Mike designed and 3d printed the engine belt for his car. It took him several attempts.
Did it work?
Here is the full video:
It basically works for a minute on low RPM before it disintegrates, not practical for driving but nice experiment. Someone could probably improve on this idea and try different materials.
Greg Holloway made a car navigation system based on Raspberry Pi and 7 inch screen that is held by 3d printed dashboard structure. It was printed on E3D BigBox machine with the help of SpoolWorks scaffold soluble support material. The car is Suzuki Jimny. Software used is open source Navit.
Detailed step-by-step construction guide can be found at:
Vortex generators are small vanes that are mounted on various vehicles, mostly aircraft, to improve their aerodynamic performance. In theory they could be installed on a car and improve the fuel economy and increase MPG (or lower the liters per 100km for us Europeans). Since they are easy to make and design, there are several 3d printable models. They are also very cheap so you can make dozens for a few dollars.
Samm Shepard 3d printed vortex generators and made road tests with good results. He also explains a science and aerodynamic principles behind it.
Kyle also does a great job in simplifying the science behind it and also has real-life tests with positive results but claims they are only useful on high performance cars.
Autospeed magazine did some testing and achieved positive results in 2006:
Vortex generators on cars can achieve measurable, scientifically proven improvements in car aerodynamics – reducing both lift and drag. The Lancer Evo is probably the shape of things to come – expect vortex generators (of whatever design) to be used on new cars, especially to improve the flow around corners towards the rear of the body.
Positive gains can be achieved only by practical experimentation. That’s the downside – the upside is that the vortex generators are easy to temporarily stick into place with masking tape, and just as easily removed if they are not achieving the desired results. They’re also cheap enough that buying ten or so for experimentation is a good investment.
But they did have some negative results if they were placed on wrong places.
One of the commercial vortex generator producers, AirTab, did some testing and they achieved significant improvements on trucks. Due to their box shape, their aerodynamics is very bad.
Several research papers, like this one by MIRA show that the fuel savings can reach up to 3% with installed vortex generators.
Here are vortex generators mounted on a Sprinter van:
And user experience of RV owner:
Since vortex generators are easy to 3d print and easy to install and uninstall they could be great gadget to experiment with and see if you can save some fuel.
Smith | Allen is a design company located in Oakland California and they posted a step-by-step guide on how to make a replacement or copy of a car key.
They took a photo of a broken car key, processed it in Fusion 360 and 3d printed in on Object Connex 500. You could use software you are used to or use Shapeways for printing the key. Simple FDM home printers were not used in the process so I'm not sure how the end result would be.
Do keep in mind that some keys have security codes so maybe you will not be able to start your car or you will trigger some sort of security protocol.
If you want to do this yourself, you will have to watch out for the thickness and strength of your 3d printed car key and that you don't brake it inside your ignition lock.
And now stories will be posted by fearmongers on vehicle security and potential for crime and how you should always keep your car key out of sight so that they can not be copied by taking a photo of them ...
Here is new free webinar from GoEngineer focusing on 3d printed car parts, car accessories and car modifications.
If you are interested in cars, car hacking, car repair, hypermiling, modding, car tuning and have access to any type of 3d printer this video will give you lots of useful tips, information and practical examples. You could theoretically make any plastic part needed for your car and customize it to fit your needs.
Webinar is presented by Tyler Reid, it is focused on Stratasys technology but the knowledge and is applicable to other 3d printers.
3d printed car parts presented here are:
gauge bezel
firewall feedtrough
wire tee box
throttle body spacer
battery charging box
Here is video webinar, one hour well spent ;-):
Here is a picture of installed wire tee box:
Great tutorial, thank you for the content Tyler and GoEngineer team!
There are many more similar high quality tutorials, like:
In this video EpicenterBryan shows how he modified his vintage cars tail lights with a help of 3d printing to install LED lights for more safety. You can call it modifying but I call it hacking. Realistic and usable merger of new and old technology. It is also an tribute to DIY culture and handcraft since there were no robots involved in production of this Triumph.
He writes:
Here is one of my many projects. I thought our YouTube subscribers might get a kick out of this one. Some of you might know that I'm into old British cars, and have been my entire life. They are stylish and sexy. They are quirky and failure prone. Early ones have such serious safety issues I'm surprised any of us ever survived driving them all these years.
The stock Triumph TR3 has only one center brake light and if it fails, people run into you. That is why most early cars have been tagged in the rear. The right and left tail lights are only used as runner lights and turn signals. I wanted a quick and easy way to add brake lighting before making a bunch of wiring changes to the car. In the near future I will be adding relays in the tail to convert the function of the bright element of the 1157 dual element bulb to be not only turn signals but also brake lights. I have already designed and printed the 3D parts needed to mount the relays and will do another video if people are interested.
In this video I show how I added simple LED panel lights to serve as brake indicators in the existing tail lights with no other modifications. It takes a 3D printer to make the parts, and I'm sure several people will be interested in how the parts are made as well.
Michael Curry developed and built fully 3D printed RC vehicle. The car weighs about 70 pounds and required $700 of PLA filament to print, it was printed over the time frame of five months. The majority of the vehicle is 3d printed PLA plastic with some obvious exceptions like: the electric motor, some metal pieces, and the Delrin ball bearings. I wonder if the batteries are also 3d printed?
Also: could it be enlarged and driven by a person?
Someone posted a video that shows how he uses 3d printer to make a custom car part to do some automotive hacking. The part connects air intake and carburetor of two different car types. It links VW Syncro air box and Toyota 4Y carburetor into functional unit. It is a sort of car hacking. You use incompatible non-operational parts to make something new and functional.
Recently I paid 25$ for simpler and much smaller air intake plastic part for my Mercedes A class from 2001. Since it is an older car I had to search several used car parts salesman. Since Croatia is EU such car parts are easier to find now, but some years ago it was much harder and more expensive. I didn't even thin about printing the par myself since it didn't even cross my mind. next time I'll know better. There is booming used cars markets in developing countries that also need many spare parts and this is where 3d printers could be of some assistance.
Big companies probably won't allow printing of parts that could endanger car passengers safty if they fail because of liability issues, but will probably allow printing of "cosmetic" parts and non-essential structures. Maybe there will be secondary / grey market ... car parts can be expensive ... or hard to obtain in certain situations ...
Video of Objet presentation models. There are printed on industral scale 3d printers, but still the technology is fascinating. Video shows regular size fully functioning car dashboard printed, glued and painted. The joints on it are moving and everything looks very solid and detailed. After it, the functioning 3d printed car part is shown followed by some 3d prited industrial molds and skateboard. In the end there is working 3d printed hand drill. First thing that came to my mind after watching it was how much I paid for some replacement plastic parts for my 2001 A-class. Few broken small handles and plating for seat adjustment. Too much I can tell you, not to mention I waited for them two weeks. I have a feeling that it would be much cheaper if technology was wider spread since the resolution needed to print those parts I needed is achievable by today's diy 3d printers.
It is taken on EuroMold with Jonathan Jaglom Objet VP of Sales Operations.
