Replacement grill thoughts

[bamadukefan02]

I was wondering if with the advent of 3D printing if that could one day lead to a viable source for the plastic pieces to restore grills and for that matter other hard to find parts.  If you watch some of the videos on the net about it you will see them make parts that seem to stand up to a reasonable amount of abuse.  I know that there are printers out there big enough to do rather large pieces and then its just a matter of someone writing the program to tell the printer what to do, so the only real questions are; if there is currently a plastic that can withstand the required stress or will there be one in the near future.  Imagine being able to call up a company and list all the plastic parts you need and with just a few clicks of a mouse you are ready to go.

[JB400]

Your dream will become a reality for the general public in probably the next 10 years or so.  Right now, it's only for manufacturers of prototype parts.  It's like the cnc machines.  10 years ago, nobody could touch them.  Now, most major cities have an independent company that can make anything you want.


It's just a matter of time.  Grab some popcorn and wait for the prices to come down

[bamadukefan02]

Oh I realize for large items its a price of equipment situation, though the smaller printers are  priced in such a way so that a small company could buy one. I really wonder more about the quality of the plastic used and if it would lend itself to automotive applications.

[JB400]

I don't think the quality of the plastic will be much of a problem. I think the owner looking for high profit margins will be the problem.  Some will use the high quality plastic while others will cheap thier way out and use the lesser quality stuff and sell it as a high quality product.  It will just take some time to weed these people out.  The plastic itself for a quality product will not be a problem.  Banks ( the diesel tuner guy) can print out a manifold and run it on the strip and the dyno before he even makes a mold of it and casts it in aluminum.  Even the hospitals are experimenting with printing out bodyparts as an alternative to organ donations.  It's some pretty cool technology.  I can't wait until it is more affordable.

[bamadukefan02]

Heck if you can use the plastic to print a manifold I imagine it would stand up to most peoples driving, NOT my wife's driving but most peoples.

[Homerr]

Grill? lol

I'm waiting to download a car and then print it out!

[areibel]

There are a couple companies out there that do just that- you send them your 3D CAD files and they'll print it.  Check out http://www.shapeways.com/   But the better the plastic, the more the limitations on the size.  The best plastics are usually limited to something like 5 inches x5 inches x 6 inches- you'd have to build it in parts!  And it's not cheap, the best stuff that's available runs about $3.50 per cubic centimeter ( an average Matchbox or Hotwheels sized car would be about $20)  And it's not as smooth as it looks.  If you think of a box, there's the top, bottom and sides.  The top and bottom can be made pretty smooth, but then the vertical surfaces aren't.  It looks like layers, which is what it is.  The finish sides can be made nice, but the "build" sides are still a long way from injection molded. 
There are cheaper plastics, and some can build much larger but the surface finish is rougher.  And all of them tend to be brittle, so damage is a lot easier.  I'd say it's possible someday, but I doubt it would be cheaper than having originals restored!

[projectanimal]

Doesn't Jay Leno have one of these machine?

We just need Car Crazy to dare him to recreate a Grill!!! 

[Mike DC]

 

We don't need to reinvent a better way of making a repro Charger grille.  We just need to wait for prices of the old ones to climb high enough to get new ones produced.  No more, no less.

[Kern Dog]

I think that we are already there. My grille is perfect, but I'm always on the lookout for a spare. Since these cars often have "one year only" parts like this, the price and availability of said parts is limited.
$1500 for a nice used 1970 grille?

[bamadukefan02]

Mike, I was curious as to the possibility of a better, cheaper way to get  plastic parts for cars and was wondering about the possibilities of this technology.  If it was to lead to better, cheaper, faster produced parts it would be worth reinventing the process.  As it turns out at this time the plastic is neither better nor cheaper but one day if it is and I can get hard to find parts I say reinvent.

[Mike DC]

   
The prices these days do suck.  But I guess that's the game we play.  We could always go build Mustangs & Camaros. 

Or we could make our own fiberglass Charger grilles and substitute some other material for the slatted grilles over the openings.



We probably will see better/cheaper/faster ways of making plastics in the future.   But I think that stands to benefit us more when it comes to smaller production runs being cost-effective rather than the practicalities of the molding process.  I think the holdup on the Charger grilles is more the latter.  Anything is do-able but the Charger grilles are particularly difficult to mold (read: expensive) for their size.  


I'm no expert on plastic molding.  Some other members here would probably have a better sense of what is making the Charger grilles so hard/expensive to do.  

[green69rt]

There was a thread on here with a person named Bob Fist (I think?)  He was going to reproduce a limited number of 69 Charge grills.  His problem was the limited market, (there aren't many of us around and even less willing to pay the price.)  So that probably applies to anyone using a printer as well.  Best I can remember a complete grill was something like $3000 and he was only going to do one run and use up the molds, he didn't plan to make more molds.  I wonder how his venture turned out?  Plastic wasn't a problem for injection molding but it may be a different case for a printer??