Has anyone seen the report on BBC programme regarding 3D digital printing?

BBC click

It seems that you will soon be able to "Print" car parts

The club should probably look to get some plus grills made, should help bring the price down a bit

Good article and great technology; I remember when I first read about this as a concept and now a reality

Yeah, as they show it's been around for abit for manufacturers, film studios and engineering firms under the guise of 'Rapid Prototyping' but as with all things, its finally becoming cheap enough for end-users to make use of.

This has been round for a while though hasn't it? We used to get rapid prototypes made up suite often at my old place. They were good but the material was always quite brittle so they could really be used properly unless its improved recently (can't view the article)

Pretty certain there are DIY plans on the internet somewhere for one you can build for 500 quid or so. It is impressive stuff though.

They suggest that items can be made from many materials, even titanium

Perhaps the club should look into getting some scale model Coupés made?

titanium, hell, robot reproduction here we come

As suggested been around a while now and there are consumer units with limited size/capabilities.

The cost of making items like this is supposed to be quite high and not really suitable for mass reproduction.

Bob, I've actually been looking into this with 3 companies that do it. Including the scale model you talk about. I even went as far as buying a perfect 3D model off someone for them to evaluate.

There are many many maaaaany material options, indeed including titanium which would be good for making car parts.

Now the, while there is a LOT of good news, there were a few things that held me back:

1/ Price. The scale model, no moving parts, not painted, 1/18, would cost £ 1.500 per piece. It would be made in PVC and require some hand finishing as well.

2/ Which seemlesly brings me to the finish. While some materials are pretty good in bringing a 'high resolution' (meaning smoothly finished, very detailed) end product, they almost invariably are extremely brittle or too soft. Some have an extremely smooth finish but are flexible and undetailed (rounded corners,...) - like rubber. A Titanium product would indeed be very strong (they're made up of 'sintered' Titanium dust) but the look like a very coarsely sandblasted piece of metal. Which means if you want to make a functional carpart, it would almost always need a lot of manual finishing - sanding, cutting,... Not to mention the cost.

3/ Size. The companies I talked with had some size limits, the smalles being 40 centimeters, the largest at that time being 150 centimeters. The first one gave the price quoted above, the second one quoted me 5000 for the 1/18 model. What they do is give you a price that depends on the material volume and the hours needed for the printer to do its job. Some materials take more time, other materials are pretty quick (and dirty). As for that Big Printer, it was used for actual prototyping and had a much much better finishing than the other ones I saw. Still, when I asked them to replicate a center console or grille (yes I've asked) I was quoted around 2.000. Which is good for the clients they have, who actually even have parts of engines and gearboxes made there. And not just the casings, everything. They also can fabricate larger pieces than the 150 cm, but those require manual gluing / welding of separate parts.

4/ Buy your own printer. Has become affordable. In some ways at least. You can buy a 'makerbot' printer (the thing-o-matic) for $1300. It is very slow, the finishing is very coarse, it's a build-it-yourself thing, and I stopped looking when I saw the largest thing it could print was 26 cm or so. I'd be willing to invest in something like that if I would have some clients who wanted something, but not yet.


I actually was considering to have the Coupe model made, and then get someone to take a mould of it and replicate it, but I didn't pursue it when the mouldmaker gave me instructions on modifying the model to make a mould possible.

Now, I still DO think it's very interesting, and I'm pretty sure in a couple of years time you'll be able to buy a 3D printer for peanuts. Also the 'construction' material is cheap. I can see us making our own plates, glasses, art, forks, knifes,... in a not too distant future! ... and of course car parts.

Im not entirely convinced FIAT would be too impressed with 'copies' of their products - surely some sort of copyright infringement??

That's the thing as well though, all these printers take .dwg or so files, so you actually first have to cad them, or invest in a bloody expensive (and extremely precise) 3D scanner.

I doubt Fiat would have something against it though, pattern parts are already available + since they don't produce them themselves anymore... If all manufacturers would start lawsuits against makers of parts for their oldtimers... Woow. Although to prevent copyright issues most pattern parts manufacturers change the dimensions here and there. Eg. Febi Billstein wishbones have slightly larger diameter, different weight saving holes, webbing,...

What about pattern parts? These are copies of the OE parts. Information would be needed on the legality of producing parts - whether they required permission from Fiat or not.

My work has this capability. The item needs to be 3D modeled using a coordinate measuring machine, then produced into a 3D modelling program before being printed. Once you have the 3D model you can print as many copies as you like with the only limitation being the cost of the material and time taken to print.

Yups - which at this time comes at a very high cost per piece. Pattern parts are often manually re-designed and only take the contact points or joints as absolute reference. Meaning that they are not 100% the same. Read what I said about the Febi-Billstein front wishbones.

Hello everyone can I start this thread again? I have just repaired a broken drivers wiper with a metal clip from e-bay.(http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221345258733?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649) The offending part seams to be the black push in socket for the metal ball on the arm. From looking all over the forum I understand these are no longer available from fiat. As nylon is a medium for 3D printers,this part seams perfect for printing. I used to use a program called 3D Studio Max many years ago. So not a total newbie to 3D computer modelling. Also I do have a very old friend how uses 3d printers. So I could make this happen,leaving the 3D file free for all to use. Any thoughts?

Interesting stuff! Keep us posted on how you get on. This has got to be the way forward for many obsolete parts.

Has anyone got access to blueprints/ engineering drawings?

My daughter has use of a 3d printer at her school and there is a shop in our desolate town called 'fab lab'where they do a drop in service. It is FREE for public use but business use is charged, however they may have something to say if you turned up wanting to print a bonnet

I was thinking of the joint on a wiper linkage.

Getting access to a 3d printer is quite easy. Getting the 3d file is the problem.m Wiper linkage would be easy to produce if we had the file.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WINDSCREEN-WIPER-MOTOR-LINKAGE-REPAIR/dp/B007BADIP6 ?

Or Wipex seem to provide fix kits for a number of Fiats, though the Coupe is not listed it's likely they can provide cups or replacements.