Creating parts for my custom interior has been a very
interesting challenge at time. Having
the correct tools really helps. 3D
graphic software, a 3D Printer and experience doing fiberglass has really
helped in creating parts that are unique to my car. The following are steps I took to create the
front passenger door power window switch holder.
First: Create the
part in my 3D software. I use the open
source tool Blender.org to create my 3d Models.
I’ve been using this tool for years and am very familiar with it. Other tools, like Maya, 3DStudioMax or Google
Sketchup will work too. I’m just very
comfortable with this too.
So, I created the model as seen here:
Then I export the model as a .stl file. This file is then put through a “slicing”
software (Slic3r) that uses the parameters of my 3D printer (print head size,
type of plastic, etc.) and literally creates slices of the part along the Z
axis that the printer can then print out.
This software creates a .gcode file.
This file is then put into another open source software package called
Pronterface. Pronterface actually drives
the 3D printer based upon the slices defined in the .gcode file. When the printer is done, You get the following:
It took about 10 attempts to get the model to the right size
and shape. There is a bit of black magic
involved here, but once you know what you are doing, it gets easier.
Once I got the finished print, I sanded it down so that the
surface was pretty smooth. I plan to
cover it in carbon fiber, so it didn’t need to be perfect. I just wanted to make sure I got the surface
to a point that the adhesive would stick. This is the next step.
Step 2: Applying the
Carbon Fiber. Because I was working with
a pretty small piece that had some tight bends, I knew that I could not just
lay the carbon fiber on the part and epoxy it down without using a vacuum bag
technique. So I opted to glue the carbon
fiber down to the part using 3M 77 glue.
This glue is extremely strong and relatively easy to work with. Here is a picture of the part and carbon
fiber after spaying with glue:
Once the glue got tacky, I laid the carbon fiber over the
part and made sure that it had set into all the nooks and crannies.
After the glue dried, I then put on the epoxy, in three thin
coats. I let each coat set up until
tacky before putting the next on. The
key is to not put on so much epoxy that it runs and pools. Otherwise you have a lot of sanding to
do. Here is a picture of the piece after
the last coat of epoxy.
I let the piece set up for 48 hours before I started to wet
sand the epoxy to get all the air bubbles and wavy surface out. You don’t want to sand too much, otherwise
yet get down to the fiber. Here is the
sanded piece:
Step 3: Lacquer and Final Sanding. The final step is to spray the piece with
lacquer and do the final finish. I put
on three coats of Lacquer from a spray can, letting each coat set up for an
hour before the next. I let the final
coat set up for 24 hours then I started wet sanding with increasingly fine wet
papers. I started at 600, than went to
1200 and finally 1600. Once I got the
surface smooth, I using a polishing compound and finally a good automobile
wax. And voila, this is the final
result:
I plan to use this same technique on my center console. That will be in a subsequent blog post.
