No repro 2nd-gen grilles, ever?

[green69rt]

It is highly doubtful a large company is going to invest in an expensive machine for the sole purpose of just cranking out Charger grilles. The possibilities of even more repro parts are huge. Theoretically they could crank out repro grilles for any muscle Mopar for that matter, and other cars/trucks.

I think the Charger Specialties had a 3D printer when I visited them a few years ago, but just did small parts and they end up suppling a lot of other sellers.   And yes, they make a lot of parts, not just one or two.  So I can see someone like them producing plastic grill parts when bigger machines get built and the plastic composition problem gets solved. My guess is that may close to possible - just need someone to take the leap but given Bob Fist's experience I wouldn't want to be the one.

[JB400]

Our best bet for getting reproduction grills would be from a supplier that produces grills for cars like the Camaros and Mustangs.  Unfortunately, we haven't raised enough noise to make this a possibility.

[bull]

IIRC you can buy a 3D printer and scanner for about the same as it would cost to do an old-school injection mould for just one part. That's where the 3D printer works out better cost-wise. But again, they aren't big enough to do any part of the grill plastic. Also, I don't know how many of you have ever seen one of these machines work but the parts they turn out aren't usually clean and spiffy and ready to paint. A lot of times there's a bunch of clean up to do on them after they're printed. When I saw one work I was a little surprised how sloppy the finished product looked and how much more work it still needed.

[ws23rt]

IIRC you can buy a 3D printer and scanner for about the same as it would cost to do an old-school injection mould for just one part. That's where the 3D printer works out better cost-wise. But again, they aren't big enough to do any part of the grill plastic. Also, I don't know how many of you have ever seen one of these machines work but the parts they turn out aren't usually clean and spiffy and ready to paint. A lot of times there's a bunch of clean up to do on them after they're printed. When I saw one work I was a little surprised how sloppy the finished product looked and how much more work it still needed.

If a 3d printer can print with living cells a kidney that works than what we need seems small.
Water jet cutting used to be slow and small.
  EDM (Electron distcharge milling) was new and very expensive in the early seventies. A friend worked for a high tek co. in those days and took his aluminium myc. head to work and removed a broken bolt to save the head. These machines can now be had on ebay for almost the cost of transport.
  3D printing is still rather new and the market for what they may do is big.

[Cooter]

It's all about the Benjamins....

[mauve66]

thats what legendary told me 20 years ago when i asked why they can make a door panel for a 4 door dart and can't make a panel for a 1st gen Charger, i still haven't saved enough bennies for them to start making them