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Frankenchevy

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Figured I’d start a thread about parts I’m 3d printing for vehicles. Immediately realized the scope and reach would be minimal and then thought it’d be neat to see what people are fabricating no matter what the media may be.

Show us your creative and/or redneck/hillbilly/shadetree solutions. Heck, there’s even a few professionals floating around out there on the site…maybe
 

Frankenchevy

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First day really messing around with free cad. I made a generic 90 degree corner enclosure for a 3” and 1” component speaker combo.
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Ran it in the slicer just out of curiosity and found out I would require 250g of filament. Then I played around with a different wall profile to reduce thickness to 5mm.

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Very interesting to mess with and I see a lot of potential for my uses. These are clunky designs that are not tailored to the specific angles where the A pillar meets the dash, but I will refine them as I dig deeper into the software.

I’ll print these in a cheaper material like PLA until I’m happy with the shape and how they turn out, then switch to something carbon fiber reinforced or similar.
 

Frankenchevy

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I've never made anything with CAD or plastic. That's beyond my skill set, lol. I just measure, cut and weld.
Welding definitely makes sense for a lot of applications, no argument here.

I didn’t need a cnc plasma or fancy welder to work with metal, nor did I need a cnc router to work with wood. The automation of those processes was definitely a luxury.

Though up until very recently, I had no way to make things with plastic. This will definitely come in handy moreso in the interior of vehicles.

I’m sure you could pick up CAD to the extent that I have. The parts I’m making aren’t going into rockets.
 

carnutjw

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Evansville, IN, USA
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John
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
R20 Suburban
Engine Size
454
The son of my group leader(barely 16y.o.) is 3d printing some stuff. My Suburban doesn't have a fresh air inlet for the air cleaner, so I asked if we could come up with something. This is an early prototype-
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Missed the offset for the generic 4" hose inlet, but he is building another.
 

Frankenchevy

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The son of my group leader(barely 16y.o.) is 3d printing some stuff. My Suburban doesn't have a fresh air inlet for the air cleaner, so I asked if we could come up with something. This is an early prototype-
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Missed the offset for the generic 4" hose inlet, but he is building another.
Curious which filament he ends up using. I have some ASA and PAHT-CF that I’m going to try on higher temp under hood stuff.
 

Ricko1966

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Rick
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c20
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350
I've never made anything with CAD or plastic. That's beyond my skill set, lol. I just measure, cut and weld.
I swear to God. This kid asked me for a welder at 4 years old.( I didn't get him one)
 

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carnutjw

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Evansville, IN, USA
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1987
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R20 Suburban
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454
Final iteration:
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It snaps on using one tab top and bottom at the air cleaner and holds the 4" Spectre air duct with three tabs in the round opening. My air cleaner is an '87 454 Q-jet tall filter version. The opening is oval about 6" x 3" if I recall correctly. If anyone is interested in having one of their own let me know.
 

legopnuematic

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Dart Swinger, Sierra 10, C10 Cheyenne, C10 Big Ten, Silverado 10, Ram 2500
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225/6, 350 c.i., 350 c.i., 5.9l Cummins
I've used my 3D printer for quite a few "practical" things, I think most or all of those have ended up being a rapid prototype part to verify a CAD model and fitment, like these caliper brackets for a homebrew rear disc brake conversion for my friends 75 K5. The final pieces were cut by Send Cut Send and I did the drill and tapping on for the caliper bolt holes.
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Also printed a bunch of mockup pieces for headers, helped a lot in modifying the headers I put on the 76, these can be purchased but are $$ for a full set. You could buy a couple cheap printers or a nicer one for how much they go for:
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legopnuematic

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Spencer
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1971, 1̶9̶7̶4, 1976, 1979,1̶9̶8̶5, 2002
Truck Model
Dart Swinger, Sierra 10, C10 Cheyenne, C10 Big Ten, Silverado 10, Ram 2500
Engine Size
225/6, 350 c.i., 350 c.i., 5.9l Cummins
And some larger mandrel bend mockup pieces I used for the side pipes on the 76. Don't know if I just got lucky or they actually helped, but no mis-cuts or scrapped pieces doing either the headers or the rest of the exhaust using them first.
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AuroraGirl

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Northern Wisconsin
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Taylor
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1978, 1980
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K10, K25
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400(?), 350
Final iteration:
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It snaps on using one tab top and bottom at the air cleaner and holds the 4" Spectre air duct with three tabs in the round opening. My air cleaner is an '87 454 Q-jet tall filter version. The opening is oval about 6" x 3" if I recall correctly. If anyone is interested in having one of their own let me know.
interesting this 1987 carbureted 454 truck uses a TBI air cleaner design but with the single center stud. I wonder if it fits on the 350 tbi air cleaner snout
 

bucket

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K5 thru K30
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350-454
interesting this 1987 carbureted 454 truck uses a TBI air cleaner design but with the single center stud. I wonder if it fits on the 350 tbi air cleaner snout

The single stud didn't go away until about '93. The single stud tops all interchanged for the most part, back to the late 60's. The later TBI's with dual studs could easily be swapped to the old single stud with a simple hardware change.
 

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