1 Topic by gibsonpete

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Topic: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

Hi all,

First of all hello! This is my first post. As always I'm doing things backwards and will get round to the introduction part of the forum next. Secondly, apologies if this is posted in the wrong area... hopefully the post falls into this category. I am completely new to 3D printing and was hoping you lot could help me out.

I am currently attempting to design some foglight surround covers. I have looked into traditional plastic fabrication methods, and found that the tool needed to fabricate would cost in the region of £3.5-4k. Unfortunately this is quite drastically outside of my budget and seems a heck of an expense for making some basic plastic covers!

So... I am hoping 3D printing may be the way forward. Several issues... I have no experience of design, and certainly no experience of 3D printing. I have 3 main questions that would be handy to discuss, which are:

1. Would it be possible to design and produce a foglight surround via 3D printing that would be reliable and tough enough to withstand stones etc from UK roads?

2. I'm looking to print a product roughly 9x4 inches out of something tough like polycarbonate, contoured slightly and with small clips. Is this possible to do in 3D printing and can anyone give a rough guesstimate as to price of printing?

3. If I could find someone in the UK to help me design what I need on the forum, that would be brilliant. I'm obviously willing to pay anyone who can help me create a workable design.


Thanks, look forward to your response!

2 Reply by DePartedPrinter (edited by DePartedPrinter 2014-02-10 18:15:02)

  • DePartedPrinter
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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

1. Yes, however it might not be as transparent as I think you are looking for...

2. Maybe, some pictures of what you are trying to build this for might help. As far as price it is going to vary depending on many factors. Are you looking to print this part yourself or have someone else print it?

3. I am in the US

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3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

DePartedPrinter wrote:

1. Yes, however it might not be as transparent as I think you are looking for...

2. Maybe, some pictures of what you are trying to build this for might help. As far as price it is going to vary depending on many factors. Are you looking to print this part yourself or have someone else print it?

3. I am in the US

Your 1,000th post!

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4 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

elmoret wrote:

Your 1,000th post!


slowly but surely!

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5 Reply by grob

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

You're referring to the plastic bit around the foglight, not a lens, right?

www.google.com/search?q=foglight+surround&tbm=isch

Looks like a fair few of those images could in theory be printed (esp the flatter ones) with a bit of forethought and support modeled in, but the testing part would be modelling the surface accurately enough for it to fit well and look right; these kind of bendy things are really really hard to measure.

PC can be printed, but it requires an upmarket hot-end (E3D for example) to get enough temperature, which involves modifying most printers a wee bit, and the filament is a bit harder to find / not as available.

Nothing you can print going to be as strong as the real parts, but there's no better way to find out whether it will do than to try it!

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6 Reply by gibsonpete (edited by gibsonpete 2014-02-12 23:49:38)

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

Hi sorry I thought I'd replied the other day. Yes Gorb thats right, its a cover to clip over the existing surround. I've added a picture of the actual foglight surround, I can't post links apparently at the moment.

Also I'm hoping to colour code these to the car so they wont be transparent. I was hoping to get someone to print for me as I don't own a printer. If someone would be willing I'd obviously pay costs.

Do you know anyone on the forum who may be able to help print a prototype?

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7 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

gibsonpete wrote:

Hi sorry I thought I'd replied the other day. Yes Gorb thats right, its a cover to clip over the existing surround. I've added a picture of the actual foglight surround, I can't post links apparently at the moment.

Also I'm hoping to colour code these to the car so they wont be transparent. I was hoping to get someone to print for me as I don't own a printer. If someone would be willing I'd obviously pay costs.

Do you know anyone on the forum who may be able to help print a prototype?


Do you already have the part designed?

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8 Reply by AOYOU3D

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

Hello, it seems that you try to make the real plastic ABS or PC products, but I think
if you need the strong and reliable real plastic products, you should not go to the desktop 3D printers,
such as Makerbot, Solidoodle, Cubex, etc., you should ask the industrial 3D printer company-Stratasys, if you
just are going to make few ten, few hundred, you can get a quote from them, if you will make few thousand pcs,
you have to cut a mold to make injection molded parts, of course at first you have to find a designer or engineer
who is a 3D expert to design 3D modeling and engineering dwgs.
Right now most of desktop 3D printers are used to make the prototype of plastic products, or low strength, rough
finish plastic parts for some fields, it couldn't meet the requirement of your products.
My thought may be not right, just for your ref.

9 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

AOYOU3D wrote:

Hello, it seems that you try to make the real plastic ABS or PC products, but I think
if you need the strong and reliable real plastic products, you should not go to the desktop 3D printers,
such as Makerbot, Solidoodle, Cubex, etc., you should ask the industrial 3D printer company-Stratasys, if you
just are going to make few ten, few hundred, you can get a quote from them, if you will make few thousand pcs,
you have to cut a mold to make injection molded parts, of course at first you have to find a designer or engineer
who is a 3D expert to design 3D modeling and engineering dwgs.
Right now most of desktop 3D printers are used to make the prototype of plastic products, or low strength, rough
finish plastic parts for some fields, it couldn't meet the requirement of your products.
My thought may be not right, just for your ref.

Did you read the original post?

-1

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10 Reply by lawsy

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

That surround looks like an awkward shape to sit flat for 3D printing. If you have a CAD model which is spot on and quality is your key consideration, a service like shapeways might be the way to go.

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11 Reply by gibsonpete (edited by gibsonpete 2014-02-14 03:15:57)

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Re: Design Help - Foglight Surround Cover

AOYOU3D, thank you for your post. It was very honest and insightful and answered some questions I hadn't asked. Thanks everyone for all the responses, all this info has been brilliant. DePartedPrinter, no I don't have a design made up yet. I have tried to install some software but I need to update OS X to install.

I was hoping to get a prototype printed so I have a rough physical demo of what I want to make to show a company. Thanks Lawsy for the recommendation, I'll look into them