idea to mold the GT tailights and pour them with a clear resin. If you even tried to wash them one time, your hand would push right through the lens. All the pourable resins are designed for prototype use only before actual production using the proper materials.
i have a prototype made and testing is starting soon. the issue is the virus and getting material. i have been working 2 jobs to stay aflot and keep making this thing happen. hope to have prototyps inthe hands of testers by the end of the month.
i have a prototype made and testing is starting soon. the issue is the virus and getting material. i have been working 2 jobs to stay aflot and keep making this thing happen. hope to have prototyps inthe hands of testers by the end of the month.
Rock solid Mr. Meyer! Mine fell apart when I removed it to replace a shifter cable that broke- I can't count high enough to tell you how many pieces it broke into.......
I am curious if any more progress has been made on this? I know that COVID-19 has really slowed everything down, but this is too great of an innovation for us Fiero lovers!
------------------ "No one ever suggested that what we do is easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is." - Devon Miles
If you don't use PETG as the material, gluing becomes easier IME. My go-to print material is ABS and find this stuff works great, though CA glue works too, especially the gel.
For those without 3D printers, it's not the material that costs so much ... a 1 or 2kg spool is, say, $20-50 depending on material and brand, and you wouldn't need a whole spool even for a project this big. It's the printer, which ain't cheap, and has various moving and hot parts which wear out and get clogged, and the sheer time, that cost, when you're making more than one of these or making them as anything other than a labor of love. And even with the best of printers and material, if the power goes out or the head clogs or the material jams or your garage temperature fluctuates or the moon isn't aligned with Venus, the print fails. It's more magic than science, and dark magic at best.
All of that said, I highly recommend them for automotive hobbyists. The ability to make repro pieces like this, in addition to custom pieces, is tremendous. My latest thing was a pair of bases for those Ebay F430-style mirror, that bolt up to the factory mounts. Keeps the ability to fold in, etc etc.
Anyway, don't mean to hijack the thread, but want to make y'all think of what you could do with a printer, if you had one yourself
I agree, ABS is much easier to glue, although, it's more difficult to print. The corners warp a bit sometimes. That doesn't matter as much since this piece is mostly unseen - I had to shave off some bits with an X-Acto knife to get them to fit just right I've improved some of the joining sections between the pieces, so the glue has more surface area to bond
My most recent work has been in the radio area. I reprinted the entire radio housing to hold a single DIN head unit toward the top, and the HVAC toward the bottom. I did some other versions for combinations of original radio, single din, and swapped locations.
I'll be happy to help anyone with the actual printing
Some related project I've been working on: Steering wheel trim pieces, stereo bezel, and headlight slides Here's some photos and such:
Wow, three of us all at once? That's great. I just LOVE what he's done with those brass inserts, very cool. I didn't want to be the first to speak about what mmeyer86gt/gtp has been working on, so IMSA GT and cvxjet, thanks for sharing the photos, that's some NICE work.
Those brass nutserts bring teh seckseh for a truly strong and elegant setup. I did a bunch of pieces for my large-scale RC truck where I just did a hole of the minor diameter and threaded it out, which is kinda kludgy and obviously not as strong.
This, though:
What's the outside surface, the mirror-ish stuff? That *looks* like a match to the factory bezel material, but it's not, I don't think, so that's bloody amazing. Where'd you get it?
im around and kicking. i have completed 5 sleketons and it seems all the bugs have now been worked out. One of my printers took a crap this week and i am working on replacing the mother board and getting the settings dialed in then i will be ready to go.
but i will start a new thread because this is not my thread.
[This message has been edited by mmeyer86gt/gtp (edited 08-08-2020).]
im around and kicking. i have completed 5 sleketons and it seems all the bugs have now been worked out. One of my printers took a crap this week and i am working on replacing the mother board and getting the settings dialed in then i will be ready to go.
but i will start a new thread because this is not my thread.
I'm curious... Do you have pics of your most recent version? Even screen caps?
Since the problem with the original is how fragile it is over time and multiple R&R's, robustness should be the driving design consideration for a replacement. I would think that reinforcing the joints and corners would be enough to make it much much tougher, but overall the piece could be 3-4 pounds heavier and be indestructible. Of course weight and print time are directly related...
Being able to separate the pieces while it's installed would be awesome as well. Messing with the shifter or cables would be way less risky for damaging the skeleton, and the front half could be removed without having to remove the back half.
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